The Quiet American was my bus book during my junior year at USF. I would keep it with me at all times, in a pocket or backpack and pull it out whenever I had a few minutes. I tackled most of it commuting from my comfy university-controlled apartment in the Richmond to my service learning volunteer gig at California Prison Focus in the heart of the Mission district and back again. It was my first Greene novel and I was so enthralled I bought two more before I had finished this one. The setting captured my interest from the beginning, and my reading was certainly informed by my visit to Sam in Cambodia and Vietnam a few years earlier.
The story is told from the perspective of a Britisher covering the early news of the Vietnam war. His personal and professional allegiances and beliefs develop and evolve when his passive journalistic role threatens a young idealistic American who comes to Saigon with more active plans. Greene based his characters and plot onchis own experiences as a reporter and government agent in various conflicts, including Vietnam.
One of these days, I'll re-read it in a nice comfy, stationary armchair; but somehow I think the bus fits this novel better.
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