442. Back

Back
Henry Green
1946
Around 220 pages

We are back with yet another Henry Green novel, although this the last time you have to endure me complaining about him. Honestly, he was never that bad, but he was never that mind-blowing either. But for being consistently good, he does deserve some props. And an official ranking.

1. Blindness

2. Party Going

3. Loving

4. Caught

5. Back

6. Living

This is the story of Charley Summers, who has been detained as a POW in Germany for three years. Not only did he lose his leg, but he also learns the married woman he was in love with died while he was gone. 

I guess it's unfair to compare everybody to the best of the best, but I just think of better novelists who have covered this ground, from Rebecca West to Evelyn Waugh. Didn't leave much of an impression, which was my entire impression of Henry Green.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's sister) designed the cover.

UP NEXT: The Path to the Nest of Spiders by Italo Calvino

433. Loving

Loving
Henry Green
1945
Around 225 pages

We have another Henry Green novel with vague title, guaranteed to fade from my memory after a few weeks. He's like the guy at the party that you always end up talking to because you are both awkward, but you have nothing to talk to him about. 

The Tennants have amscrayed from their Irish country house during World War II, leaving their servants to play the Game of Thrones. Well, that's dramatizing it slightly, but they do wage their own private battles with each other while the fate of the world hangs in balance in the background.

Another Green novel where the premise is interesting and the writing is just kind of meh. I like the idea of a novel being mostly dialogue, but nobody was saying anything too insightful. Realistic, true, but not very engaging.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Included in TIME's 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.

UP NEXT: The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford

427. Caught

Caught
Henry Green
1943
Around 206 pages

"It brings everyone together, there's that much to a war." That's a pretty banging quote, but it also demonstrates Henry Green's somewhat jerky writing style. He really should not have six entries on the List, even if he is underread now. 

Richard Roe volunteers to serve on the London Auxiliary Fire Service, which is hella awkward, because his chief is the brother of a woman who once kidnapped Roe's young son.

Like I said, I don't think Green's writing style necessarily flows, but this still had a fresh premise. I wish he had leaned into the horror element more, but I guess what was going on at the time was so terrifying that dramatization wasn't needed.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Green was always more popular among fellow authors than with the general public; none of his books sold more than 10,000 copies.

UP NEXT: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

407. Party Going

Party Going
Henry Green
1939
Around 260 pages

I have complained about Henry Green in the past, but I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. It's a good concept: a group of rich party are trying to get a party via train, but are forced to take refuge in a nearby hotel when the train is delayed by fog. Life is what happens when you are making other plans indeed.

Of course, life for me isn't being a rich Bright Young Thing, but it can be fun to read about. I think putting those kind of parameters on yourself as a writer, such as making all the action take place in a hotel, really allows you shine. It's much easier to have rules than to just stare at a blank document for an hour and a half.

He's hitting his stride, but he's still a rather forgettable Oxnerd, compared to some of our other heavy hitters.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Green had a friendship/rivalry with Evelyn Waugh at Oxford.

UP NEXT: Good Morning Midnight by Jean Rhys

336. Living

Living
Henry Green
1929
Around 270 pages

I find Henry Green to be kind of boring and not in the least worthy of a whopping six entries on this List. Even his titles are pretty dull. If I were going to trim the fat here, I would drop this, Loving, and Caught. Oh well, modernism has made me suffer worse than this.

Living tells the tale of several factory workers in Birmingham, England. The narrative mostly focuses on Lily Gates, and her relationship with factory worker Bert Jones. The story reminded me of Sister Carrie, where characters not so subtly "stand" for their demographic. Oh, and he also doesn't use that many articles, in imitation of languages that use them sparsely. Um, okay.

There's nothing glaringly offensive about this novel, just didn't leave much of an impression. Poor Henry, he doesn't get much respect on this blog.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

There's a deliberate lack of conjunctions to reflect the Birmingham accent.

UP NEXT: The Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett. 

312. Blindness

Blindness
Henry Green
1926
Around 215 pages

I've read quite a few Henry Green novels. I think he is talented, but he has never left too strong of an impression. I do think I was a flouncy Oxford boy in another life, and he certainly captures that culture well. Also, reading something so well-written from somebody so young is always impressive (on a personal level, it's actually devastating).

John Haye is a student of Noat, which I guess is like an anagram of Eton...kinda (see this is the kind of wit they miss out on by not admitting women). We get to read his diary, and he's a pretty typical student. We have the same literary tastes at least. He's blinded in a freak train accident and his life takes a bit of a left turn.

Having a character lose a sense really gives a writer a chance to flex those creative fingeys. Green did a wonderful job of communicating the all the internal and external shifts in this character's life. This also had an original plot that didn't go in the usual direction that can take stories like this to a sappy place.

I also appreciate his brevity. I think he'll grow on me.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Published when Green was an undergrad at Oxford.

UP NEXT: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Welcome to the blog, Papa.