Brighton Rock
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21 July 2022 - Novi Vinodolski
Tuesday night we arrived here in our holiday destination, Croatia, and began enjoying the salt water and the warm weather. Sunning myself on the beach yesterday I began a book I'd been saving for just such an occasion: Brighton Rock by Graham Greene. Greene, being dead, will not be writing anymore novels so I'm saving the ones I've yet to read for the right time. Since it's quite a bit hotter in Brighton right now (record heat wave all across Britain) it's also someone ironic that I'm reading it now in the much milder Mediterranean. Greene's gangster tale in the 30's seaside town is something of a wandering tale as the omniscent observer narrating follows the stories of several different characters who eventually are intertwined. One is trying to solve a murder mystery while another is coming of age in a culture of violence. Others are men past their prime or trying not to get murdered. It touches on many of the human flaws available to us and gives a running commentary of the Catholic interpretation. Published in 1938 the antisemetic description of one gangster juxtaposed with graphic description of a funeral at a crematorium is jarring to say the least but would liekly not have seemed off to contemporary readers. Perhaps the connection is too strong in my head from nonfiction I've read this year and after visting Auschwitz. While not Greene's best work I can't say that I didn't enjoy it here in the sun.
