The Quiet American cover

The Quiet American

Graham Greene

272 pages

1 reader has this on their shelf

About this book

This novel is a study of New World hope and innocence set in an Old World of violence. The scene is Saigon in the violent years when the French were desperately trying to hold their footing in the Far East. The principal characters are a skeptical British journalist, his attractive Vietnamese mistress, and an eager young American sent out by Washington on a mysterious mission.

Themes
Dark & BroodingThought-ProvokingPhilosophy & Big IdeasQuietly DevastatingMysteriousInnocence versus experienceThe cost of idealismMoral ambiguity in war
Readers also loved
A reading companion

Want books that hit like
The Quiet American?

Spine learns your taste and hands you books you'd never have found on your own. Each one comes with a reason.

You're on the list.
Want to try it now? Ask for a shelf →