Brighton Rock [Paperback]

Pinkie is a misanthropic pessimist, who looks to violence as the solution to most problems, and is profoundly mentally disturbed, especially when it comes to sex, which a repressive Catholic upbringing has sullied. Ida is his opposite, a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky (and disproportionately represented) type, the hooker who enjoys her work. Pinkie is a brooding thug, with little motivation other than to be on top of the world, preferably with his boot at its neck. Ida is all about carpe diem, living in the moment, and not worrying too much about what tomorrow will bring. Rose sits between them as a naive blank slate, with nothing driving her beyond senseless schoolgirl infatuation. Watching these characters circle each other with scheme and counter-scheme never gets very interesting. They are much much too broad to be believed in, and as vessels of larger themes they never measure up. Nor are the supporting characters of any help, each one more thinly sketched than the one before. It's all very melodramatic, and ends in the only way possible. In interviews, Greene admits his own dissatisfaction with this book. He started it as a straight detective story, and then reconfigured it, which is why the tone veers so strangely partway through.

"Heaven was a word: Hell was something he could trust."

Pinkie is not just a bad guy, he is a teen so twisted by evil that he willfully chooses damnation over salvation. He's an archetype, yes, but very compelling, a flip side to the flawed cleric of Greene's "The Power And The Glory" for whom observance of Catholic ritual nevertheless steers him along the right path. For Pinkie, Catholicism is no less universal a truth, but a concept only adhered to in the negative, at least after an encounter with razor-wielding toughs forces him to realize he can't expect himself to make that last-minute plea for divine forgiveness he had been counting on.

"Brighton Rock" starts out strongly, with the last hours of a man on the run, before introducing us to the trinity of characters that steer the plot, Pinkie; his unfortunate girlfriend Rose, who invests her evil beau with all her Catholic-honed faith; and the secular, lusty Ida who, because of a chance encounter, decides to avenge one of Pinkie's victims.

Greene writes with passion and an eye for detail that reveals greater designs. There's also a black humor in the book, as Pinkie shows himself time and again the servant of his inner bile to the virtual exclusion of common sense. Greene describes the coastal British getaway of Brighton in crunchy detail, and there's a nice verisimilitude to his dialogue that anticipates Anthony Burgess's later examination of juvenile thuggery, "A Clockwork Orange," without the futuristic component. ["Brighton Rock" is set in the 1930s, when the novel was published.]

The only weakness of the book as I see it is that it takes a while to get started. There's a good 100 pages of scene-setting, and Ida doesn't make for a compelling character when she's not moving the plot, so her sections tend to drag a bit, at least until she starts getting after Rose about what Pinkie's really about. Since Greene writes his book as a mystery, this early lack of dramatic undertow costs the narrative in terms of readability, at least for a while.

But Pinkie and Rose, as they develop, more than make up for this. There's an element of melodrama in her sad devotion to his evil cause, but it's effective. Greene makes clear in his careful, empathetic way how sad Rose's life has been before she found herself receiving the attentions of a young tough she mistakes for true love. She creates the sympathetic center of the novel, while Pinkie forms a counterbalance of true malice, a man so twisted even basic human lust is lost on him. Even Shakespeare's Richard III could charm, but Greene's development of Pinkie's character is stunning for the simple fact he delves deeper into Pinkie's psyche while avoiding the slightest pretense of sympathy.

As a mystery, "Brighton Rock" finds itself in the second half, then takes off toward a conclusion that is actually quite gripping. What makes this book great is its exploration of the human character, and of the Catholic philosophy of good and evil. "Brighton Rock" is an obvious starting point for understanding Greene's attitude toward spirituality and man, and a powerful message of faith even by a negative example.