I liked many aspects of Stamboul Train, but it had one huge, unpleasant flaw which I found it impossible to ignore.
Greene creates a fine atmosphere of the train itself and the journey across Europe in 1932. He also creates some interesting characters whom he treats largely with insight and intelligence, whose stories make an absorbing and sometimes tense narrative – the scene at a small, almost lawless border post, for example, is atmospheric and very unsettling. It’s a good story (or stories), well told – but…
Myatt, one of the main characters is Jewish, and the anti-Semitism with which he is portrayed really made this a tough read for me in places. I know that one must make allowances for prevailing attitudes when reading fiction from almost a century ago, but this was written in 1932 and given what happened in Central Europe just a few years later, it’s hard to take. It’s not even that Greene is just pointing out the anti-Semitic attitudes of many people – although he does do that – but many of those attitudes are entrenched his own narrative and description. Myatt is often referred to as “the Jew” and scarcely a scene goes by without some reference made to his “race” and its supposed characteristics. It is as if Greene is diligently working through all the offensive stereotypes trotted out by anti-Semites; as an example, Greene has Myatt thinking to himself “I am a Jew, and I have learned nothing except how to make money.” I rest my case.
So, for me this was a good book with a huge, ugly scar. It makes it very hard to rate; I enjoyed many aspects of it, but I can’t give it more than two stars. Approach with caution.
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