Where Should I Start With Graham Greene Novels As A New Reader?

With so many classics like 'The Heart of the Matter' and 'Brighton Rock,' picking the best Graham Greene book to read first feels daunting.
2026-07-16 17:45:37
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5 Answers

Tommy Debbie Lamb
Tommy Debbie Lamb
The audiobook of 'Our Man in Havana' read by Jeremy Northam is a delight. It's amusing in a completely funny way and has completely reorientated my perception of the book from rather clever satire to very funny. He's the perfect narrator and sometimes can guide you better into an author’s world than reading the book itself.
2026-07-18
Colleen O'Brien
Colleen O'Brien
It's great that you get to read this for the first time ever! “The Power and the Glory” is one of my favorite books, with that terrible and yet hopeful feel to it. It doesn’t matter which of Graham Greene’s books you read first, as they’re all so easy to follow while at the same time exploring complex themes. Hope you enjoy it!
2026-07-19
Rita Ezeodili
Rita Ezeodili
Much of the criticism regarding Greene’s female characters has focused on their underdevelopment and their function as objects of longing or struggle for male characters. If you find this particularly vexing, The End of the Affair is perhaps Greene’s best attempt at a female point of view. However, as with much of his work, it is seen through the eyes of an obsessive male narrator.
2026-07-20
Martin James
Martin James
No? Ignore all his plays? The Potting Shed is an unusual, and very interesting, play. It is a family mystery which explores a great subject – the loss of faith. It’s not his best work but does show how his themes could be transferred to the stage. Of interest to the completist, mainly as a side track.
2026-07-31
Melissa Reider Hornis
Melissa Reider Hornis
His short stories are good starting points, because they are short and exploratory. His best short story is “The Destructors”, because it is short and devastating. A first novel is often quite bad, so why start with those? If “The Destructors” gets under your skin then you’ll be able to tackle his novels that explore similar themes of chaos, pointless rebellion and the collapse of order.
2026-08-15
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