Book Review: THE HONORARY CONSUL by Graham Greene

The Honorary Consul by Graham Greene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"In a wrong society, the criminals are honest men."

What would drive a priest away from the Church he fell in love with? What would make him kidnap a political prisoner?

This incredible novel takes place in Paraguay but could easily have happened in my country (the Philippines). So much of it is so familiar: the disparity between Christianity's teachings and the way Christians live out their lives, the material and spiritual poverty, the corruption found in nearly every sector in society.

As a fan of Graham Greene's other Catholic works, I found a lot of familiar themes and characters, but with a twist at the end that moved me deeply. Greene's genius is showing how Christ-like even the most fallen men are, when they transcend their sinful selves and show glimpses of the divine in all of us when put to the ultimate test. We have the ex-priest turned kidnapper-for-a-cause, the adulterous doctor-to-the-barrio, the lonely foreigner who marries a prostitute in order to save her, and a woman-child who falls in love with a handsome man who is not her husband.

Listing down the characters might give one the impression that this is a most tawdry tale, but you'd be wrong. This is Graham Greene, after all, and in his consummate writerly grace he sprinkles the darkest corners of our souls with redeeming Grace.

At the heart of the novel, Greene tries to explain the most terrible theological question of our age: how can God and Evil co-exist?

I found Greene's attempt at an answer most insightful: "The evolution of God depends on our evolution. Every evil act of ours strengthens His night-side, and every good one helps his day-side."

Greene was fully aware of how theologically contentious his idea was.

"All this is not in the catechism, is it?"
"No... but the catechism is not the faith... The Church is the world. The Church is this barrio, this room."

Greene wrote many other powerful novels, some of which I'm not ashamed to reveal have made me cry because they touched me so. But he considered this one his favorite because the characters start out bad and towards the end become worthy of Christ dying for them. And all done in a realistic, and unsentimental or romantic way.

The raves about Greene are truly justified. Get each one that you can, they're the type of books that make its readers better men. Wiser. Humbler. And yes... more good.

View all my reviews