Our Man in Havana: An Entertainment (Twentieth Century Classics)

Book Description

Mr. Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman in a city of powercuts, becomes a spy to earn extra income.

Customer Reviews:

a pleasure.......2007-09-03

Nice to see this classic in print again. Hitchen's insightful forward adds to the pleasure of reading Greene's wonderful "entertainment" again. If you haven't read it yet, do so now!

An Entertaining Footnote to History.......2007-08-11

Graham Greene, a major, well-known 20th century British author, had a very long life, most of the century, and a very long and prolific writing career. He may be best known for "The Third Man," "The End of the Affair," and "The Power and the Glory," but his books were greatly honored, highly-praised by the critics, generally best sellers, and often made into movies. As was "Our Man in Havana," a later work of his, initially published on October 6, 1958, and just re-released. Greene famously divided his books into 'novels,' such as the "Power and the Glory," and 'entertainments,' such as "Our Man in Havana." While working on the book at hand, he wrote to the Indian writer R.K. Narayan, a friend, that he was at work on "a rather hack job, an entertainment called 'Our Man in Havana.' I am getting too old to boil the pot." However, he also wrote to his mistress Catherine Walston in 1956 that "Our Man" was potentially a "very funny plot which if it comes off will make a footnote to history."

The book is set in Havana, Cuba, during the last days of the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, and reproduces time and place very accurately on the page. The plot's reasonably gripping, and resonant. Like his later follower, John LeCarre, Greene had first-hand experience of the British Secret Service. On the recommendation of his lifelong friend Kim Philby, who turned out to be England's most notorious postwar spy/traitor, Greene had served in Africa's Sierra Leone during World War II, and this is a spy story. The lead character is Jim Wormold, an English seller of vacuum cleaners based in Havana. (Everyone can take a moment here to remember Alec Guinness as this character in the excellent movie based on the book.) Wormold is poor and desperate: his wife has left him, and he hasn't enough money to pay his hefty bar bills, let alone keep his beautiful teenaged daughter Milly in her preferred lifestyle. So, without realizing what he's doing, or where it will take him and those he loves, he agrees to become a British spy; "Old Blighty's" man in Havana.

This may be an entertaining entertainment, but not to worry: there's plenty more serious Greene here. His instinctive anti-Americanism, left-wing viewpoints; and jaded cynicism as to the spy's life. His remarkable ability to create characters, even those who don't get many pages, such as Captain Segura, a local policeman/torture enthusiast, with a cigarette case made from human skin. Segura strongly resembles Batista's dread 'enforcer' Captain Ventura, and in his dark glasses and unmarked car, he will turn up again, and again, creating terror in various Latin American countries, most notably in Haitian dictator "Papa Doc" Duvalier's feared "toutons macoute."

Greene traveled widely, as a journalist, and to research his novels. He had great serendipity in his visits: many of them occurred at highly interesting times. "Our Man" was published in October, 1956; on New Years Day 1959 the revolutionary Fidel Castro came down from the mountains. The author set his Vietnamese war novel, "The Quiet American" just before the critical battle of Dien Bien Phu. He set "The Comedians" in the last days of Duvalier's Haiti. He had another stroke of luck: the long American blockade of Cuba has resulted in the country, and the city of Havana, staying much the same as the writer described them nearly fifty years ago.

All in all, think I'd have to go with "a very funny plot which if it comes off will make a footnote to history."

The deadly vacuum-cleaner.......2007-03-03

Wormold has an uneventful but stable life. He is a fortysomething Englishman living in Havana, where he stayed when he fell in love with a Cuban woman who has now left him for good, in the company of their 17 year old daughter, the cyinical, likable, and beautiful Milly. Wormold has a vacuum-cleaner shop, but business hasn't been going well lately, on account of political trouble in pre-Castro Cuba. Every day, at noon, Wormold goes to the bar to have a drink and a chat with his friend, the old doctor Hasselbacher. One day he meets an English stanger who starts harrassing him into becoming a spy for the British MI-6, the intelligence agency. Wormold doesn't really feel like it, him being a peaceful and risk-avoiding guy. But Milly does something silly which puts Wormold in serious economic problem. Plus, the MI-6 is willing to pay for his services, so reluctantly but with no choice, he accepts to spy for the British. As he is no social mingler, he finds nothing to report about, but report he must, if he wants the money to keep coming in. Hasselbacher gives him what seems to be good advice: since the information is to be secret, no one will know it but Wormold, so why not invent everything, including sub-agents whom will also have good salaries and travel expenses? Wormold follow this advice and begins to send fake reports, mainly about a weapons-system "currently being developed" by the Cubans in the Eastern mountains. London is shocked and surprised. Could Wormold provide some blueprints of the weapons? Sure, why not. Little by little, and then at speeding frenzy, things get out of control. Covert sub-agents, both those whose names were just taken from the Country Club directory, as well as those living only in Wormold's imagination, begin to die and suffer attacks. Reinforcements come from London. Wormold doesn't know what to do and he's afraid about sweet Milly, who is wanted as a wife by the chief of police, a noted torturer and corrupt man. What will Wormold do?

