I’m in Haiti with some people who are in fear of their lives

I came across a collection of Graham Greene novels for sale in an Oxfam bookshop in Keswick earlier this year when we were on holiday in the Lake District. I am slowly working my way through his writing but this shop had quite a few that I had not previously acquired. The Comedians, which is an old, orange Penguin version, was not in good condition but all the pages were present so I read it in bits as it fell apart. It is, sadly, not now possible to resell or pass on the novel so it has gone into the recycling.

The book, which was written in the 1960s, is set in Haiti during the revolution and the reign of terror of Papa Doc Duvalier and the Ton Ton Macoute. The characters featured in the story are mostly ex-pats who have come to the island to work and many of them have lived there a long time. Because they are white they have some protection from the atrocities of the new regime but they are not exempt. The whole story is told with an acknowledgement that the white people are no longer welcome and that violence might occur at any moment – it makes for a tense background to the events. The book is narrated by Mr Brown, we never learn his first name, who is a man without roots and who owns an hotel on the island which has been successful but is now empty. Mr Brown has been to America to try and sell his hotel but has been unsuccessful and is returning to the island on a boat with Mr Smith, a vegetarian and healthy eating fanatic who wants to start a clinic, and Mr Jones, who purports to be ex-army but who is actually a con-man.

As the characters arrive back on the island Mr Brown finds a government minister dead in his swimming pool and Mr Jones is arrested because his letter of introduction, which he faked, is to an official who has been deposed. The story follows the three men from the boat, and those connected with them, as they try to survive the casual violence and brutality around them and as each of them has to decide what, if anything, he is prepared to stand up for and whether he will resist what is happening.

All the white characters are misfits and most of them are shady and not much concerned with morality yet, as things progress, each of the three men rises to the situation in a way that they might not have anticipated, although it doesn’t end well for all of them. The author explores courage and the sense of belonging through the lives of those who don’t have much of either. The story is very much about the white characters, although the fate of some native Haitians is part of the narrative. The author makes no judgement about what is happening, although he doesn’t gloss over the corruption, brutality and uncertainty which surround the characters – this story is about how they seek to survive in an environment over which they have no control.

Although none of the characters in this book is completely likeable I found the writing compelling and, as usual with this author, the moral issues they have to face very believable. The trip to Keswick when I bought this novel garnered me a few more novels by this author and I look forward to reading them in the future – in fact, one or two may yet pop up in this summer’s challenge !