The End of the Affair (The collected edition, #13) (Acting Edition) (Vintage classics)

by Graham Greene

Monica Ali (Introduction)

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MONICA ALI

The love affair between Maurice Bendrix and Sarah, flourishing in the turbulent times of the London Blitz, ends when she suddenly and without explanation breaks it off. After a chance meeting rekindles his love and jealousy two years later, Bendrix hires a private detective to follow Sarah, and slowly his love for her turns into an obsession.

• ISBN10: 0099478447
• ISBN13: 9780099478447
• Publish Date: 2 November 2004 (first published 26 October 1951)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Vintage Publishing
• Imprint: Vintage Classics
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 192
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780099478447

Reviews

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

First Sentence

A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which, to look ahead.

Reasons to Listen to The End of the Affair

• Colin Firth brings life into his performance and found myself going back on more than one occasion to listening to parts over.


• Colin Firth cannot take all the credit as Graham Greene shows he was a master storyteller.


• Not only is he a master storyteller, but did you read that first sentence?  Clearly, Graham Greene is an excellent writer too.


• The End of the Affair has unique characters that you learn to love and hate and I listen avidly to the repercussions of their choices.


• The End of the Affair is an excellent introduction into the writings of Graham Greene and will leave the reader wanting more.

This review was originally posted on First Impressions Reviews

[brokentune]

As another GR reviewer noted, this book is more than a read, it has a physical quality. It is absorbing and I, too, found myself curled up while reading.

There are a lot of levels to the story of Maurice, Sarah and Henry. To say it is - as the title presumes - a romance, will not do. But neither is it - in my estimation - a book about Brendix' competition with God as some suggest.

Obsession, delusion, denial, jealousy fueled by self-hatred and a hefty dose of egotism make Brendix not a likable character. His selfish obsession with Sarah, or rather, with the idea of her and his wanting to possess her, is frustrating. On a few occasions, you want may want to shout out "You idiot, can't you see what you are doing?" Nevertheless, it is a pleasure to bear with him, to explore the mysticism that is introduced by the characters of Mr. Smythe and Mrs. Bernard.

It may well be that the second half of the book and the investigation into Sarah's secret is an explicit description of Sarah's conversion to Catholicism and - finally - Brendix' acknowledgement of God, even though - or maybe because - he constantly denies God's existence just as he denies his own guilty part in Sarah's demise.

In my estimation, though, the concept of Catholicism Greene used could easily be substituted with any other faith, superstition, or indeed hocus pocus. Anything that could be used as a target of Brendix' grief; anything that could be used as a locus of Brendix' displaced guilt, self-hatred and inadequacy. All through his tale, Brendix antagonizes people in the search of a rival - first Henry, then Sarah's unknown other lover, before he finally settles his need to compete on a God that he has always denied.


It is a grotesque tale. Beautifully written and very atmospheric. It does leave me wondering, though, if there ever really was an end to the affair.