Greene considered this to be one of his best works (at least according
to Wikipedia – and who am I to question this claim?). However, in all honesty, I
disagree: The Honorary Consul is
enjoyable, but doesn’t have the suspense of The
Quiet American or the hilarious turns of Our Man in Havana.
To me, Dr Plarr is simply too British to have spent his entire life in
Latin America, and his constant remarks on “machismo” seem like those of an
outsider rather than those of a self-critical local. Also, in a novel in which
so many characters are fighting for their lives, I found it weird that not a
single one of them was actually bad: Plarr and the desperadoes have their heart
in the right place – although the latter have no methods – Fortnum is just a
poor nobody, Colonel Perez is a good policemen who knows his people, and hell,
even the British diplomats and politicians seem to be sensible. Only the
General is probably bad, but he is only mentioned and doesn’t appear in the
novel…
The book does pick up from the moment of the attempted creation of an
Anglo-Argentine club, but to me it was too little too late.
And for someone who doesn’t really go to church, the lengthy discussions
on God are just fairly painful and trite (and a reminder of high-school
philosophy debates…)
