Tuesday, March 03, 2009

The Human Factor - post IV

I had hoped to finish this today but in a way it's not such a bad thing that I get to enjoy it tomorrow. Greene slips in twist after twist as he unpeels his characters like onions. At their centre are their real emotions and the feelings that they all have - hence the title.

Castle's mistake is to love too much and to keep the loyalty going even after the ability to protect himself has gone.

Of all the books I have read that touch on the subject of apartheid this is one of the most powerful. The south African Muller simply cannot understand why anyone would want to see an end to the race laws even when the oddity of extreme hatred is exposed in another climate.

There are also plenty of jokes at the expense of Ian Fleming with the mundane cruelty of the real secret service being something quote different from the world of James Bond.

What will happen to Castle? But also what will happen to the others? Final chunk tomorrow...