Stamboul Train (1932)

Train travel is ideal for plot development as it allows for both public and private scenes which could not occur in a car, bus or airplane. Given the book's title, I had expected much more exotic events. The train travel is actually rather pedestrian with the notable events happening mostly off the train Stamboul Train, the book that made Greene famous, already features his typical plot device in involving average persons into uncommon affairs and situations. The reader rides along with the protagonists on the fated conveyor belt, this time in the form of a train. Greene packs in a surprising amount of social commentary about then marginal groups (lesbians, Jews, socialists). A good if dated read. ( )

The various characters, with their different backgrounds and stories, really drew me in. Although the novel takes place almost entirely on a train, it never became dull at any point. I always wanted to keep reading. ( )

This is one of the earliest Graham Greene books and he hasn't quite developed into the complex and involved author that he would eventually become. He called the book an "entertainment," and that seems like an apt description. I enjoyed reading it and I think you'll like my summary: Stamboul Train chapter summary & synopsis ( )

This is one of the earliest Graham Greene books and he hasn't quite developed into the complex and involved author that he would eventually become. He called the book an "entertainment," and that seems like an apt description. I enjoyed reading it and I think you'll like my summary: Orient Express chapter summary & synopsis ( )

Published in 1932 this was Graham Greene's first real success as a novelist, which he described as an entertainment. The action takes place in and around the Orient Express as it travels from Ostend to Constantinople. We are in typical Greene noir territory from the rainy windswept terminus at Ostend to the bleak, icy winter landscape at a desolate village station in the Balkans, where the climax to the story takes place. Most of the action takes place at night; torchlights flash and people hide their faces. The movement of the train and the scenery flashing by provides snapshots of lives outside of the train; the artificial cramped space that the characters occupy, they seem herded together, bumping in to each other as they influence each others destinies.

Greene quickly and skillfully introduces us to the main characters in his drama, sketching in their background so that they are ready and primed to play their parts. All the characters are dishonest in varying degrees, they are pinched and cold as they try to get ahead in the uncertain world of 1930's Europe. There is: Carol Muskar a chorus girl whose only chance of work is in a club in Constantinople almost an innocent abroad, Dr Czinner travelling under an alias and preparing to co-ordinate a revolution in Belgrade, Q C Savory a vapid best selling novelist and Joseph Grunlich a career criminal on the run for murder.

Greene's two most fleshed out characters are what we would consider today stereotypical and it is useful to remind ourselves that this was written in the 1930's: Carleton Myatt is a Jew and we are constantly reminded of his Jewish traits, he is obsessed with business and the price of goods, not to be trusted, fearing the Christians around him with whom he must do business, but laughing as he outsmarts them at every turn. Mabel Warner is a lesbian given a "butch" personality, an alcoholic press reporter who will do anything to keep her younger lover Janet Pardoe, who is also traveling on the train. Greene has been accused of anti-semitism and certainly the Jew Myatt along with the lesbian Warner are the arch manipulators, the most dishonest of his characters

The novel might seem a little pedestrian as a thriller by today's standards. There are few twists and turns, however there is some suspense and a well worked out story line and of course plenty of period detail. I read this for the excellent writing, the characterisation and the noir like atmosphere that pervades everything ( )