Just Finished Reading: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (FP: 1951) [160pp] 

It was over. No explanation, no warning, nothing. It was like a door being slammed or a bomb dropping, which actually made much more sense. It was after his house was nearly hit by the buzz-bomb. From that day she refused to see him again, wouldn’t come to the phone when he called. Was she finally regretting their affair? Had Henry found out (he didn’t think so) or had she told him? Or had she simply become tired of him? They were certainly arguing more. Was it as simple as that? Or had Sarah found someone else, someone younger, someone more fun, less self-obsessed? The idea tortured him until they ran into each other by accident two whole years later. When they parted, he decided to follow her. It was stupid, he knew. At any moment she could turn around and there would be a scene, or worse she could just ignore him. Ironically it was Henry, the man, the friend, who he had been deceiving for years that thought she might be having an affair. They even discussed hiring a private detective to uncover her secrets. Bendrix (hardly anyone called him Maurice, not even Sarah) relished the idea and agreed to arrange things. Convinced he was about to uncover his rival at last it came as quite a surprise, as a shock even, to discover exactly what Sarah was really doing. The discovery of the reason Sarah left him on that fateful day was almost incidental. Was there a way back for them, or was everything lost?  

To be honest this is not exactly my normal sort of read. But after enjoying two previous books by the author – both very different from each other and from this outing – I thought I’d give it a try. It was, at the very least, an intriguing read. Initially I rather liked the main character of Maurice Bendrix. If he wasn’t exactly an avatar for the author (who I honestly know almost zero about) I’m guessing he must be pretty close! I also couldn’t help but think that the author must have either had an affair (or certainly actively considered it) or knew someone very well who did. The roller-coaster ride of emotions was very real especially when Bendrix confessed to both hating Sarah and desperately wanting her back. I don’t think he actually hated her though, he certainly hated the fact that she had left him and hated how that made him feel, but the hate he clothed himself with was, more than anything, a defence mechanism against his feeling of loss. If he didn’t hate her, and freely acknowledged just how much he loved her – even after her inexplicable disappearance from his life – it would’ve crushed him. Hate was easier on his psyche than love. 

For the first part of the book, I didn’t like Sarah very much at all. I’m not sure if this was designed by the author or if my personal history was getting in the way of the narrative. I had a ‘complicated’ relationship in my late 30’s so found myself appreciating the position of Bendrix far more than Sarah, most especially as Bendrix suspected her of serial adultery – both before and after their own particular affair. After Bendrix and we (as readers) had access to Sarah’s diary later in the narrative my view of Sarah changed. I still didn’t like her to the extent that I liked Bendrix but I certainly understood her a lot more and appreciated what she was going through and her ultimate motivation(s) for ending the relationship. 

Beyond the ‘complicated’ love story itself one of the things that has stayed with me since reading this slim volume was how all of the main characters – Bendrix, Sarah, Henry and Richard (a kind of secular ‘therapist’) - as well as the private detective sub-character Alfred Parkis – were looking for meaning in what at that time (in the final year of World War 2 and a few years following on) must have been a very confusing era. Living not only through a world war and the consequential existential crisis, but seeing the first use of nuclear weapons and everything that would follow from that event, plus increasing knowledge of the Holocaust, the terminal decline of the British Empire and the first stirrings of the Cold War must have raised some very fundamental questions in the minds of all thinking peoples. Adapting to the new age, the new reality, must have been difficult so it's not surprising that people struggled to come to terms with things. 

This is my 3rd Graham Greene novel and I’m looking forward to reading more by him. So far, they’ve all been very different and each, in their own way, something special. This might not appeal to everyone but I, for one, found it quite affecting. Definitely recommended.

[Oh, SIDE NOTE - The cover photograph is by Bert Hardy who I checked out later. He's excellent. Some of his work will be upcoming...]