20th Century Its A Battlefield: Amazon.ca: Graham Greene: Books

Product Description

Drover, a Communist bus driver, is in prison appealing his death sentence for killing a policeman during a riot at Hyde Park Corner, a policeman he thought was about to club his wife. A battle rages to save Drover’s life from the noose. The Assistant Commissioner, high-principled and over-worked; Conrad, a paranoid clerk; Mr. Surrogate, a rich Fabian; Condor, a pathetic journalist feeding on fantasies; and Kay, pretty and promiscuous - all have a part to play in Drover’s fate. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

“The most ingenious, inventive and exciting of our novelists... A master of storytelling.” – The Times --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Product Description

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Avoid Razorblades, Sep 12 2000

By	Adam Lampe (Darwin, Australia) - See all my reviews

We are all essentially alone, caught up in our own chemical, physical and social orbits(or "battlefields"), unable to connect with other people or affect our own destinies, like a man on death row. Apparently. Greene plays out a typically existential perspective in terms of the death row simile and, as usual, everything is not as it seems. This is not a story about a man unfairly condemned to death (we never get to meet him), or the machinations of various individuals to get him off. Rather it's about how his situation affects them and, as you can imagine, being part a Greene menagerie, it isn't at all pleasent. The half dozen or so characters we become aquainted with vary wildly in class and preoccupations, and one gets an idea of the variety of London life in the thirties. But they also tend to vary in interest. Undoubtedly, Conrad Drover, the condemned man's brother, is the strongest character: his paranoia provides the only real suspense in the book. But I was rather fond of Condor, a journalist who lives alone above a pub, who creates elaborate fantasy lives which are taken at face value by his friends and workmates. There's a weak section dealing with Condor's landlord, the pub owner, and Drover's sister-in-law going off on a jaunt in the country, a brief and illusory moment of liberation. On the whole, though, this is a poignant novel on the human condition told with Greene's characteristic irony and economy of style.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, Jan 12 2000

By	Frank Bodmer (Aarau, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

The story is about the people who are in different ways involved with the fate of the bus driver Drover who is condamned to death sentence. A clever constructed story which tests all persons who take part of it. The tension bases on the different ways these people manage it. It was astonishing that the main person Drover never appears. Although he acts as the read line. At the beginning it is quite confusing but it is worth finishing it because after seeing it clearly, you will be fascinated.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly surprised by this early work, Jan 29 1999

By A Customer

I read this somewhat early novel by Graham Greene half expecting to find it slow going, but I was pleasantly surprised by the effective, dramatic development of the story, which centers around the people who know a bus driver held for murder.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 5 customer reviews...

Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Stupid
The story was very stupid, I was not able to understand anything. There are so many different places where the story plays that you have to take care not to fall asleep. Read more

Published on Dec 21 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars Portrait of an uneasy city
Greene depicts, through a grey, dreary London, a picture of a society ill at ease with itself, struggling to come to terms with its lack of direction. Read more

Published on Dec 20 2000