Our Man in Havana

The many characters in this satirical spy novel burst with personality, idiosyncrasies, odd mannerisms, and quirky conversation. A theater director would be lucky to find multiple actors who could do justice to Greene's writing. Jeremy Northam, though, gives each character a distinct voice and presence all by himself. He makes notes of the details Greene uses to cast a character and takes off from there. His London intelligence chief, for example, is raspy and chilling, as if speaking from the grave. The agent Hawthorne sounds clipped and hurried, a touch anxious. The assistant, Beatrice, is observant and unflappable. Northam expresses them all as if accessing the same secret core that Greene imagined at the heart of all his characters. The book has a wonderful musical soundtrack, too. R.L.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

The BBC's 1989 adaptation of Greene's spy farce is an odd mixture of traditional and experimental radio theater. Scripted entirely in dialogue, the presentation has no narration, no title, and no opening or closing credits, leaving the listener uncertain as to whether the correct disc has been inserted. Performers are never named in the audio. (Jack Watling and Eleanor Bron are listed on the box, but the many other actors go uncredited). The clever story follows a British vacuum cleaner salesman living in 1950s Havana who is enlisted by the British Secret Service but sends home bogus reports. The story is charmingly twisted, and the performances energetic and entertaining, despite the character of Captain Segura, whose accent has touches of Russian, French, and English, but very little Cuban. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

Narrator Matthew Lloyd Davies brings his considerable talent to one of Graham Greene's best-known novels. James Wormold, a vacuum cleaner retailer, invents a spy ring in order to cover his daughter's extravagances. Davies manipulates accents, vocal tones, and pitch ranges to bring the characters to life. He enhances the novel's dark (sometimes very dark) humor, as well. The pace of the story varies but never falters. Greene wrote both serious novels and others he considered "entertainment." This one includes some of the best elements of both types: the suspense and action of the entertainment and the deep, subtle characterizations of the serious work. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine