alcazarz's review
4.0
engaging story, and also made me review the history of Haiti during that time - the sign of a good historical fiction for me.
mr_wford's review
5.0
No, it's not about Comedians. It refers to the comedian aspect of all of us. The face that we present and the strangeness of the lives we create.
When, on a steamer en route to Haiti, three men meet, their paths stick closely together through the dramas that enfold. Messrs Smith, Brown, Jones cover all the bases: Smith is a positive soul, a former American presidential candidate who thinks of little but improving the general condition of the world and has come to Haiti with a mind to improve things there, but also with a mind ignorant of the current state of the country. Brown is a European living in Haiti who, while he doesn't mean anyone any harm, is a cynical man who is willing to try and help others to an extent, but doesn't really want to be bothered. He is returning after a trip to the US in which he failed to find a buyer for his hotel and now wants to return to his life of waiting for the government to be overthrown. And Jones? "Major" Jones? A Man of Mystery, a friendly and genial man who hints of everything but tells nothing (well, nothing that is certainly true, at least) and is only looking out for his own interests, which he has come pursuing, in a mysterious fashion.
The Haiti that they are approaching is the one in which Papa Doc Duvalier has just been "voted" President for life and the nation has recently moved from a tourist haven to a police state and has fallen into a state of poverty and violence ruled by paranoia, fear, duplicitness and the sinister Tonton Macoute...
When they arrive, Brown's empty hotel becomes the center of a variety of dramas. Mister Smith and his wife have come in the hopes of setting up a vegetarian center, Jones is arrested, and Brown is troubled by his long-standing affair with the wife of an ambassador. Mister Brown becomes involved in the middle of everything going on and his disinterested, yet pivotal attentions (as the only "local" of the group), are the crux of the story and make for a very engaging story indeed! It involves the chilling and untouchable, sunglassed Tonton, a whore house, chilling escapes, corpse theft, lots of rum drinking and all sorts of nastiness!
I found the writing to be great, the characters are very involving and the story is quite entertaining, playing out as a comedy that isn't at all funny. It is also a quick read.
When, on a steamer en route to Haiti, three men meet, their paths stick closely together through the dramas that enfold. Messrs Smith, Brown, Jones cover all the bases: Smith is a positive soul, a former American presidential candidate who thinks of little but improving the general condition of the world and has come to Haiti with a mind to improve things there, but also with a mind ignorant of the current state of the country. Brown is a European living in Haiti who, while he doesn't mean anyone any harm, is a cynical man who is willing to try and help others to an extent, but doesn't really want to be bothered. He is returning after a trip to the US in which he failed to find a buyer for his hotel and now wants to return to his life of waiting for the government to be overthrown. And Jones? "Major" Jones? A Man of Mystery, a friendly and genial man who hints of everything but tells nothing (well, nothing that is certainly true, at least) and is only looking out for his own interests, which he has come pursuing, in a mysterious fashion.
The Haiti that they are approaching is the one in which Papa Doc Duvalier has just been "voted" President for life and the nation has recently moved from a tourist haven to a police state and has fallen into a state of poverty and violence ruled by paranoia, fear, duplicitness and the sinister Tonton Macoute...
When they arrive, Brown's empty hotel becomes the center of a variety of dramas. Mister Smith and his wife have come in the hopes of setting up a vegetarian center, Jones is arrested, and Brown is troubled by his long-standing affair with the wife of an ambassador. Mister Brown becomes involved in the middle of everything going on and his disinterested, yet pivotal attentions (as the only "local" of the group), are the crux of the story and make for a very engaging story indeed! It involves the chilling and untouchable, sunglassed Tonton, a whore house, chilling escapes, corpse theft, lots of rum drinking and all sorts of nastiness!
I found the writing to be great, the characters are very involving and the story is quite entertaining, playing out as a comedy that isn't at all funny. It is also a quick read.
monikapuff's review
4.0
I'm giving four stars to The Comedians, because it is very much awesome. Open ending, but not really a happy one in my opinion, it leaves some empty feeling in the end, questioning whether anything we do is really worth in the end if we lose all friends and family. Idk, might be my current existential crisis speaking, but still.
Liked the characters, I really liked Martha, not so sure why. Loved the writing, the whole story, along with the characters.
Liked the characters, I really liked Martha, not so sure why. Loved the writing, the whole story, along with the characters.
robhughes's review
4.0
A Green thriller that explores the corruption of a paradise and the people who find themselves lost in the rubble. The quality of Green's prose mean that you can taste the burning rum and feel the humidity prickle as the narrator tries to navigate his way in and then back out of Haiti in the 1950s.
paul_cornelius's review
5.0
To my surprise, I am always taken with this novel. Every time I read it. I say to my surprise, because the setting, Papa Doc Duvalier's Haiti is so repellent. But Graham Greene has a way with hot, humid tropical climates. He somehow brings the fever of those places directly to the reader, whether it be Havana on the eve of Castro's takeover, Vietnam during the first decade of the War in Indochina in the 1950s, Paraguay, or the tropical sweat of Jalisco, Mexico. These novels and places have more character and seduction to them than do British/European locales. It is as if the heat boils away the mask his protagonists try to hide under and leaves them naked and open for our understanding, if not our sympathy. That is the case with The Comedians, too. A novel about escaping Duvalier's hellish tropical murder house for sanity but perhaps not redemption.
tolu_odejide's review
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Having read the End of the Affair, this book felt familiar. Greene’a treatment of women, proclivity for extra-marital affairs, musings on the value of religion are all par for the course.
The uniqueness of this story is in the setting of Haiti. A joyless place in this novel but one that is loved so so deeply on each page of this book. Nothing can change the fact that it is a white man writing about a Black Country - one in which he is a stranger. The small settings can feel static and sparse.
The uniqueness of this story is in the setting of Haiti. A joyless place in this novel but one that is loved so so deeply on each page of this book. Nothing can change the fact that it is a white man writing about a Black Country - one in which he is a stranger. The small settings can feel static and sparse.
dbevvers63's review
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
yetilibrary's review
2.0
It was rather existentialist, and the narrator was annoying in a Mersault kind of way. I think it captured the time and place well, though.
natepeplinski's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0