The Heart of the Matter

By: Graham Greene

Narrated by: Michael Kitchen

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Scobie, a police officer in a West African colony, is a good and honest man. But when he falls in love, he is forced into a betrayal of everything that he has ever believed in, and his struggle to maintain the happiness of two women destroys him.

©1971 Graham Greene (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Amazing writing

Guilty, whacked character -- but how beautifully and expressively Greene writes about him. Absorbing, depressing.

if...

I could express what I have come to know of the world in the time I have been in it, this book would be that. I loved it.

Greene and Michael Kitchen are a perfect combo

What made the experience of listening to The Heart of the Matter the most enjoyable?

Anyone familiar with Foyle's War will immediately "see" Scoby. Michael Kitchen brought this character to life. An excellent reading of this dark tale.

What did you like best about this story?

It was evocative of the far-flung British empire and the people who lived in the farthest outposts. The ennui was palpable.

great book

loved the story characters and michael kitchen's reading
scobie was a fascinating character
complex and strangely obsessed with roman catholic ambiguities

Graham Greene and Michael Kitchen Wonderful

Graham Green provides an intense story and Michael Kitchen a flawless reading. Much of it must be understood as a product of its time (a British African colony in early WW II), but the characterization is timeless.

Kitchen is perfect for Greene's style and cadence

If you could sum up The Heart of the Matter in three words, what would they be?

Brilliant. Sobering. Deep.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, because of Scobie's attempts to reconcile circumstance, love, faith, justice, duty, conscience, lust, and opportunity.

Which scene was your favorite?

Scobie first meeting the shipwreck survivors

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me think.

Any additional comments?

Please get Michael Kitchen to record The Power and the Glory and Brighton Rock, Graham Greene's other serious morality books. The current readers of those two absolutely pale in comparison to Kitchen.

Great Book

I love how Graham Greene wrote his books. I feel like I'm in the head of a real person, a real, imperfect person. It's fiction that is real.

Michael Kitchen’s performance brilliant

Michael Kitchen’s performance captures the dramatic brilliance of Graham Greene’s masterful dialogue and cinematic narrative. The book addresses whether a Catholic person can be redeemed or receive God’s absolution if the person dies by suicide? This is a beautifully written book that broaches mortal sins that protagonist, Major Scobie wrestles. As Father Rank tells Scobie’s wife at the end, “(D)on’t imagine you—or I—know a thing about God’s mercy. . . . The Church knows all the rules. But it doesn’t know what goes on in a single human heart.”

Good book

it was beautifully written and a wonderful description of Colonial West Africa. The characters were real and powerful. Michael Kitchen was the perfect narrator. But the ending ruined it for me.

Starts Very Slowly then Boom!

The writing at the beginning is terse, almost minimalist, and dryly British. Scenes jump from one to another with no unnecessary transitional words. Relationships are dry. Then signs begin to appear pressure, and this pressure very slowly builds. Halfway through I did not think I was going to enjoy this book, but then the sweat appears on the dry Brit. The outside temperature is logged daily while the inner stresses become unbearable.

This book is subtly illustrates pity as the most destructive form of pride, destructive to both the subject and the object.
The novel also examines choice and honor vs faith and obedience.

If you start this book, give it time, the powerful ending requires the dry beginning. This, like all my favorite books, led me to ask questions I had never thought of and left me thinking about the story long after the end.