Orient Express (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Christopher Hitchens (Introduction)
Key Phrases: parcels clerk, Miss Warren, Janet Pardoe, Josef Grünlich (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (September 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0142437913
• ISBN-13: 978-0142437919
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #170,653 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A first-class journey through "Greeneland.", October 29, 2004

By	G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Originally published in 1933 as the Nazi Party was preparing to take power, Penguin Classics recently reissued a new, centenial edition of Graham Greene's classic novel of romance and betrayal, ORIENT EXPRESS, on the 100th anniversary of his birth. While the Orient Express rolls across Europe, from Ostend to Constantinople, Greene's entertaining novel follows the action inside the train. The cast of characters include Coral Musker, a beautiful showgirl; Dr. Czinner, a Communist political exile traveling ingognito; Mabel Warren, an alcoholic journalist; Josef Grunlich, a murderous burglar; and the controversial character (or perhaps more accurately, caricature), Carleton Myatt, a rich, Jewish businessman. While ORIENT EXPRESS probably does not rise to the standards set by some of Greene's other novels (e.g., THE END OF THE AFFAIR; TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT; THE POWER AND THE GLORY), it is nevertheless an entertaining minor novel.

G. Merritt

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disappointment in a microcosmos, August 8, 2006

By	Guillermo Maynez (Mexico, Distrito Federal Mexico) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Of course far from his masterworks, this novel is still better than most which plague the bestsellers lists today. It is one of the first novels written by Greene, on of which he calls "entertainments", to distinguish them from his more serious novels. Nevertheless, here in an early work his recurrent subjects loom already: hope and regret; the moral loneliness of each individual; the inevitability of fate; the consciousness, or lack of it, of good and evil.

A group of people are travelling from Ostende (Belgium) to Istanbul, each one with their fears or illusions. During the long way they meet and interact, love and forget each other. Carleton Myatt, a young Jewish merchant, is on his way to solve a problematic business situation with his employees in Turkey. During the trip he meets and seduces (through kindness and sacrifice) a young starlet of nightclubs who only dreams of love and welfare. Dr. Czinner (sinner?) a socialist revolutionary from Yugoslavia, is on the same train bound for Belgrade, but he is discovered and harassed by Mabel Warren, a British, alcoholic and lesbian journalist. The interaction between the characters creates an increasing tension which is only resolved, for good or evil, when each one of them meets his or her particular fate. Foremost is the heartbreaking story of the young dancer, who loses love in the middle of a snowstorm and political intrigue of which she understands nothing. In this book, Greene lets us see the great qualities that would later lead him to write his great novels.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Greene's best work, February 22, 2006

By	M. Ryan (NY, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have enjoyed a number of Greene's novels, but was disappointed with Orient Express. For a better read and more compelling characters, I recommend Greene's later work including The Quite American, The Comedians or even The Heart of the Matter.