THE QUIET AMERICAN
Graham Greene (William Heinemann, 1955; Vintage, 2004) ISBN: 9780099478393
So, ah, have you ever started reading a book you thought was about something completely different than it turned out to be? Because I was under some kind of misapprehension about The Quiet American before I started it. All I really knew about it was that it was made into a movie some time in the early to mid 2000s starring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser. I only know this because I had a cousin involved in the picture, who at the time called his mother to say, “I’ve just met Michael Caine and you’re the only person I can think of who’ll care.” Because this was back before we all had decided Michael Caine was cool again when he started being Batman’s butler and that sort of thing.
I think I had the book confused with The English Patient and possibly some other book that doesn’t exist. Essentially, I knew the plot involved two men in love* with the same woman, but for some reason I believed it involved either a hospital or POWs. This is what a hazy memory for pop culture does to a person. I recommend you all study hard on what the Kardashians and real housewives are up to right now, for it may be tested later.