Reading for pleasure

Looking for something good to read between classes? This week’s featured book is Graham Greene’s acclaimed Vietnam novel, The Quiet American. If you like what you read, this book is available for checkout in the library. For more information on Greene’s life or novels you can go to http://members.tripod.com/greeneland/

“At the foot of the ladder I called up to Pyle, ‘It’s me -Fowler.’ (Even then I couldn’t bring myself to use my Christian name to him.) The scene inside the hut had changed. The pans of rice were back on the floor; one man held his rifle on his hip and sat against the wall, staring at Pyle; and Pyle knelt a little away out from the opposite wall with his eyes on the sten gun, which lay between him and the second guard. It was as though he had begun to crawl towards it but had been halted. The second guard’s arm was extended toward the gun – no one had fought or even threatened; it was like that child’s game when you mustn’t be seen to move or you are sent back to base to start again. ‘What’s going on?’ I said. The two guards looked at me, and Pyle pounced, pulling the sten to his side of the room. ‘Is it a game?’ I asked. ‘I don’t trust him with the gun,’ Pyle said, ‘if they are coming.’

“The guards had quietly accepted the loss of the gun. The one lowered his rifle and laid it across his thighs; the other slumped against the wall and shut his eyes as though, like a child, he believed himself invisible in the dark. Perhaps he was glad to have no more responsibility. Somewhere far away the bren started again- three bursts and then silence. The second guard screwed his eyes closer shut.”