For Arthur Rowe, the trip to the charity fete was a joyful step back into adolescence, a chance to forget the nightmare of the blitz—and the aching guilt of having mercifully murdered his sick wife. He was surviving alone, aside from the war, until he happened to guess both the true and the false weight of the cake. From that moment, he finds himself ruthlessly hunted, the quarry of malign and shadowy forces, from which he endeavors to escape with a mind that remains obstinately out of focus.
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A master thriller and a remarkable portrait of a twisted character. -- Time
From the Inside Flap
For Arthur Rowe the charity fête was a trip back to childhood, to innocence, a welcome chance to escape the terror of the Blitz, to forget twenty years of his past and a murder...Then he guesses the weight of the cake, and from that moment on he?s a hunted man, the target of shadowy killers, on the run and struggling to remember and to find the truth.
--This text refers to an alternate
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105 of 107 people found the following review helpful
By Claude Avary
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
British author Graham Greene divided his early novels into two distinct groups: `serious' novels, like "The End of the Affair," "Brighton Rock," and "The Power and the Glory"; and `entertainments,' his term for his espionage and suspense thrillers. This second group includes "A Gun for Sale" (U.S. title: "This Gun for Hire"), "Stamboul Train," "The Confidential Agent"...and "The Ministry of Fear." Looking back on Greene's long career, this distinction seems very artificial and almost silly; it perhaps made market sense back then, but Greene's entertainments are every bit as serious-minded as his non-genre work. These books are in no way lightweight time-wasters. They are as concerned with character, drama, and the human condition as any of his other books. In fact, I honestly prefer his entertainments; through the mode of the thriller, they actually stab deeper into the reader's mind.
"The Ministry of Fear," published in 1943 when World War II was raging in London's skies, is perhaps Greene's finest entertainment and my personal favorite of his novels. Greene produces here a quintessential noir novel using a premise we often associate with Alfred Hitchcock's films: an innocent man accidentally stumbles upon a secret that turns him into a man marked for death and hunted by the law. However, Greene's main character, Arthur Rowe, is hardly innocent. He is a solitary, lonely individual who harbors a deep guilt over a crime he committed in the past. When he speaks the wrong phrase to a fortune-teller at a fair, he suddenly finds himself the target of a shadowy group of spies in London -- the Ministry of the title. Soon he's fleeing through blitz London, framed for murder, desperate and near-suicidal, but harboring an anger toward the people who have tried to kill him.
Suddenly, Greene pulls a massive plot switch on the reader. The novel makes an abrupt shift that alters the whole nature of the plot. Rowe's story becomes that of possible redemption and the washing away of past sins..but at the expense of feeling whole and complete. To say much more would ruin the surprises of the novel and the internal odyssey of the main character. It's one of the most fascinating moral and character-driven thrillers ever written. And the backdrop of war-torn London, facing daily rains of bombs, is astonishing. It's almost a fantasy world, albeit a horrific one.
Greene's language can sometimes feel too exact and literary for some readers' tastes -- he certainly writes nothing like today's typical churner of bestsellers -- and his peculiar 1940s British terms may cause some head-scratching for American readers. However, Greene had a magical way of expressing ideas that anyone can relate to. He writes in flashes of truth that can make the reader shiver with realization. Only the greatest authors can do this, and Greene does it over and over again in "The Ministry of Fear."
If you've only read Greene's non-genre novels, I urge you to delve into "The Ministry of Fear." It will make you wonder why Greene even bothered to divide up his books. For any lover of thrillers, espionage stories, or World War II, this book will fill all your needs and give you much more in the bargain.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
to one another. To live is to remember and to remember is to live. To die is to forget and to forget is to die." Samuel Butler
I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it has taken me close to three score years to pick up and read a book by Graham Greene. On the other hand, I now have quite a few books I can now add to my to be read pile.
I purchased this book after reading Alan Furst's Introduction. I very much like Furst's work (See Dark Voyage: A Novel) and, after reading that Furst was influenced by Eric Ambler I worked my way thought Ambler's works with a great deal of pleasure (See A Coffin for Dimitrios). In the Introduction to Ministry of Fear, Furst mentions that Greene was another key influence. So I was sold, and, more importantly, I was not disappointed.
As in Ambler and Furst's books The Ministry of Fear gives us an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary situation. Arthur Rowe is an ordinary man, albeit one with a troubled past. He is described by Greene as a tall stooping lean man with a narrow face and whose clothes were good "but gave the impression of being uncared for; you would have said a bachelor if it had not been for an indefinable married look." Set in the early days of WWII, the blitz has just begun and Rowe finds himself in a charity fete. Rowe finds himself paying a few pence to have his fortune told and through a strange quirk of fate utters a phrase that puts him right in the middle of an espionage ring.
The story takes off from there. The cast of characters introduced by Greene should be familiar to anyone who has read Ambler, Buchan, or Furst: the stolid police detectives, the sinister and inscrutable foreign spies and assorted hangers on; and the lovely lady who may be friend or foe. But what Green does here that I find so intriguing is to turn a rather generic story line into a brilliant examination of something entirely different: how memory and forgetfulness either free us or enslave us.
The heart of the book for me was not the story line itself. [Note: possible spoiler follows.] About half way through the book we find that Arthur Rowe had been hurt during the blitz and was suffering from amnesia. As the story continues we see not only the plot develop but witness the transformation of Arthur Rowe. As noted earlier, he had been haunted by an earlier tragedy and, to my mind; this tragedy had totally enslaved Rowe. He was a prisoner of his own guilt and his thoughts and actions were constricted by that guilt. Now that the balance between memory and forgetfulness had shifted so to had Rowe's thoughts and actions. Given a new name he truly became a new person and as his memory starts to return Greene presents us with Rowe force to make a conscious decision as to whether his memory will continue to enslave him. Rowe's decision and the actions that follow take us through the book's satisfying conclusion.
