Travels with My Aunt: Amazon.ca: Graham Greene: Books

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Review

"Rich in exactly etched and moving portraits of real human beings...the tragic and comic ironies of love, loyalty and belief." - V.S. Pritchett, The Times

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With Aunt Augusta, a veteran of Europe’s hotel bedrooms, dull, suburban Henry travels her way through Brighton, Paris, Istanbul, Paraguay and finds himself in a shiftless, twilight society: mixing with hippies, war criminals, CIA men; smoking pot, breaking all currency regulations and eventually coming alive. Greene not only gives us intoxicating entertainment but also confronts us with some of the most perplexing human dilemmas.

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.4 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars A Bittersweet Tale of Middle-Age, Sep 21 2001

By	A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Finally, a Graham Greene book I sort of liked (following disappointing experiences with Stamboul Train and This Gun For Hire)! That said, it's not great stuff, but it's at least fairly entertaining, diverting, and sad. The tale is of Henry, a middle-aged bachelor (and presumably virgin) who has been forced to retire from his bank job after 30 years. He's a total zero, dull and timid, with nothing to look forward to but 30 years of watering his dahlias. At his mother's funeral he meets his Aunt Augusta for the first time since his baptism, and she immediately rocks his world by announcing that his mother was in fact not this biological mother. She then proceeds to disrupt his empty life by insisting on his accompaniment for a various trips, notably a ride on the Orient Express to Istanbul, and a furtive trip to Paraguay. She's old, but with way more zest than her nephew, and their interplay is a clear call for everyone to live life and not let it drift by (carpe diem and all that). Of course, her interpretation of this involves smuggling a gold ingot, running around with a young Sierra Leonian pot merchant, and tracking down her Italian war criminal lover-all while spinning tales of her life and loves. Of course, it's obvious to everyone except Henry that his "aunt" is his real mother, but that the one story which goes untold. In the end, it's hard not to feel sad for the pitiful Henry, whose passive approach to life is characterized as being a product of his upbringing.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Great contrast between the two main characters, Sep 17 2001

By	Sabina "italysabina" (Rome, Italy) - See all my reviews

This is a wonderful book, and its depth -- which is not apparent at first glance -- comes out when you examine the contrast in personalities between Harry and his aunt.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Reminds me of home...., Feb 24 2001

By	E. Jones (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I grew up in Paraguay, where the protagonist of this novel winds up, and Greene does an amusing job of portraying some of the subtleties of living in a dictatorship (like the danger of blowing your nose on the wrong colored handkerchief). It is true that this is not a "great" novel, but if you are fascinated by the journey motif, as I am, it is worth your while to read it.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Alistair Maclean written by Barbara Pym - bon voyage!
'Travels' is not a great novel, not even a great Graham Greene novel. It is flawed, mannered, contrived, old-fashioned, complacent; the work of a writer who has earned his... Read more

Published on Jan 25 2001 by darragh o'donoghue

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining read with amusing characters.
I found this to be an enjoyable, easily-read novel with great characters. Aunt Augusta is a marvellous character and it's fun to follow the changes her nephew Henry undergoes as... Read more

Published on Aug 6 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars A liberating experience... like Greek Mythology.....
This book is about the re-examination of his life by a staid British middle-aged bank manager. At the beginning Harry accepts the conventional ideas of his day and is headed for a... Read more

Published on Aug 5 1999 by H J

4.0 out of 5 stars funny but disturbing
I enjoyed this book but I found it disturbing in the same way that I find Nabokov's "Lolita" disturbing. Read more

Published on Jun 5 1999