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A review by chrissie_whitley
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
5.0
"A story has no beginning or end..."
...But here is a book about endings. A gorgeously sad book, The End of the Affair is, I believe, my first roman à clef—and it feels every inch the truth, bled from the author's veins and covered in a nearly transparent gossamer veil of fiction.
A wound of a book, the reader is constantly a part of the prodding, the cleansing, the bleeding, the binding, and the infection present in this open, festering, and painful cut. Bendrix aches and we ache with him. Bendrix hates and we know the kind of hate that haunts him. He remembers love and we taste the bitter sweetness of a memory. Going on this journey with Maurice Bendrix feels like an intrusion into Greene's own life—an incredibly personal story to scrub the bottom of his soul, so that he may rise from there and begin again. This is a book about endings.
Audiobook, Colin Firth version, [b:The End of the Affair|13641539|The End of the Affair|Graham Greene|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1370537018l/13641539._SX50_.jpg|267229]: I cannot imagine a more perfect choice than Firth. His lovely voice melds into each character perfectly, but no more so than with the narrator, Bendrix. Even down to the purposeful breaths he takes, his audible exhales...his performance couldn't be improved upon. Here, Firth slips into Greene's mind and wears Bendrix's skin and provides us with the perfect production.
...But here is a book about endings. A gorgeously sad book, The End of the Affair is, I believe, my first roman à clef—and it feels every inch the truth, bled from the author's veins and covered in a nearly transparent gossamer veil of fiction.
A wound of a book, the reader is constantly a part of the prodding, the cleansing, the bleeding, the binding, and the infection present in this open, festering, and painful cut. Bendrix aches and we ache with him. Bendrix hates and we know the kind of hate that haunts him. He remembers love and we taste the bitter sweetness of a memory. Going on this journey with Maurice Bendrix feels like an intrusion into Greene's own life—an incredibly personal story to scrub the bottom of his soul, so that he may rise from there and begin again. This is a book about endings.
Audiobook, Colin Firth version, [b:The End of the Affair|13641539|The End of the Affair|Graham Greene|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1370537018l/13641539._SX50_.jpg|267229]: I cannot imagine a more perfect choice than Firth. His lovely voice melds into each character perfectly, but no more so than with the narrator, Bendrix. Even down to the purposeful breaths he takes, his audible exhales...his performance couldn't be improved upon. Here, Firth slips into Greene's mind and wears Bendrix's skin and provides us with the perfect production.