Rating: 
Summary: Subtle and elegant
Review: Read all the Graham Greene novels- this ranks among his best, with The Heart of the Matter and The Power and the Glory. No, Bendrix is not a very sympathetic character (nor is Sarah, in my opinion). A more important quality of Bendrix is his recognition of his own pettiness and vindictiveness, and his resistance to the signs of Sarah's conversion. I have read this deceptively simple book over and over, and it nevers fails to be affecting. Evelyn Waugh's appreciation of this work should be enough recommendation.
Rating: 
Summary: A rarity--the movie was superior!
Review: Rarely do I find the movie adaptation of a novel superior to the novel itself, but that is the case with "The End of the Affair." Perhaps it's because I saw the movie first and thus formed certain opinions in my mind before reading the book, but that has not been the case with other book/movie combinations. My main problem was that I could not sympathize with Bendrix, who narrates the story of his love affair with Sarah. What an insecure, neurotic man to be blessed with such a wonderful, understanding woman. Why Sarah puts up with his whining jealousy for so long, I cannot figure out. She seems to draw men like lights draw moths, so she must have had her choice of them for an affair. To choose Bendrix is her mistake, for he is jealous of any past lovers she may have had, of her current husband Henry, of any future lovers she may have, and eventually, of God, who "wins" by taking Sarah's life just as Bendrix and she are about to renew their affair. Why was the movie better? I was more sympathetic to the disfigurement of Parkis' son's face than to the original in which Smythe is simply difficult to bear. In fact, the movie's portrayal of Parkis and his son was fantastic and truly the highlight of the film. The sentimental side of me also liked that Sarah did get to make one last trip with Bendrix, a trip never made in the novel. Finally, the abruptness with which her death comes in the novel was simply unsatisfying. Her death seems rather melodramatic regardless of how it is depicted, but the movie's showing Henry and Bendrix drawing close to her as she dies is, well, just better. If you've read the book, try the movie--I trust you'll love it. If you've seen the movie, then let the book be and enjoy the Hollywood version, rare in its superiority to the novel.
Rating:
Summary: A novel of great insight...
Review: Obviously, this novel is about an affair, and as the title states, it deals mainly with the events occurring after the affair has ended with numerous flashbacks (from varying perspectives) giving us an idea of how the affair started, ended and how it affected the persons involved.This a touching novel, telling a story about love, jealousy, and the miscommunications between one human being with another. The desires and frustrations of each character is handled skillfully - though what would you expect from the author of the highly successful novel (and later, movie directed by and starring the multi-talented Orson Welles) The Third Man? While that novel dealt with the alluring facades and deeper, more sinister truths (symbolised by the juxtaposition of a war ravaged city with the beauty and splendor it once heralded) of a single man (Harry Lime), this novel deals with the fallacies we come to believe, influenced by our own insecurities as opposed to the truth, which we rarely see until it is too late. We come to learn and understand Maurice's anguish and anger at the seemingly abrupt end of the affair, as well as Sarah's desire to end her adulteress relationship and decision to ultimately remain with Henry, her husband. And while we come to find Henry equally as tedious as the other characters in the novel find him to be, we also end up feeling terribly sorry for poor plain Henry. Maybe this novel is successful in that the characters seem very real. Or rather, their reactions, beliefs, doubts, and grief do. The only fault I could find was how the author handled the last portion of Sarah's section: her rather abrupt conversion from an atheist to a devoutly religious creature. No, I'm not saying that it was wrong, or that believing in God is right or wrong, simply that it was dealt with too casually for my taste. It seemed almost too convenient an ending, tacked on to explain everything but really explaining nothing. Of course, perhaps it was simply my ignorance on the whole matter - I'm not devoutly religious and have never had an adulteress affair! All in all, a lyrical novel which explores human reactions and emotions with incredible realism and truth.
Rating: 
Summary: Read his other works.
