Harlot's Ghost

Norman Mailer's Harlot's Ghost, and Robert Littell's The Company draw upon the same content: JFK's philandering, Chicago mobsters, and the CIA fiascos of the fifties and sixties. Both also include many of the same historical figures: Frank Sinatra, Sam Giancana, Johnny Roselli, Jack Kennedy, J. Edgar Hover, Fidel Castro, and many others. Both include a whisper of the supernatural: Littell, the voodoo of the Louisiana Bayou and Mailer, the ghosts of New England. Both are a few hundred pages too long.
They differ, though, greatly in writing style: The Company is brutal in syntax and language; Harlot's Ghost is deeply intellectual and framed within the profound relationship between protagonist, Harrick Hubbard and Kittredge Montague.

The sheer enormity of this novel was challenging at first: 1,282 pages!!! From the very beginning, I wished it came in 2 volumes - it was hard to pick up this book with one hand! I call it One Man's Saga of CIA, going from 1953 (with some flashbacks into earlier history) to 1963. Actual historical figures are not only mentioned but described in detail - CIA, FBI agents and political figures, as well as famous spies like Kim Philby, Burgess, MacLean... And among them, Harry Hubbard, our protagonist, is building his career in CIA, and one of the main reasons he is there is because he has been "intellectually seduced", as suggested by his colleague/friend/lover Kitteridge (also the wife of his CIA mentor and godfather - quite an intricate show more side plot here as well; Kitteridge is also the one who invented a very interesting theory of Alpha and Omega (sort of like Yin and Yang, but with different nuances...) - two parts of everyone's personality - which was used as a tool in her CIA work).

The novel has moments of danger, intrigue, occasional boredom of routine CIA tasks, improbable hypotheses of historical events, and, for me, some real eye-openers of US and world policies at the time. Vivid portraits of Fidel Castro and Jack and Robert Kennedy. Of course, it didn't take just one sitting to finish this book, I had breaks for smaller books in between. And yet, the plot was strong enough for me to be able to keep it in memory throughout. show less

I was especially interested in reading a novel said to be one of the best about the history of the CIA. I was led to it while reading Stephen Kinzer's "The Brothers" (highly recommended), which was about the Dulles brothers in the Eisenhower administration.

This was my first exposure to Mailer. I was very impressed with his imagination, his story telling, his vocabulary, and his character development. He carried me along in ways that few authors have. I did fine with the novel until I reached about page 900 (80% of the book), when I started thinking about the end. But I stuck with it. And it's not unusual for me to put down a book without finishing it!

I do highly recommend that you read the author's afterword at some point before you show more put down the book. I jumped ahead and read it about half way through the book, and it was helpful with my grasp of what Mailer was doing with the characters, and especially why and how he chose to use people's real names in a book of fiction. show less

The only Mailer book I've ever finished. It's not an easy read. In fact, it's extremely slow going at times: the writing is dense and requires attention, but the story is fabulous.

Subtitled "A Novel Of The CIA", the story takes place from the late 1950's through the 1970's, but it's not the typical Cold War spy story. Although there is espionage and intrigue galore, the novel focuses on the effect espionage has on those who participate: how the deceit and manipulation warps the individual and maims his soul.

The last page of the book, published in 1991, declares boldly TO BE CONTINUED. I waited for years, thinking "When do we get the rest of the story, Mr. Mailer?" Sadly, Mr. Mailer has departed this life, and Harlot's Ghost must stand show more alone. show less

Harlot's Ghost is a mammoth novel and most of its spectacular. It is about the life of a CIA agent and is also about alpha and omega - Mailer says every individual is being pulled in two different directions at a particular point in time by his/her alpa (optimistic and masculine) and omega (pessimistic and feminine).

The novel starts off with Harry Hubbard,a CIA agent who has fallen from grace travelling to Russia to solve the mystery behind the dissaperance/possible murder of his mentor Huge "Harlot" Montague (who used to be the heart and nerve centre of the CIA). While in russia, Harry reads through his memoirs of life in the CIA. His memoirs begin with being tested by his eccentric father who works in the CIA. Mountain climbing show more expeditions with Hugh Montague, life in Berlin with Bill Harvey a self styled martini swigging CIA boss, playing two russian agents against each other over a woman in Montevideo,ganizing the Bay of Pigs operation, dating Sinatra and JFK's common air hostess girlfriend and finally the assasination of JFK are all part of Harry's memoirs. there are also epistolary converations with kitteridge (Hugh Montague's wife) with whom Harry embarks on a love affair.

Nearly every character in the novel is explained using the concept of alpha and omega. There are fantastic passages about East-West relations, communism, capitalism, american masculinity, love, fidel castro etc.

The book is a bit tedious at times. But just when you start to get tired with the minute details or long monologues Mailer engages you with a musing on communism or an interesting anecdote.

I recommend Harlot's Ghost whole heartedly. It is not a typical spy novel. It is worth reading if only for the larger than life characters that make appearances in the novel - the Kennedy brothers, Castro, Drezhnisky, Marilyn Monroe, Sam Giancana, Allen Dulles, Howard Hunt and even Lenny Bruce. show less

A fun, if too long novel of the CIA with crosses, double crosses, and lots of intrigue. Does provide us with some interesting insight into the Cold War, and into the world before the Berlin Wall came down. My favorite scenes are the ones actually taking place in Berlin.

I hated this book. I love narrative but I could NOT plow through this. It actually depressed me, and I have no idea why. I might try it again sometime - perhaps it was where I was in my life at the time?