"The Heart of the Matter" by Graham Greene

Just finished The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene. Known for his espionage novels, Greene received recent notoriety in the movie Donnie Darko, when the class was assigned his short story The Destructors. Kitty Farmer, the bitch who taught the Jim Cunningham "Fear" curriculum, thought the short story contributed to the vandalism at the high school . When Rose Darko asks her if she even knows who Graham Greene was, Kitty answers, "Well, I think we've all seen Bonanza."

Anyway, I enjoy Graham Greene novels, but this was really different. He really brings the reader into the mind of Major Scobie, the Asst Superindendant for some west african country during WW2. Scobie is honest in a graft and fraud corruption colony. He loves his wife, and god. But he has doubts. he doubts his own goodness, and he doubts god's existence, or at least god's grace. he borrows money from a Syrian smuggler to send his wife to South Africa, where she will be happy - he loves her that much. He has now compromised himself with the smuggler, but is intent on remaining honest and paying off the debt without any kickbacks or favors. But he falls in love with a widowed young woman, Helen, who lost her husband in a U boat attack. His wife returns home refreshed. He now realizes he cant love both women and be good to both of them. he cant bear the thought of being without Helen. His letter to Helen professing his love ends up in the hands of the smuggler - he has to do a favor for the smuggler to get it back. Now he is compromised big time. he is convinced his "boy" (black servant) is a double agent for the smuggler - the boy turns up dead and he feels responsible. He is convinced now that god is impossible for him to approach or receive forgiveness from. He decides to kill himself, make it look like a heart attack (get, the "heart" of the matter) and leave life insurance money for his wife. That's his solution to his conflict of love and obligation to both women. His death is almost christ like, dying for his sins, the sins of the miserable colony he has lived in for too long. After his death, his wife concludes that his death was in fact a suicide even though it is officially natural causes. she gets the insurance. She is convinced that he did not love her, that he borrowed money from the smuggler for other purposes, that he did not love Helen, that he was corrupt, and that he was not capable of loving god. So she got it wrong: Scobie was a man who did love, who tried hard to meet his obligations, who suffered because of his extramarital sin, who loved Helen, who tried hard to be the one honest person in this miserable colony, and who took very seriously god's love or lack of it. Scobie was all heart, and his heart killed him figuratively - he did not live his life as shallowly as those around him, and this killed him.

Great book. His writing is amazing, his vocabulary, his sentence structure, his exploration of the interior of Scobie's soul - outstanding.