Review: It would be nice to give this book a five star review because Mr. Greene is a very good author and has written some wonderful books. Also, it would give me a chance to use adjectives like enchanting, captivating, mesmerizing, and beautiful. I wonder if they hadn't made a movie out of this book would all these people really be so hot on it? Well it gets two stars, and I'd give it one, but I like Mr. Greene and I don't want to offend his ghost. So now I can use adjectives like self-indulgent, unrealistic and mainly unbelievable. In his other novels Mr. Greene makes real, human, believable characters and places them in seedy odd situations. In 'The End of the Affair' he makes shallow, unsympathetic and painfully irrational characters and places them in a normal situation. The first combination works better. Really, if two people are madly in love are we to believe that they would let a husband or a religion stand between them? Ok, maybe we're gullible and we believe that, fine. But that's not enough. We are then suppose to believe that a woman in love with a man she believes to be dead after a bombing raid makes a promise to a God, that she doesn't really believe in, that if God lets her lover be alive she will leave him. The lover turns out to be alive (minus a few teeth) so the woman keeps her promise (to the God she doesn't believe in) and leaves him on the spot and doesn't talk to him again for two years. Yea, right. To all the five star reviewers: I've got a great deal on inflatable dart boards, order now! Sorry if I'm being cynical. An expatriate vacuum cleaner salesman recruited by the British secret service sending back drawings of Cuban military installations which are in fact schematics of vacuum cleaner parts ('Our Man in Havana')....that I can believe. But the emotional contortions of Bendix and Sarah, in this book, are beyond me. Maybe Sarah really left him because he looked 'funny' with that big gap between his teeth. The other annoying thing about this novel is that it's somewhat autobiographical and authors making characters out of themselves in a novel is self-indulgent. That said, this book does contain most of the good ingredients of Mr. Greene's other novels. He does have a very good writing style, and he puts in some insights that are subtle and accurate. Here's an example: "I want men to admire me, but that's a trick you learn at school - a movement of the eyes, a tone of voice, a touch of the hand on the shoulder or the head. If they think you admire them, they will admire you because of your good taste, and when they admire you, you have an illusion for a moment that there's something to admire." So it does have it's merits, but over all it's not one of his better books. It would be nice to see a movie of 'The Heart of the Matter' or 'The Power and the Glory' or even 'Our man in Havana', then people would read those books and justifiably write five star reviews.
Rating:
Summary: Appropriately enough, this book comes back to haunt you
Review: I read this slim volume in only a few days and was thoroughly engaged by the story. But after I had finished it, even now, weeks and months after closing it and putting it back on the shelf, the questions of the book linger in my mind. What really happened? Were the incidents divine or just perceived as such? Is the narrator reliable? How much has his hate and vanity clouded his vision? It's difficult to spell out the richness of this tiny book, the power that the lives created there have in one's imagination. It is, quite possibly, the best novel I've read.
Rating:
Summary: gripping!
Review: This is how love should be! Best book i've read in years.
Rating:
Summary: The End of the affair
Review: I first read this book after seeing a documentary of Graham Greene's life and much of this book is autobiographical. It is for perhaps this reason that this book has so much realism and self-awareness to it. The two main characters, are portrayed so skillfully that Greene manages to avoid the reader feeling distaste for their affair. What emerges from this novel more than anything is a sense of love in its purest state. Husband and lover are as one in their different types of relations with Catherine. The intimacy and yet strength of the heroine makes for powerful reading combined with Greene's use of Catholiscm to offer a moral undertone to contrast againt a reaction of sympathy. Greene has managed to understand the female character in this perfectly and underlines every human doubt and indecision in the lover's minds. This book expreses everything as eloquently as a Greene novel always does but the intimacy and the undercurrent of Greene's own emotions make this well worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: An avid Philly reader
Review: A real delight to read. An classic written with such elegance susupence you can't put it down....I know its cliche but it's true! Read it now, before you see the movie.
Rating:
Summary: love and hate, intense story
Review: I saw the movie first, and found it very engaging. In the moive the writer said "What can one write about happiness", and it made me want to read the book. The movie has a different ending, but it captures the hate theme of the book. The book is written in a very emotional way. When I was reading it, I could feel all what the narrator was feeling. All the hate and the love and the jealousy and the despair are so human, and everyone can quickly identify with those emotions. The discussions about God and about time have generated a lot of thoughts in me. Besides the content, it is a very well-written book. It feels so true. I wonder if it is based on a true story. That's all I have to say about this book.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece - Miracles in the 20th Century
Review: If you love ironic endings and twists, even at the expense of the narrator, you will love The End of the Affair. I dare not reveal to you what leads to Morris screaming at God "Leave me alone forever!", but when you reach that sentence you will have passed through a truly amazing examination of two people in adultery, based on love for one party and on dessicated lust for the other. You will see Miracles as they might have happened in this century. You will also witness the stubbornness of some who have been their beneficiaries. Though you may not believe in God, (I am an agnostic) you can hardly resist taking the side of Faith under Greene's guidance. That is his genius: whether he writes tragedy or comedy, Greene's mastery of irony appears to draw you to great truths. You need not be a Catholic to appreciate the God who enters the lives of Morris and Sarah. Even when punishing the wicked, Greene's God loves and possesses an irresistable sense of humor. This is a book that I recommend happily to anyone, if for no other reason than to get a sense of a witty, sensible Catholicism that few outsiders understand. Skip the film. Read the book.
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