I love this novel because it is superficially a genre novel (mystery-thriller-espionage) but the spy stuff is just background for fleshed out characters, and there really is not a lot of plot machinations to get lost in, like I do with a lot of Le Carre's works (or even Greene's earlier novels). My favorite bit is when the protagonist, out of pity, attends the wedding of the daughter of a stuffy, lonely security officer. ( )

One of my favourite Greene novels so far. Character, plot and pacing are all superb. The contemporary (1970s) setting is highly unusual, given that the subject of spies in British intelligence was a feature of earlier decades. This topic is discussed with intelligence in the introduction (to this edition only) by Colm Tóibín. The problem with Greene writing in the 'spy' genre is how much he ruins the work of John Le Carré. Le Carré, who could write very well when judged on his own merits, seems a pale imitation when his works are compared with a book like The Human Factor. Highly recommended, especially for anyone new to Greene. ( )

Good

Maurice Castle is a member of the secret service during the cold war. He can best be destribed as the total opposite of James Bond. Maurice is to the roots of his hair a domestic house-husband. He wants nothing more than to be at home with his African wife Sarah and his adoptive son. Unfortunatly, Maurice is in very big trouble.

When I started the book, I found the tone of it to be cold and distant. After reading a few dozen pages, however, I had realised Graham Greene had done it again: he made me fall in love with his characters. While Graham Greene is known for his great plots, his real power as a writer the creation of great characters, who you can not but love and care for. ( )

October 2nd is the anniversary of the birth of Graham Greene (1904-1991) so this was a good time to read one of his few novels that I haven't already read.

As it says on the dustjacket of The Human Factor, spy agencies are usually the stuff of thrillers, but...

...Graham Greene has made it the background of a perceptive and compassionate novel. For an officer of the service, espionage can only be a part of life. Life is also the private relation to which he returns in the evening, the dangerous human factor of the title.

The 'human factor' that drives this novel set during the Cold War, is loneliness. Almost all the men of Greene's intelligence service 'looking after' postcolonial Africa in the seventies, are lonely people. Castle is happily married to Sarah, who knows a little about his work, but he hates being evasive about his work with his son Sam. Colonel Daintry's marriage failed, and his relationship with his about-to-be-married daughter is fraught because of the lies he has to tell. Davis, who fancies himself as a man about town and went into the secret service with James Bond fantasies, is bored and fed up because it's hard to chat up the girls when you can't impress them with your job. And Doctor Percival, who's had an integrity bypass, is an enigma.

The story begins with a discussion about a leak in the department. It's not that the information matters much — not much in Africa matters much, apparently, except that it's important not to upset mining interests which concern the US and UK economies, i.e. gold, diamonds and oil. As C explains to Castle:

'Have you ever wondered. Castle, what would happen in the West if South African gold mines were closed by a racial war? And a losing war, perhaps, as in Vietnam. Before the politicians have agreed on a substitute for gold. Russia as the chief source. It would be a bit more complicated than the petrol crisis. And the diamond mines...De Beers are more important than General Motors. Diamonds don't age like cars. There are even more serious aspects than gold and diamonds, there's uranium.

(Younger readers may need reminding that Thatcher opposed sanctions on apartheid South Africa. This article claims she opposed white rule in South Africa as a sin against economic liberalism rather than a crime against humanity. Well, maybe.)

Still, in Greene's novel, what really matters is the scandal, because after Philby, Burgess and McLean the secret services can't afford another public embarrassment. Their strategy, led but not implemented by the enigmatic 'C', is to identify the culprit, and get rid of him discreetly.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/10/02/the-human-factor-by-graham-greene/ ( )