The Quiet American is a novel I started, thinking I would most likely end up hating. It seemed like it was going to be one of those really terrible, abstract books I was made to read at school. Especially since many people hail it as a 'classic'. I thought I was right until 1/2 way through the book. However, then I started to become immersed in the story. It was maybe a little obvious in the end. But it looks at human life and morality in such a stark way, and it was unsettling and thought provoking.

The Quiet American is almost certainly a provocative book that stands in response to The Vietnam War. The reason I was prompted to read this book is because of my current study interests in The Vietnam War. However, this book offered a much deeper exploration of innocence and human behaviour than I expected. It was far more than simply being a book on the Vietnam War. Graham Greene fails to really get into the Vietnam War. Yes, he places the horrors before us, and the brutality, the deaths and the troops. But the novel is placed 1952-5, really before American involvement became big in Vietnam. However, he uses two seemingly non-military combat individuals to examine how it is not necessarily the troops who are creating the war, how the Western influence was damaging to Vietnam and it did not even need to be through the acts of brutal warfare. It makes it easy to see how this book became so controversial.

Considering that I believed this book was going to be a solid three star read, by the end I was hooked, and shocked and a little unsettled. But it's safe to say, more than anything, this book was unexpected in a very fantastic way. It's very rare that I find time or the inclination to read novels on my areas of interest because I prefer to escape reality when I read for pleasure. But I am definitely glad I found time for this one. And I certainly recommend you read it.