471. The End of the Affair

The End of the Affair
Graham Greene
1951
Around 160 pages

This is number six of eight total Graham Greene novels on the List, which means if you are devoted reader (which I can only assume), you have now been forced to endure five gushing review about this man. I can't help it though, this guy only improves with time. 

Maurice Bendrix is a writer in London during World War II. He has an affair with Sarah Miles, the wife of a good natured but dullcivil servant. Turns out keeping a dalliance with a married woman secret is especially hard when the city is being air bombed. 

I feel like Greene's stories are always fairly straightforward and arise from simple "what-ifs." He doesn't feel the need to add too many twists and turns. This allows him to focus solely on the characters and their very plausible reactions to everyday life. Greene's religious beliefs always allow him to infuse deep meaning into his stories' conclusion.

We still haven't hit my favorite Greene novel on the List, but I can find no faults with this one. It's only that the upcoming story is just so damn perfect.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Greene's own affair with Catherine Walston formed the basis for this novel.

Evelyn Waugh was a fan of the novel, and wrote that the story was “a singularly beautiful and moving one."

An opera was based on this novel. Why does this keep happening? Just leave us alone.

UP NEXT: Molloy by Samuel Beckett