Relief Reads 23 - The End of the Affair

The end of the affair by Graham Greene

Charity Shop: Better World Books

Charity: Better World Books is an online store that shares its profit with literary charities. The profits from this book went to Scottish Book Trust. In addition to this, for every book bought, BWB donate a book to someone in need through Books for Africa and Feed the Children

Price: N/A - Christmas present

Book Blurb: The novelist Maurice Bendrix's love affair with his friend's wife, Sarah, had begun in London during the Blitz. One day, inexplicably and without warning, Sarah had broken off the relationship. // It seemed impossible that there could be a rival for her heart. Yet two years later, driven by obsessive jealousy and grief, Bendrix sends Parkix, a private detective, to follow Sarah and find out the truth.

Expectation: Fairly light hearted although possibly a bit deeper based on the whole jealous lover aspect.

Reality: Pretty deep, exploring the concepts of love and faith. It's written from the PoV of Maurice who is horrible, but he's aware of that and recognises his faults but then does nothing to change just gives up.

Overall Rating

It was a struggle           2        3        4        5        6        7        8       9      Gripping page  

to make it                                                                                                        turner

I did get absorbed by this book. I was reading this when dining solo. It can be a bit awkward eating out alone, but I get so into this book I didn't care. Although if copying me, I should recommend some dish that only involves one hand to eat because then you eat and read simultaneously as reading requires one hand to hold the book unless you have superpowers.

Twist Scale:

Knew the beginning,                                                                                 As twisty as the 

middle and end         2       3        4         5       6        7        8        9      bendy wendy road

from the first line

The reason Sarah had for breaking off the relationship I wouldn't have guessed. But then it is written from the PoV of Maurice who is so consumed with jealousy and insecurity who presents a warped view of Sarah. You get Sarah's PoV later in the book, I won't explain how. There are also parts where I was thinking surely he wouldn't do that and then he does.

Tear-jerker Scale:

 As dry as a house       2        3       4         5         6         7       8        9     Cried an ocean

 throughout

The ending is sad, but depressingly so rather than teary-eyed so. It's written from the PoV of Maurice who is a bit weird so hard to get that emotionally involved.

Main Character(s): Maurice - utterly self-absorbed and jealous man. He recognises his faults and although he acts particularly maliciously at times you feel sorry for him by the end. The second part of the book also involves his struggle with being convinced that God doesn't exist and yet it becomes more and more obvious he does. He ends with conceeding God's existance but pushing him away which is supremely sad. Last sentence: "I'm too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone forever". Don't let that be the conclusion to your life.

Moral of the Story: I'm not really sure. I couldn't tell if the author is Christian or not. God seemed to be presented as a love rival rather than the fount of all love. It's a very thought provoking book, I'd love to discuss it, but don't think I can boil it down into an easy moral.

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Coming up: My reading drought has left me with a surplus of books to chose from. I'm thinking possibly The girl named disaster, but tune in next time to find out!

I'm going to stop putting summaries of my life on t'internet so much, not that I was very good at it before. However I am up in Newcastle (upon Tyne for you midlanders out there) and have space for visitors so if you (presuming I know you in real life) want to come on a trip to the North East I would highly recommend it and then you can have a catch up on my life in person :-)