This book is as hilarious as you will get. Greene's black humor is wonderful and the characters are all likable in a spoofy way. Unwise recruitment of spies proves disastrous for the British government, but delicious for any reader of this crazy farce, one of the best spies books there are. Greene shows here, as always, a genius for plot and character-development, as well as a humor absent from his bleakest books, like "The Power and the Glory", or "A Burnt-Out Case". Great.

Greene's Spy Spoof Hits Jackpot.......2007-01-15

When a glib British Secret Service recruiter gloms in on a hapless vacuum cleaner salesman trying to make a living and raise a precocious daughter in Havana, the result can only be one thing. Chaos. Daughter Milly flirts with a Hollywood-model Latino torturer and spends far more than daddy makes. Mom has split long ago with some American hotshot from Miami. The action all takes place during Cuba's notorious 1950s Batista regime when guerrillas lurked in the jungled mountains while casinos or whorehouses lured `players' from far and wide. Our man in Havana needs dough and he needs it bad. So what do you suppose a poor, unwilling spy does ? He invents agents (collects their salaries and expenses), hands in fictitious economic data, and even invents weird weapons programs rumored to be coming up in the jungles. London headquarters laps it up. His old German friend tries to warn him that he's getting in over his head. But our man draws designs of Weapon X based on vacuum cleaner parts. London sends him a secretary and radio operator. What an upgrade ! Now he's really up the creek ! The torturer wants to marry Milly. He's got to move fast. But things start falling apart. "The other side" believes that if London is supporting him so well, he must be sending them good stuff. They intercept his messages, decipher his code, and people start getting bumped off. Who is gonna be next ? We reach the climax. All is eventually understood in London, but not quite, old chap. Our vacuum cleaner selling spy is finally promoted out of harm's way. Cushy job at Home, various perks, and then there is the luscious Mrs. Severn. Hmm.

Somehow I missed the novel when it came out, I never saw the film, and now, so many years later, I've enjoyed a great page-turner. OK, maybe it aint great literature, but you will definitely like this one. Very light, very clever, and reminiscent of the way the world usually works. A classic thriller stood on its head, but still captivating. Ripper, Graham !

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Clown.......2006-09-14

Spies should be shown the greatest respect for the work they do and all information sent by them are sacred and should not be doubted!

Even if the drawings of the Secret Weapon look like that of a household appliance.

'Our Man In Havana' is written with a straight "face". You would however be struggling to keep your face straight as you read the book. At a time when I'd just finish the Smiley trilogies and some other spy novels by John le Carre, 'Our Man In Havana' made the spy game seem highly ludicrous and easy. Completely unlike the cold, lonely, intellectually-draining world of George Smiley. However, the book is not without its dark elements, which exist in the form of an influential Captain who so happens to carry a human skin cigarette case.

A light-hearted satirical comedy, 'Our Man in Havana' is delightful in prose and easy to read. The reader grows to like the doting father but George Smiley, he sure isn't. George Costanza, he just could be.

THE COMPLETE ENTERTAINMENTS [6 VOLUME SET; SLIPCASED]: STAMBOUL TRAIN, A GUN FOR SALE; THE CONFIDENTIAL AGENT; THE MINISTRY OF FEAR; THE THIRD MAN; OUR MAN IN HAVANA

Average customer rating:

THE COMPLETE ENTERTAINMENTS [6 VOLUME SET; SLIPCASED]: STAMBOUL TRAIN, A GUN FOR SALE; THE CONFIDENTIAL AGENT; THE MINISTRY OF FEAR; THE THIRD MAN; OUR MAN IN HAVANA
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: Folio Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Nuestro hombre en la Habana / Our Man in Havana: Un entretenimiento / An Entertainment (El Libro De Bolsillo / the Pocket Book)

Average customer rating:

Nuestro hombre en la Habana / Our Man in Havana: Un entretenimiento / An Entertainment (El Libro De Bolsillo / the Pocket Book)
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: Alianza (Buenos Aires, AR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Spanish | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

Our Man in Havana, an Entertainment
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: A Bantam Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Average customer rating:

Our Man in Havana: An Entertainment
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

Our Man in Havana: An Entertainment
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: The Reprint Society Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

Our Man in Havana: An Entertainment

Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Average customer rating:

