The Heart of the Matter: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

Another Graham Greene novel and this time one of his best. The Heart of the Matter is a finely tuned psychological study of one man's moral and spiritual crisis. Henry Scobie is a police chief for a British colony on the west coast of Africa during World War II. Scobie is also a devout Catholic. His Catholic wife is disgruntled because of her lack of friends and social standing in the colony and because Scobie has been passed over for the post of Commissioner. Enter Wilson, who has been sent to investigate black market smuggling of diamonds out of the colony. Wilson and Scobie's wife find a mutual interest in literature and before long he declares his love for her. Scobie is the kind of man who has deep sensitivities to unhappiness in others. Although his love for his wife has greatly diminished over time, he is keenly aware of her pain and accedes to her wish to go away for a while. The only problem is that to finance this, he must take a loan from a Syrian black marketeer who engages in the illegal diamond trade. About this time, a civilian passenger ship is torpedoed by a German sub and the survivors are finally rescued after many harrowing days in lifeboats. Among these is a young woman, newly married, who has lost her husband in the sinking. Scobie meets this distraught and suffering woman, and because of his sensitivities and inclination to pity, he befriends her and eventually they become lovers. As a Catholic, Scobie realizes he is committing the grave sin of adultery. The situation might have continued like this were it not for several events. First, a love letter of Scobie's to the mistress is discovered by the Syrian who then blackmails him to aid in the diamond smuggling. Second, Scobie receives the shocking news that his wife is returning. Thirdly, Wilson has begun to have suspicions about Scobie's affair and about his entanglement with the Syrian. When his wife does return, she expects her husband to return to his Catholic devotions, including attending Mass and receiving Communion. Scobie is placed in a horribly difficult spot because to receive Communion in his present state is to commit a very grave sin. But because his affections for his mistress prevent him from giving her up, he commits the sacrilege of making a bad Communion. Scobie is torn between his sense of guilt in sinning against God and his sense of responsibility toward the two women. Sadly, he decides the only way out of this dilemma is to commit suicide by taking an overdose of medication. As he commits his last act, however, he seems to express at the final moment his love of God. In a final conversation, his wife expresses to their priest her fear that Scobie may be doomed forever because of the suicide. But the priest reminds her not to forget God's overwhelming mercy. What are we to make of Scobie and his great moral dilemma? He seems to have been consumed by his need to empathize with the plight of others, even at the risk of his eternal salvation. His great sense of pity and responsibility for others seems to inhibit him and prevent him from rational decision making. In the end, however, he displays a deep love of God, who is perhaps the one he loves the most. This is an outstanding book, vividly written, that delves deeply into the psychology of faith and morals. Highly recommended.

If you love a good novel (from a knowledgeable writer), this Graham Greene book will get you there. The characters are well developed. Their flaws and errors in judgement will engender interest from the reader, and that is what makes a novel worth reading..

In the 20th century, for the first time, the common man was relieved from the burdens of survival to reflect upon his life, the roles expected of him and what he might expect back from society. He could look at himself in the mirror to see that which was hardest to see -what was right in front of his nose - as George Orwell had noted Graham Greene held up these mirror to our psyche perhaps more originally, more truthfully than any other. In telling the story of a English policeman in colonial West Africa he explains the struggle, as Orwell did in 'Burmese Days', of a man's struggle to behave nobly, to be a good man, Do the Right Thing in increasingly trying circumstances. The circumstances include his futile efforts to keep his wife happy, his feeling of obligation for some vague debt to her, even as she steadily plays the role of capricious, unaccountable female supplicant - the common role of women characters in many novels, including by Joseph Conrad who, in Heart of Darkness, observed'It's queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It's too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset..' Of course, such blatant sexism also includes 70 years Donald Trump, Greene observed 'Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either extreme egotism, selfishness, evil -- or else an absolute ignorance.' Speaking from my own experiences : - it is not only that (some) women are out of touch with reality, it is also that men close to them, like Macbeth, are out of touch with conviction or courage. Ultimately, this can lead to evil - and it is the man who , all alone, tries to do the right thing who suffers the worst consequences.'Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim. It is, one is told, the unforgivable sin, but it is a sin the corrupt or evil man never practices. He always has hope. He never reaches the freezing-point of knowing absolute failure.Only the man of goodwill carries always in his heart this capacity for damnation'

Nice publishing! Quality paper and had a cover that doubled as a book place marker. I’m a publishing snob and loved the quality of this book.

First of all, beware of the introduction: it is a spoiler and even tells how the novel ends.I like Graham Greene's writing. His plots also. But I don't like stories that get too religious. And that is what happens with The Heart of the Matter. I enjoyed the beginning and the events that followed. Intersting characters too. But as the story progresses it focuses more and more on the protagonist's Catholic morals. Which also means that more of the writing deals with his inner thoughts instead of action. I did skip some of these parts. However, if you like novels that combine action and some exotism with character internalizations over religious themes, you will enjoy this book.

Graham Greene must have experienced great compassion and empathy to have evoked those responses so strongly in me, not to mention his writing skill. This is not a sunny book. It gets off to a slow start before it becomes engrossing as he explores the conflicts in his protagonist, and the sensibilities of the women he loves.

A bit bleak, but that's been my experience of most of Greene's work. A wonderful read regardless, and as true to the human spirit as any great work of literature.

No podría regalarlo así.