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Brighton Rock

Brighton Rock

List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $49.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Evocative, moving, beautifully written
Review: Greene describes Brighton so that I can see it, even though I've never been there. The characters are alive and real to me, even though they are types I have never met in real life. The plot kept me reading as if it were a contemporary thriller. It was creepy and totally engaging. My only problem here, as with all four Graham Greene books I've read, is the Catholic symbolism. I'm Jewish, so I feel really left out. The struggle between good and evil is interesting, but the pressure felt by the Catholic characters not to sin, is something I've never felt, although I am a moral and ethical person.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Concious Evil is Better than Unconcious Good
Review: Greene raises deep questions about good and evil, while telling a relatively interesting story. Evil looks down on good throughout the story because of the characters' philosophies. Is a good person, Greene challenges the reader, really "good" if they are horribly pedestrian and ignorant?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: For Hardcore Graham Greene Fans
Review: Greene's greatest novels explore the moral responsibilities of the average man in unwinnable situations. In these novels, such as "The Power and the Glory" or "The Heart of the Matter", his average men are fully imagined and believable, while his evil characters are often banal and blindly malevolent. This dynamic is topsy-turvy in "Brighton Rock", Greene's first novel, with Pinky, his evil protagonist, fully rendered while Ida Arnold, a force for good, comes across as relentless but ordinary, and not quite there.

Greene, of course, is a brilliant writer and writes an involving tale. But Pinky, his evil teenage protagonist, is somewhat difficult to envision in the real world. He is certainly more interesting than his eruptions of violence, which make him the equal of adults. But his hold on adults doesn't really seem credible. Further, his immaturity shows in his inarticulate moral thinking and mechanical Catholicism. But in Greene's greatest novels, moral obligations and Catholicism raise great issues, even in ordinary people. Finally, there is a major element of suppressed homosexuality in Pinky's nature, which Greene would surely have handled differently in a different era. Regardless, this is a fine book that held my imagination, even as I questioned Pinky's weird, angry, and shallow nature.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Madness & Guilt at The Beach
Review: Having worked my way through about a third of Greene's output, I was quite looking forward to this entertainment about a teenage gangster in 1930s Brighton. At first, the atmosphere met my expectations, with the seedy underbelly of the holiday getaway exposed, with shabby bars, and razor gangs fighting for their slice of the protection rackets. However, the story's themes left me largely unsatisfied, as cardboard characters go through the motions of embodying larger ideas and forces. The book starts with the murder of a corrupt London newspaperman, who is killed by a minor Brighton gang. This gang is led by Pinkie, a 17-year-old sociopath who has filled the void left by the death of the previous leader. Although the newpaperman's murder goes off without a hitch, and the gang appears to be in the clear, problems starts when a hooker with a heart of gold starts poking her nose into the affair. With little to motivate her other than a fleeting connection to the dead man and an awfully stubborn notion of justice, Ida sets out to unmask the truth. Meanwhile, Pinkie's not totally convinced that the gang's tracks are covered and does a little checking around himself. Both PInkie and Ida realize that there is an unwitting witness who, a 16-year-old waitress, named Rose. The story then boils down to a tug-of-war between Pinky and Ida for Rose's loyalty.

Pinkie is a misanthropic pessimist, who looks to violence as the solution to most problems, and is profoundly mentally disturbed, especially when it comes to sex, which a repressive Catholic upbringing has sullied. Ida is his opposite, a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky (and disproportionately represented) type, the hooker who enjoys her work. Pinkie is a brooding thug, with little motivation other than to be on top of the world, preferably with his boot at its neck. Ida is all about carpe diem, living in the moment, and not worrying too much about what tomorrow will bring. Rose sits between them as a naive blank slate, with nothing driving her beyond senseless schoolgirl infatuation. Watching these characters circle each other with scheme and counter-scheme never gets very interesting. They are much much too broad to be believed in, and as vessels of larger themes they never measure up. Nor are the supporting characters of any help, each one more thinly sketched than the one before. It's all very melodramatic, and ends in the only way possible. In interviews, Greene admits his own dissatisfaction with this book. He started it as a straight detective story, and then reconfigured it, which is why the tone veers so strangely partway through.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Morality tale of good and evil that's a real page turner
Review: I enjoy Graham Greene's books and bought some used copies from a street vendor a while ago. I took this one with me to read one day because it was the smallest and shortest one of the bunch. I sure was surprised when I quickly discovered that, although it was only 247 pages long, it certainly did pack a wallop. I think it is my favorite so far and I've read quite a few of this author's books.