Our Man in Havana: An Entertainment

Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

OUR MAN IN HAVANA: AN ENTERTAINMENT.
Graham. Greene
Manufacturer: Heinemann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The Complete Entertainments: Stamboul Train, Gun for Sale, Confidential Agent, Third Man, Our Man in Havana. 6 vol. set

Average customer rating:

The Complete Entertainments: Stamboul Train, Gun for Sale, Confidential Agent, Third Man, Our Man in Havana. 6 vol. set
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: The Folio Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

When a novel like Huckleberry Finn, or The Yearling, comes along it defies customary adjectives because of the intensity of the respouse it evokes in the reader. Such a book, we submit, is Old Yeller; to read this eloquently simple story of a boy and his dog in the Texas hill country is an unforgettable and deeply moving experience.

Customer Reviews:

Who hasen't read this great book?.......2007-09-15

I actually got a few chuckles out of this book as well as quite a few tears at the end (who DOESN'T know what happens in the end?) of coarse. From what I can remember about this book, is that you can actually UNDERSTAND the speaking and of their way of life [to a certain extent(thanks Mr. Rayburn)] which makes reading it a whole lot easier. A must-read. For all ages (I think).

Big yellow dog.......2007-03-30

Old yeller is a book in the 1800's.In the book there is a 14 year old boy named Travis.His dad is leaving to go fight in the Civil War and hes leaving Travis in charge.Taking care of his little brother Arliss was like another chore that Travis had to do.When Travis was younger he had a dog named Bell. Bell was bit in the nose by a Rattle snake and he ended up dying.After that Travis swore that he would never get another dog to take Bell's place.But then one day when Travis was out doing his chores he saw a big object in the corn field. He went to see what it was and when he got there it was a big yellow dog and thats how he found Old Yeller.

a big yeller dog.......2007-03-30

old yeller is about a 14 year old boy named Travis.His dad left to fight in the Civil war and he put Travis in charge. Taking care of his little brother Arliss wasnt the easiest job but he still had to do it. Travis had swore that he would never get a dog to replace his dog Bell but one day when Travis was working in the field he saw a big yeller dog and thats how he came up with Old Yeller.

Old Yeller.......2007-03-16

Old Yeller is the beautiful, touching story of a boy and his big "yeller" dog.

When Travis's father goes on a cattle drive, Travis takes over the farm. He takes on a big task and is furious to find a big, one-eared, yellow dog eats thier meat, plays in their drinking water, and runs away when his family is in dire need of help. But Old Yeller proves himself when he saves Travis's litttle brother, Arliss, from a mad mother bear.

I loved reading Old Yeller because the story became real. I love dogs and it was amazing how detailed the story was. It was touching to read about how close Travis and Old Yeller were brought together.

Old Yeller is a classic novel everyone can read. Fred Gipson tells about the love and loyalty the characters possess for one another. I highly recommend this touching story that filled me with emotion and made my day forever.

This Book is GREAT Buy it NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-12-15

The book Old Yeller is about a boy named Travis and he was left in charge of the farm and duties while Pa went on a cattle drive to Kansas. One random day a stray dog showed up at Travis's and wrecked a fence. When Travis found out about what the dog did he wanted to shoot the dog, but Little-Arliss wouldnt let him. At the time Travis didnt want a dog he wanted a horse. Soon to find out he fell in love with the stray and named it Old Yeller. Old Yeller helped out a lot around the farm. He helped watch out for raccoons in the corn fields, he also saved Travis from wild hogs. One day a man came to the cabin to claim Old Yeller. When the man found out where Pa was and how Old Yeller really helped the family he let them keep the dog. Later on in the story Old Yeller gets sick. To find out how he got sick, what has to happen to the dog in the end, if Pa comes home, and to read all the adventures of Old Yeller, Travis, Little-Arliss and the family...Read Old Yeller. I highly recomend it!!!!!!

Old Yeller (Perennial Classics (Tandem Library))

Average customer rating:

Old Yeller (Perennial Classics (Tandem Library))
Fred Gipson
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0613857445

A Guide for Using Old Yeller in the Classroom

Average customer rating:

A Guide for Using Old Yeller in the Classroom
MICHAEL LEVIN
Manufacturer: Teacher Created Resources
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Reading | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1557344272
Release Date: 2004-11-02

Book Description

This resource is directly related to its literature equivalent and filled with a variety of cross-curricular lessons to do before, during, and after reading the book. This reproducible book presents an exciting approach to teaching well-known literature! It includes sample plans, author information, vocabulary building ideas, cross-curriculum activities, sectional activities and quizzes, unit tests, and many ideas for culminating and extending the novel.

Average customer rating:

Old Yeller
Old Yeller
Old Yeller
old yeller is a good book for us to read
Clearly,The Best Book I Have Ever Read!

