The Power and the Glory

 

The Power and the Glory
by Graham Greene
read: 2020
Time 100 Novels, Guardian 1000 Novels

The Heart of the Matter was about Henry Scobie's gradual betrayal of nearly everything he holds dear, and Greene puts similar themes on display in The Power and the Glory. The novel follows a priest in Mexico on the run from a government suppressing the Catholic faith. He loses all the trappings of his office as he goes. A drunkard who once sired a daughter, the priest has crossed almost every line that exists. Despite that, he cannot give up his faith. He refuses to, like Padre Jose, take a wife and renounce the church, and he continues to put himself in danger by practicing his religion when he has the opportunity to flee to safer pastures. He's weak for his failings, but there's a kernel of resolve there too, or at least stubbornness.

Loving

Loving
by Henry Green
read: 2020
Time 100 Novels, Modern Library #89

A couple of interesting things about Loving: While many novels, particularly British ones, during the class-divided era tend to focus more on the aristocracy, this one deals more with the servants of an Irish country house. The owners of the house remain aloof, even absconding to London for a significant stretch while the help runs things. Secondly, there are numerous plot threads that never really resolve: the missing ring, Mrs. Jack's affair, Albert joining the war, the dead peacock, etc. This seems deliberate rather than careless, but I'm not sure what it signifies.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
by Michael Chabon
read: 2004
Guardian 1000 Novels, Pulitzer Prize

I finished this one during an overnight layover at Heathrow Airport. Recommended for comic book fans.

Under the Net

Under the Net
by Iris Murdoch
read: 2020
Time 100 Novels, Modern Library #95

There's a lot going on in Under the Net. Of the other novels I've read, I'd liken it most to The Ginger Man, also the work of an Irish author. Like Sebastian in that novel, Jake Donaghue stumbles from place-to-place and action-to-action with little intent and often seemingly without agency. Donaghue is pompous, self-centered, and lazy, but not as destructive as Sebastian. He starts the novel with no residence, no job, a decaying relationship, and very little motivation to improve his situation. On paper, things aren't a lot better at the end of the novel, but he's obtained a fresh outlook on things, with some promise for the future. And a dog.

John Dies at the End

John Dies at the End
by David Wong
read: 2020

Equal parts funny and disturbing. I didn't see the twist at the end coming despite the introduction foreshadowing it.

Candide

Candide
by Voltaire
read: ~1997
Guardian 1000 Novels

I read this back in high school and enjoyed it, though that was a while ago and I don't remember too much. "All that is very well, but let us cultivate our garden."

The Heart of the Matter

The Heart of the Matter
by Graham Greene
read: 2020
Time 100 Novels, Modern Library #40

The story arc of The Heart of the Matter takes us through the betrayals, compromises, and infidelities of well-meaning Henry Scobie, as he betrays his job, his wife, his integrity, his religion, and his soul. Spoilers ahead.

Two themes stand out to me: one is the misery involved in the human condition. Scobie's daughter dies young. Scobie's wife Louise is unhappy, and when Scobie has an affair he finds his new mistress just as unhappy. Pemberton, a young soldier, commits suicide. A ship is sunk many die, including a young child who survives days of exposure at sea before finally succumbing. If there is a God, is He capriciously cruel?

Pointlessness is the other theme that stands out. Actions rarely have consequences. Wilson is investigating Scobie the whole time, but cannot pin anything on him even though Scobie eventually does help smugglers. Scobie fails to keep his affair secret, and his wife finds out, but it doesn't matter. Scobie is passed over for Commissioner, then gets the job, then doesn't wind up taking it. The one daring chance Scobie takes for Helen, writing her a letter, never reaches her. Scobie takes great pains to plan his suicide so it will be taken as a natural death, but Wilson finds him out. And even that suicide, which Scobie does with the understanding that it will damn his soul forever, may not condemn him in the end. On the book's final page, Louise talks to Father Rank, who tells her, "[D]on't imagine you—or I—know a thing about God's mercy ... The Church knows all the rules. But it doesn't know what goes on in a single human heart."

In light of these two themes, how do we judge Scobie? Does it matter that he tried to reduce the misery of others, at all turns, even at great cost? Does it matter that he failed? Does anything matter?