Posted: February 19, 2022
Our Man in Havana
Remember that old trope about a regular guy becoming a spy? Graham Greene brings it to life and very convincingly too. I'm detecting a chuckling sound behind the straight-laced prose.
"Our Man in Havana" is set in Cuba. The time is after World War II and before Castro took over - the Cold War era.
The book is about one Jim Wormold, the proprietor of a retail shop selling vacuum cleaners. He’s going on with his life when he suddenly gets drawn to being one of the spies for British Intelligence.
Wormold doesn’t say no because he could use the extra cash, the vacuum cleaner business being far from lucrative and he with a daughter, Milly, to provide for. But Wormold really doesn’t go in for all this spy stuff so he invents nearly all of the intelligence he sends in. This is when the book gets really interesting because he is taken seriously, very seriously, not only by British Intelligence, but by everybody else.
I like reading stories that are about people like me: losers. I am a loser and so is Jim Wormold. Let me clarify what I mean by loser: a person who is not living the life he or she prefers, rather she or he lives the life he or she has to, and makes do.
Jim Wormold is a man whose wife has left him for another man, he is stuck raising a teenage daughter, he is poor in spite of owning a business, and he is middle-aged, maybe in his fifties. Although we are not exactly alike, of course, he reminds me of me. What I like about Jim Wormold - and I hope this is true about me too - is that at core, he is a very decent person.
He gets embroiled in espionage and begins inventing tales for the spymasters. I really admire the presence of mind and the level of calm control that Jim has, especially during the moments when his tomfoolery is in danger of being found out. There is a fatalism in his attitude that allows him to remain calm.
This book has a lot of surprising turns and twists that keep it an interesting read throughout. At one point the tale even becomes borderline supernatural, giving me a wonderful eerie vibe. There were also moments that were laugh-out-loud funny. I found it a very entertaining read.
Aside from that, it makes one think of the systems and structures that surround us, of how these are shaped and given power by people or institutions with ideologies who have the will, resources, and time to support such ideologies. Among the mists and shadows and drama created by ideological belief systems this book suggests, indirectly. about what should be considered important - family, relationships, and people.
Well I’ve read my first Graham Greene and I’m happy to note that I did not waste money on all those other Greene books, even though I did get them at a discount. Solid literary reputation very much deserved.