Old Yeller (Summer Reading Edition)
Fred Gipson
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0060739452
Release Date: 2005-05-24

Customer Reviews:

Old Yeller.......2006-06-02

Old Yeller is a book that has many problems in it, but they always find the solution. I would recomend this book to peope who can handle a very sad ending. This is such a good book I could not think of anything I didn't like about the book. The dog is almost like a body gaurd to them. This book is probably in my top ten books. Maybe even my favorite.

Old Yeller.......2005-10-29

This story is about a boy who os left to be man of the house. But it wasn't as early as he thought, he had to deal with littler arlis and old yeller. My favoratyer charecter is travis becouse he is just like me in almost every way. My only question after reading this book were is the salt licks, and how do i get there. If m friends were here i'd say, 'pude it's soo cool'. the best line in old yeller was "Jupedr! if you don't go out there and finish ploning you're gonna get more of the same understand?But the funniest part was when little arlis gets chace. the only part that i didn't like was that it was sad. its a good book!I recomend you should al least give the but a chance because it's a very hysterical but touching story.

Old Yeller.......2005-10-29

old yeller is a good book for us to read.......2005-01-26

It wa so good i have to tell about it,...

There is a dog that is yellow and is so old. It come to a boy house and then the boy's dad tell him to shot the dog but the boy won't to keep the dog so he does and the boy call him old yeller.

THAT IS THE END

Clearly,The Best Book I Have Ever Read!.......2004-12-26

One night my dad came home while I was asleep with this book.I saw it the next morning and just put it away and then 2 months later I just decided to read it since it looked short.I loved the book!I even cried although I knew what was gonna happen since I had already seen the movie.I loved it.It was like the movie with more scenes and a few differences.I love it.There is nothing like the first time you read this book either.Fred Gipson was a very talented writer!Buy this book!

Average customer rating:

old yeller

Old Yeller
Fred Gipson
Manufacturer: Scholastic Book Services
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000EZ4YSA

Customer Reviews:

old yeller.......2007-02-28

YES i woud recomand this book to everyone i know this. Is a varry good book it is manly about a boy and his relashonship with his dog. Not just that but the respondsibilty that comes with having a dog.In this book it is not like to day it is like way back whin things arnt as easey as they are now. This book has a little famoly that bilt there one home there selves bye a tree and drinking hole for water. this famoly contanes a dad that dose a varry good job at takin cair of his famoly, a mom that dose cook verry good meals, a young boy that thinks life is to have fun and dose not know ane better well manly only because he is 7 but aneways, there is a older boy around i am gessing 16 or 17 some whair around there and hi is trying to grow up and he says life is mosly work and no time for fun and a stray dog that the little boy takes in and the older boy did not whant aneything to do with it. but at the middle on he and the dog becomes best friends but then something tragick happens but i am not going to say what because yall hafto read the book to find out!!!!!!

Average customer rating:

Old Yeller

Manufacturer: Recorded Books, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: 0788746529

Product Description

Between chasing raccoons and skunks out of the corn field and his younger brother Arliss out of the drinking hole, Travis had little time left over to be just an ordinary boy. To make bad matters worse, into the thick of things loped Old Yeller, a crazy, one-eared dog, whose hair under all the fleas and layers of grime was a dingy, matted yellow. To top it all off, he howled like a banshee and stole food from the neighbors. The last thing Travis needed was an ugly renegade dog ... or so he thought.

Old Yeller (Walt Disney's American Classics)

Average customer rating:

Old Yeller (Walt Disney's American Classics)
Walt Disney Productions
Manufacturer: BDD Promotional Books Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Davy Crockett (Walt Disney's American Classics)

ASIN: 0792454561

Greatest Dog Stories: Old Yeller, Sounder, Savage Sam

Average customer rating:

Greatest Dog Stories: Old Yeller, Sounder, Savage Sam
William H. Armstrong , and Fred Gipson
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HB2FZA

Product Description

Three Classic Novels in one Book: Greatest Dog Stories 1. Old Yeller By Fredd Gipson 1956 2. Sounder By William H. Armstrong 1969 3. Savage Sam By Fred Gipson 1962

Old Yeller Walt Disneys American Classic

Average customer rating:

Old Yeller Walt Disneys American Classic
Walt Disney
Manufacturer: Barnes Noble
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0880295686

Brave Boys and Their Pets Set 2 (Rascal, Old Yeller, Sounder, The Summer of Riley)

Average customer rating:

Brave Boys and Their Pets Set 2 (Rascal, Old Yeller, Sounder, The Summer of Riley)
Sterling North , Fred Gipson , William H Armstrong , and Eve Bunting
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books