the honorary consul

A provincial town in Argentina in the 1970s. A group of revolutionaries set out to kidnap the American ambassador, insisting they will only release him in exchange for prisoners held in Paraguayan jails.  Things go wrong, and instead they end up with local resident and Honorary British Consul, Charley Fortnum, as their hostage.  He’s a middle-aged alcoholic recently married to Clara, a young ex-prostitute.

The local doctor, Eduardo Plarr, is brought in to tend to Fortnum when he falls ill.   Plarr has several dilemmas to resolve. He has been conducting a desultory affair with Clara and is perhaps the father of the child she is carrying. However, his father, who disappeared more than 20 years ago, is one of the prisoners to be released. And in a further twist, the lead kidnapper is a childhood friend.

Graham Greene explores these dilemmas over the course of a few days, as Plarr is drawn, against his will, into a farce that becomes a tragedy.  Like many of Greene’s lead characters, Plarr is emotionally stunted and reluctant to commit to a course of action. Events move faster than his passions can be aroused, which leads to his downfall.

I didn’t enjoy The Honorary Consul as much as The Quiet American or Our Man in Havana, but it is still an amusing book. It is meant to be set in the 1970s, but this doesn’t quite gel, as Plarr and Fortnum in particular seem to belong more to the 1950s. Still, Greene is a good enough writer to keep the tension and dread building right to the climax.

(By co-incidence, the day I finished the book, India’s junior Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor  tweeted:

Met w assocn of honorary consuls -often businessmen representing countries that can’t afford embassies here. Life: alcohol, protocol, on call

which could have been written for Charley Fortnum)

The Honorary Consul
Graham Greene
The Bodley Head (1973)

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kids books

I was sad to read last week that Kilmeny Niland had died. As a kid, I had quite a few books illustrated by her and her twin sister Deborah*, most memorably Tell me a Tale, Haunts and Taunts, and Pancakes and Painted Eggs. These books were quite thick and full of a variety of stories, factual articles about traditions around the world, songs and poems, all with imaginative illustrations.

Some kids books stay in your mind all your life.  Here are some of my favourite books from childhood that I still have (click to embiggen the pictures)

1,2,3:  this was actually my brother’s book, but I always loved and still love the graphic design by Brian Wildsmith. The simplicity and the rich colours are beautiful.

Alison and the Bear: obviously I liked this one because it was about me! Or if not me, another little girl called Alison, who, despite everyone saying she can’t do it, goes out and captures a bear, using only peanut butter sandwiches. It has wonderful simple crayon-y illustrations that are very effective despite being mostly back and white. I only recently noticed that on the back, it notes that “This is a non-sexist children’s book, published by the Women’s Movement Children’s Literature Co-Operative”. Strange to think there was a time when an effort had to be made (though maybe with princess culture reasserting itself, it’s time for another round).