In this book, Anthony moves to Sweden to work at his sister's boyfriend's company, just before the economic collapse of the Great Depression. Kate's boyfriend Kris is a big business tycoon, very rich, very powerful, and unmindful of his power. Anthony becomes a bodyguard for Kris, and seeks to influence Kris to dress better and do things he enjoys, not just things he feels he has to do in order to maintain appearances. Anthony has made a reputation for himself as a sort of drifter, and Kate takes him under her wing, trying to convince him to settle in near her in Stockholm permanently. While it is not terribly explicit, there is a definite hint that Kate and her brother have been incestuously involved in the past, and Kate seems interested in picking up where they left off. Anthony, though, has moved on, and while not as rich or well-off as Kate, Anthony is able to make good friends and useful acquaintances easily. He finds a girlfriend right away, and makes friends with a reporter who has been covering Kris's company and private life for his paper.
This was a decently crafted novel, where even when you get to where you know how the story has to end, you do find yourself hoping that Anthony will make it to Coventry anyway, to meet up with his nice girlfriend and have a good, safe, long life with her or even just drifting as he has been. The style is a bit different and reminded me of 'beat' style poetry/prose, with wandering perspectives, clever ambiguity, and the sort of dialogue that picks out just certain lines, so that the scenes only slowly resolve as the story progresses. It made for a more challenging read at times, but not in a bad way.

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> Tous les ingrédients étaient là : des personnages contrastés et captivants, une situation qui va crescendo vers le dramatique, une écriture riche et variée… Et pourtant, le mélange a eu du mal à prendre. Faute aux personnages auxquels on aimerait s'attacher encore plus mais qui restent insaisissables. J'ai eu l'impression de ne pas plonger assez profond pour repêcher ces naufragés. Et pourtant…
—Danieljean (Babelio)

> Lecture / Ecriture : https://www.lecture-ecriture.com/7933-Les-naufrag%C3%A9s-Graham-Greene

what was graham thinking? what was I thinking to finish it? ( )

No, no, no, no, no.
Just when I thought Greene had begun to find his stride as a writer and that The Heart of the Matter really was his worst book, England Made Me proves me wrong. There are some great passages - all mostly within the first 30 pages - and then it is downhill from there....plot-wise. Because the story became so boring that I still have problems recollecting what actually happened. And I only just finished the book.
On the positives: Whatever happened between 1934 and 1935, Greene has now realised that female characters are also three-dimensional individuals, and that portraying women in novels as cliched side-kicks is best left to the Ian Flemings* of this world.
"It was true, she always knew; she was his elder by half an hour; she had, she sometimes thought with a sense of shame, by so little outstripped him in the pursuit of the more masculine virtues, reliability, efficiency, and left him with what would have served most women better, his charm."

(* I am aware of the anachronism - but can't help myself comparing Greene and Fleming from time to time.)

Review first posted on Booklikes - http://brokentune.booklikes.com/post/981488/england-made-me ( )

Boring. ( )