Written way back in 1938, it is set in a world that probably exists only in the memories of the Brits who visited Brighton during that year. For those of you not familiar with the place, Brighton is a seaside resort frequented by working class people. There are hotels and restaurants, a racetrack and all kinds of Boardwalk amusements. It is also run by a mob which rivals any in greed and violence. As usual with Graham Greene, there is a theme of good and evil. The boy named Pinkie is bad; the girl he romances named Rose is good. Both are Catholics and the Catholic belief system looms large in this story, adding depth to the excellent characterizations.

The writing is excellent, the descriptions clear and concise. It didn't even take me long to pick up the British slang which included words I had never heard before. There are several murders in this book. And some unforgettable characters. I'll never forget big bosomed good-natured Ida who sets off to solve the murders and save poor Rose's life. There are also some great mob characters.

The title of the book has several meanings. It's not only about the place itself. There's a kind of rock candy sold there that is referred to as Brighton Rock. And one of the themes is that it tastes the same all the way through no matter how far down you eat it. Clearly this refers to the main character Pinkie, who is also referred to as "The Boy" and is rotten right down to his core.

Put all these elements together and the result is an excellent story that gripped me from the beginning and which I couldn't put down until it was finished. And even though I know that the Brighton of 1938 is no more, I sure would like to visit it.

Highly recommended.


Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Brighton Rock Rocks
Review: I enjoyed BRIGHTON ROCK. I had never read anything that Graham Greene wrote before picking up this volume, and I was very impressed by so many aspects of it. On the surface, it's simply a gangster story set around the racetrack of a bustling English vacation town in the 1930s. But there are so many little touches and details that Greene adds that all raise this story up and make it more than just another exciting and gory tale of mob violence.

The plot is perhaps the weakest element of the book, but this is not a story that revolves around its plot. The plot points are merely the catalysts that propel these wonderful characters forward. We meet Pinkie, a mere seventeen-year-old, who has found himself in the unenviable task of becoming the head of a criminal organization that is embroiled in a power-struggle with an even larger, better-funded gang. In his world, Pinkie is fighting not only for dominance in his gang, but also battling for territory and control in the town of Brighton. However, he also encounters a strange conflict from an unlikely source: a fun-loving, cheerful, iron-willed woman by the name of Ida.

Ida comes into the story by the most unlikely of coincidences, and is determined to investigate what she feels is a grave injustice. She plays a great foil to Pinkie's character, even though the two of them rarely meet. The only downside that I saw to this fascinating person was the fact that after her fantastic introduction she seems to be coasting through the rest of the novel on autopilot. For a normal book, this would be perfectly expected, but Greene set the bar very high for himself here, especially with this character's motivation, and it just seems a bit jarring when not everything maintains an equal level of excellence.

Greene brings in quite a lot of thought to this novel. Religion, love, spirituality, and death are not things that one expects to undergo detailed analysis on the pages of a crime thriller, yet Greene approaches all of these with maturity and understanding. Each character (bar a handful) is given believable motivations. There are some plot pieces that are predictable, but that only means that I was daring the characters not to go the way that they did, and genuinely upset when they did unfortunate things, even though I had anticipated them. Greene draws on so many ideas to breath life into his novel. He places familiar concepts into irregular characters, and unfamiliar concepts into regular characters; the results are often wonderful and thought provoking.

As I mentioned, I'd not read a Graham Greene novel prior to this, but I certainly plan on doing so in the future. Greene packed quite a bit of careful thought into this intelligent thriller, and the outcome is as exciting as it is reflective. Gripping and spellbinding, this is definitely worth reading.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Brighton Rock Rocks
Review: I enjoyed BRIGHTON ROCK. I had never read anything that Graham Greene wrote before picking up this volume, and I was very impressed by so many aspects of it. On the surface, it's simply a gangster story set around the racetrack of a bustling English vacation town in the 1930s. But there are so many little touches and details that Greene adds that all raise this story up and make it more than just another exciting and gory tale of mob violence.

The plot is perhaps the weakest element of the book, but this is not a story that revolves around its plot. The plot points are merely the catalysts that propel these wonderful characters forward. We meet Pinkie, a mere seventeen-year-old, who has found himself in the unenviable task of becoming the head of a criminal organization that is embroiled in a power-struggle with an even larger, better-funded gang. In his world, Pinkie is fighting not only for dominance in his gang, but also battling for territory and control in the town of Brighton. However, he also encounters a strange conflict from an unlikely source: a fun-loving, cheerful, iron-willed woman by the name of Ida.

