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1st read (4/11/11):

This is the April/May pick of The Novella Club, so I guess reading it tonight while the sun went down was jumping the gun a bit.

I've only had a taste of Greene before, when I read Our Man in Havana, with the vacuum cleaner salesman cum secret agent. This one was a bit more serious, about the ending of a relationship and a man's discovery of the truth.

"What have we all got to expect, that we allow ourselves to be so lined with disappointment?" (33)

"She never played that game of make-believe, and then suddenly, unexpectedly, she would shatter my reserve with a statement of such sweetness and amplitude." (33)

"It was unhappiness that broke down the habit of work." (39)

"In misery we seem aware of our own existence, even though it may be in the form of a monstrous egotism - this pain of mine is individual, this nerve that winces belongs to me and to no other. But happiness annihilates us; we lose our identity." (55)

"I want somebody who'll accept the truth about me and doesn't need protection." (116)

2nd read (5/1/13):

I didn't really need to read this again, but a friend had listened to the audiobook version as read by Colin Firth, whom I love. I couldn't find anything else read by him, so I listened to it on a drive up to Nashville, a perfect length. His performance is wonderful, I forgot he was there. And of course, I noticed different bits this time.

“Insecurity is the worst sense that lovers feel; sometimes the most humdrum desireless marriage seems better. Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust.�

"I want ordinary corrupt human love."

"We are all possessed by nobody, not even by ourselves.