The Human Factor

By: Graham Greene

Narrated by: Tim Pigott-Smith

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

When a leak is traced back to a small sub-section of SIS, it sparks off security checks, tensions and suspicions - the sort of atmosphere where mistakes could be made. This novel opens up the lonely, isolated, neurotic world of the Secret Service.

©1978 Graham Greene (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

No one as great as Graham Greene,

A splendid Cold War tale full of great characters and a slow starting but untimely driving narrative.

definitely not James Bond

Greene details the mundane, human workings (physical and psychological) of a small group of MI6 workers during the detente years of the Cold War. These civil servants "listen" to Southern Africa, including apartheid era South Africa. All have to some degree or none a personal life. The main character is married to a former "contact" he worked in a South Africa township.

The novel is very British in setting and tone. An antidote to James Bond fantasy, it doesn't have even the physical action/suspense of a Lecarre. But magnify Lecarre's intense characterization and psychological tension to come close to Greene's espionage. The psychological tension builds very slowly until the last third of the novel. It's not as politicized as Greene's Quiet American, but like that novel, it concerns morality and amorality of choice, as individuals and collectivities. Irony abounds.

Don't download this for "happily ever after" mindless escapism; however, it is an engrossing listen, and to my ears, one of the best narrated audiobooks I've heard.

Disappointing Greene, but superbly narrated

Alternately reading this and listening to it -- going back and forth, depending on where I was at the time -- I was so let down that I began to wonder whether the Greene novels I'd devoured years ago -- both his serious stuff and his so-called entertainments -- were really this fakey and artificial. I'll refrain from going into detail (as this title doesn't seem to be available on Audible anymore, and this comment seems destined not to be posted), except to note that the characters, action, and dialogue (there is plenty of the latter, in fact the book seems to be largely conversation) all seem as unconvincing as a Hollywood spy movie, as is the highly unlikely biracial love story on which the plot hinges. But Pigott-Smith does a magnificent job narrating, and it's a privilege to hear this talented actor speaking lines that seem far less believable on the page.

A human drama well performed

This isn’t just some spy novel, it is a human drama written as beautifully as the works of Trollope, Maugham, and Richard Yates. Greene is a master of dialogue that comes from an intuition that creates the authentic voice, the psychological make-up of his characters. He paints a lush narrative and a sweeping plot building tension steadily to the unsettling end.

Devastating. Marvelous.

I adored the prose. It’s absolutely gorgeous. The narrator was excellent. The story was surprising and suspenseful. What’s not to love? Get it!

One of the best

Classic Graham Greene and an extraordinary reading by the narrator. Top of the top. Get it.