Ida comes into the story by the most unlikely of coincidences, and is determined to investigate what she feels is a grave injustice. She plays a great foil to Pinkie's character, even though the two of them rarely meet. The only downside that I saw to this fascinating person was the fact that after her fantastic introduction she seems to be coasting through the rest of the novel on autopilot. For a normal book, this would be perfectly expected, but Greene set the bar very high for himself here, especially with this character's motivation, and it just seems a bit jarring when not everything maintains an equal level of excellence.

Greene brings in quite a lot of thought to this novel. Religion, love, spirituality, and death are not things that one expects to undergo detailed analysis on the pages of a crime thriller, yet Greene approaches all of these with maturity and understanding. Each character (bar a handful) is given believable motivations. There are some plot pieces that are predictable, but that only means that I was daring the characters not to go the way that they did, and genuinely upset when they did unfortunate things, even though I had anticipated them. Greene draws on so many ideas to breath life into his novel. He places familiar concepts into irregular characters, and unfamiliar concepts into regular characters; the results are often wonderful and thought provoking.

As I mentioned, I'd not read a Graham Greene novel prior to this, but I certainly plan on doing so in the future. Greene packed quite a bit of careful thought into this intelligent thriller, and the outcome is as exciting as it is reflective. Gripping and spellbinding, this is definitely worth reading.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Learning to Play 'The Brutish Game'
Review: I have said it before, and shall say it again - Graham Greene was incapable of writing a bad novel! "Brighton Rock" is yet another miraculous triumph of setting, plot, characterization, thematic unity and everything that makes novels worth reading. In addition, Greene's use of Catholicism and common-sense ethics as coexistent ideologies behind the story, guiding the main characters, gives the novel considerable philosophical weight. One great thing about "Brighton Rock" is that the characters' internal struggles are not simply reducible to good v. evil or right v. wrong, but are asked to distinguish between these two systems.

"Brighton Rock" has two protagonists - Pinkie Brown is a teenage gangster, trying to prove his manhood and establish himself as a serious force in the Brighton underworld. Ida Arnold is a healthy, flirtatious, and determined woman who cannot be dissuaded from any purpose. When corrupt newspaperman Charles Hale is killed by Pinkie's gang, Ida's momentary acquaintance with Hale on a Bank Holiday leads her to pursue the truth surrounding his death. The conflict between Pinkie, who falls into a Calvinist-Catholic defeatism, and Ida, who believes in right and Hammurabian justice(an eye for an eye) shapes the rest of the novel.

Human sexuality and relationships are important facets of "Brighton Rock." Pinkie and Rose, two young Catholics raised in a run-down, predominantly 'Roman' housing project - constantly struggle with maturity, responsibility, and human physicality. While they view sex as 'mortal sin,' Ida, their pursuer, sees it as 'natural,' and celebratory of life. The complex relationship between Pinkie and the equally young and innocent Rose adds further purpose to Ida's mission.

Minor characters like the anemic Spicer, the loyal Dallow, the brusque Cubitt, and the literary lawyer Prewitt, along with Rose's 'moody' parents and his own eternally copulating parents, all complicate Pinkie's inner turmoil - and reveal that Pinkie's supposed manhood is a veil for his inherent weakness and inexperience.

Greene's wealth of literary knowledge also adds texture to the novel as a whole. References to Shakespeare, the 18th century actor and Poet Laureate Colley Cibber, Romantic-era poets like Keats and Wordsworth, Victorian literature (Dickens' "David Copperfield"), and modern magazines and motion pictures casts the novel against a history of British literature. Overall, "Brighton Rock" is typical Greene - expertly written and philosophically provocative.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: sterile
Review: I read this book because Truman Capote (a great writer) claimed it in an interview as a great novel. Boy was I disappointed. Nothing propelled me to keep turning the pages, and the Catholic symbolism in the book was ridiculously incessant, and only something a fanatical converted Catholic like Greene could have included to such a degree. Pinkie holds a wire flower and pierces his palm with it. Well, that is obviously symbolic of the nails through Jesus' hands...but for what purpose to the story, or to that scene that has nothing religious or metaphyscial in it? And while Greene is capable of great writing, I didn't find any of it in this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent, gripping. A facinating study
Review: I was a Graham Greene virgin and my first encounter was hard and awakening. I thought Greene combined psychology and philosophy with pure fiction. It is a book which can be read on many levels, and all will give enjoyment. I myself, am a philosophy and English Literature student and found the relevence to these topics amazing. Anyone else who does philosophy will want to question Hume's ideas and I suggest those who don't study the subject read up on philosophical ideas about human nature. All in all, a facinating book. I have not yet read any other Greene and would be delighted if someone could point me in the direction of another of his works, one possibly with parallels to Brighton Rock. Thanks


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