Review: Our Man in Havana

Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This novel set in Cuba makes fun of intelligence services, especially the British MI6, in their willingness to believe reports from their local informants. While actually, this book predates the Cuban Missile Crisis, but vacuum cleaner parts drawings masquerading as atomic missile installations appear anticipatory. Even the product lines like "Atomic Pile" show what was in the air at the time. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 1959 starring Alec Guinness and I would like to see it as there's so much comedic material here that I think would translate well to the screen. I would give this four stars except for the killing by the protagonist of Captain Segura, a military strongman in love with his daughter Milly and intending to marry her. Real lethal violence is fine in fiction and entertainment for me, but it has no real place in this farce and contributes to making the final act feel rushed and lacking in the imagination of the earlier material.

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