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Description edit
Into the intrigue and violence of Indo-China comes Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious 'Third Force'. As his naive optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler finds it hard to stand and watch.
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
The story of a British reporter, his affair with a Vietnamese women and his relationship with a young American posted at the American Legation in Saigon.
Characters edit
- Alden Pyle: Thirty-two year old America aid worker. Protagonist. The quiet American.
- Thomas Fowler: Middle-aged English journalist. The narrator of the story.
- Bill Granger: An American reporter. Loud, rude and obnoxious - but human
- Vigot: French detective investigating Pyle's death.
- Phuong: Beautiful young Vietnamese woman. First Fowler’s mistress, then Pyle’s mistress
- Dominguez: An Indian who is Fowler's assitant. Unobtrusive, humble, hardworking
- Mr. Heng: Communist acquaintance of Fowler.
- Monsieur Chou: Businessman with connections to the communist Viet Minh.
- Mr. Muoi: Owns a garage.
- York Harding: Author who wrote about Vietnam; highly respected by Pyle.
- General The: Former Caodaist chief of staff; now forming his own army in the hills. General The was an actual person in the conflict.
- Joe: The American Economic attache; Pyle's boss.
- Miss Hei: Phuong's sister.
Quotes edit
-
“Why should I want to die when Phuong slept beside me every night? But I knew the answer to that question. From childhood I had never believed in permanence, and yet I had longed for it. Always I was afraid of losing happiness. This month, next year, Phuong would leave me. If not next year, in three years. Death was the only absolute value in my world. Lose life and one would lose nothing again for ever.”
Fowler -
“Time has its revenges, but revenges seem so often sour. Wouldn't we all do better not trying to understand, accepting the fact that no human being will ever understand another, not a wife a husband, a lover a mistress, nor a parent a child? Perhaps that's why men have invented God--a being capable of understanding. Perhaps if I wanted to be understood or to understand I would bamboozle myself into belief, but I am a reporter; God exists only for leader-writers.”
Fowler -
“Rooms don't change, ornaments stand where you place them; only he heart decays.”
-
“You cannot exist unless you have the power to alter the future.”
Setting & Locations edit
- South Vietnam
- Usmin Saigon
- Indo-china
- Southeast Asia
- Korea
- Tonkin
- Laos
- Tanyin
- Malaya
- Annam
- Cambodia
- Haiphong
- Nam Dinh
First Sentence edit
After dinner I sat and waited for Pyle in my room over the rue Catinat: he had said, "I'll be with you at latest by ten," and when midnight had struck I couldn't stay quiet any longer and went down into the street.
Themes & Symbolism edit
Series & Lists edit
This is book 12 of 29 in Biblioteka XX. stoljeće (Jutarnji list). (edition-based publisher list)
Preceded by Under the Volcano, and followed by One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
This book is in Folio Society. (edition-based publisher list)
This is book 499 of 1272 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
Preceded by The Trusting and the Maimed, and followed by The Last Temptation of Christ.
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd.
Country: England
Publication Date: 1955
ISBN: 0-679-60014-0
Page Count: 247
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd.
Country: England
Publication Date: 1955
ISBN: 0-679-60014-0
Page Count: 247
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PR6013.R44 1955
- Dewey: 823.912
Subjects edit
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( G ) › Greene, Graham
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( S ) › Stone, Robert
- Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › United States › Classics
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
- Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
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Movie Connections edit
- The Quiet American (1958) (IMDb): Staring Audie Murphy
- The Quiet American (2002) (IMDb): Staring Michael Cain and Brendan Fraser
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Books Cited by This Book edit
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