"I have done that", says my memory. "I cannot have done that" -- says my pride, and remains adamant. At last -- memory yields." So said Friedrich Nietzsche and Graham Greene has taken that theme and run with it with great skill and with great delight to the reader.
Highly recommended. L. Fleisig
I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it has taken me close to three score years to pick up and read a book by Graham Greene. On the other hand, I now have quite a few books I can now add to my to be read pile.
I purchased this book after reading Alan Furst's Introduction. I very much like Furst's work (See Dark Voyage: A Novel) and, after reading that Furst was influenced by Eric Ambler I worked my way thought Ambler's works with a great deal of pleasure (See A Coffin for Dimitrios). In the Introduction to Ministry of Fear, Furst mentions that Greene was another key influence. So I was sold, and, more importantly, I was not disappointed.
As in Ambler and Furst's books The Ministry of Fear gives us an ordinary man thrust into an extraordinary situation. Arthur Rowe is an ordinary man, albeit one with a troubled past. He is described by Greene as a tall stooping lean man with a narrow face and whose clothes were good "but gave the impression of being uncared for; you would have said a bachelor if it had not been for an indefinable married look." Set in the early days of WWII, the blitz has just begun and Rowe finds himself in a charity fete. Rowe finds himself paying a few pence to have his fortune told and through a strange quirk of fate utters a phrase that puts him right in the middle of an espionage ring.
The story takes off from there. The cast of characters introduced by Greene should be familiar to anyone who has read Ambler, Buchan, or Furst: the stolid police detectives, the sinister and inscrutable foreign spies and assorted hangers on; and the lovely lady who may be friend or foe. But what Green does here that I find so intriguing is to turn a rather generic story line into a brilliant examination of something entirely different: how memory and forgetfulness either free us or enslave us.
The heart of the book for me was not the story line itself. [Note: possible spoiler follows.] About half way through the book we find that Arthur Rowe had been hurt during the blitz and was suffering from amnesia. As the story continues we see not only the plot develop but witness the transformation of Arthur Rowe. As noted earlier, he had been haunted by an earlier tragedy and, to my mind; this tragedy had totally enslaved Rowe. He was a prisoner of his own guilt and his thoughts and actions were constricted by that guilt. Now that the balance between memory and forgetfulness had shifted so to had Rowe's thoughts and actions. Given a new name he truly became a new person and as his memory starts to return Greene presents us with Rowe force to make a conscious decision as to whether his memory will continue to enslave him. Rowe's decision and the actions that follow take us through the book's satisfying conclusion.
"I have done that", says my memory. "I cannot have done that" -- says my pride, and remains adamant. At last -- memory yields." So said Friedrich Nietzsche and Graham Greene has taken that theme and run with it with great skill and with great delight to the reader.
Highly recommended. L. Fleisig
19 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Set in England during WWII, The Ministry of Fear is the story of Arthur Rowe surviving but not truly living in the shadow of what was once his life. He finds himself hunted by shadowy forces of espionage and the memory of having mercifully murdered his sick wife. Somewhat convuluted at times and not Greene's best effort, but still brilliant and heart tugging. Greene's fire always burns brightest when he speaks to the heart and not of cloak and dagger stuff.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grahm Greene is the best
Evelyn Wa and Grahm Greene- the best. Cant get enough- got 15 books for myChristmas. Hard to get copies-Great book.
Published 1 month ago by don longenecker
4.0 out of 5 stars
Seventy years on, this still sends chills down your spine
Put on an extra sweater when you sit down to read a Graham Greene novel because you are about to be chilled. Read more
Published 9 months ago by keetmom
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superior and entertaining intrigue with emotional depth
In his introduction to THE MINISTRY OF FEAR, Alan Furst declares that a hero on a classic path in a literary spy novel "... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Ethan Cooper
4.0 out of 5 stars
"One can't love humanity. One can only love people."
Graham Greene wrote THE MINISTRY OF FEAR in 1943, while he was serving as chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service station at Freetown, Sierra Leone. Read more
Published 22 months ago by R. M. Peterson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Relatively Light and Cheerful Among His Works; Good Place to Start
"The Ministry of Fear," (1943) is a British spy story/crime drama/thriller by much honored twentieth century British author/screen writer Graham Greene (The Third Man, The end of... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Stephanie DePue
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Greene
A kind of dark "Through the Looking Glass" story of one person's experience in World War II London. Greene excels in placing an ordinary character in dramatic, historical... Read more
Published on May 22, 2011 by Doctor Moss
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice flow
I like Greene's writing. While he takes you to different lands in each of his books (which necessitates the addition of some archaic vocabulary)the stories just flow. Read more
Published on April 26, 2011 by Hematite
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good yarn
Proceeds in a surreal fashion, predicting Orwell's 1984 in many respects. A good read, particularly if you like Greene's brand of writing.
Published on March 1, 2011 by E.J. Kaye
5.0 out of 5 stars
Grahame Greene's novel is a tour de force of World War II noir spy...
It is a pleasure to turn to the novels of Graham Greene (1904-91) the famous twentieth century British novelist. Read more
Published on February 17, 2011 by C. M Mills
5.0 out of 5 stars
A spy thriller at its subtle best
Graham Greene was a very talented and prolific twentieth century writer, perhaps best known for his novels The End of the Affair and the Third Man, both of which were made into... Read more
Published on January 22, 2010 by Deborah Barchi
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