DDC/MDS
| 823.912 |
Publication
New York : Viking press, 1982 (1936).
Original publication date
1936
Description
Raven is an ugly man dedicated to ugly deeds. His cold-blooded killingof the Minister of War is an act of violence with chillingrepercussions, not just for Raven himself but for the nation as awhole. The money he receives in payment for the murder is madeup of stolen notes. When the first of these is traced, Raven is a manon the run. As he tracks down the agent who has been double-crossinghim and attempts to elude the police, he becomes both hunter andhunted- an unwitting weapon of a strange kind of social justice.
Status
Available
Call number
Collection
User reviews
LibraryThing member datrappert
This Gun for Hire, written in 1936, is a cross between an Eric Ambler thriller and a noir novel, but Graham Greene’s story is more unpredictable than typical noir and more visceral than typical Ambler. It concerns Raven, a harelipped killer who discovers he has been double-crossed and sets out to
There is a lot of good action here and Greene is a good stylist. The problem, however, as I read the book, was that the behavior of the characters seemed less and less human. Especially puzzling is the behavior of the second most important character in the story, Anne, who becomes tangled up in Raven’s plot. By one of those amazing coincidences endemic to this type of story, she is also the girlfriend of the Scotland Yard detective assigned to track down Raven for the theft. An actress, she seems to treat the whole thing as some sort of part, even though her life is clearly in danger. Most of her actions are pretty inexplicable. The bizarre plot twists involved with her predicament propel the story forward, but also lend it an air of unreality. Also more than a bit unreal is the detective’s suspicion that Anne may actually be Raven’s confederate and his attitude to her as a result—despite the fact that he was planning to marry her. Then there is the dying millionaire war profiteer, a larcenous landlady, the vice mayor’s wife and her dog, a despicable medical student…. You get the idea.
The book is full of set pieces—extended, barely related incidents involving minor characters—that seem to exist for no other reason than that Greene had a few things he felt like writing about. My real criticism, however, is that Greene doesn’t really seem to care about any of his characters all that much, and as a result, reading This Gun for Hire, despite its slick surface, didn’t strike me as the classic I had been led to believe it was. Raven is, in fact, the most sympathetic character, despite being a cold blooded killer. Even here, though, Greene can’t let well enough alone. Raven is a killer, you see, because his family was too poor to pay for surgery to have his lip fixed, which meant he was persecuted all his life, and after his father, a criminal, was hanged, and his mother committed suicide, he was raised in a cruel school where he was mistreated every day! It’s all too much. Were Greene a real noir writer, he would know that in noir, less equals more.
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take revenge on the man responsible, who has been his contact, and the ultimate boss, whom he doesn’t know. In the background is the threat of war, caused by the assassination Raven has just carried out on the European mainland before fleeing back to Britain for his payoff. Unfortunately, the payoff is in the form of marked, stolen money that the police are searching for.There is a lot of good action here and Greene is a good stylist. The problem, however, as I read the book, was that the behavior of the characters seemed less and less human. Especially puzzling is the behavior of the second most important character in the story, Anne, who becomes tangled up in Raven’s plot. By one of those amazing coincidences endemic to this type of story, she is also the girlfriend of the Scotland Yard detective assigned to track down Raven for the theft. An actress, she seems to treat the whole thing as some sort of part, even though her life is clearly in danger. Most of her actions are pretty inexplicable. The bizarre plot twists involved with her predicament propel the story forward, but also lend it an air of unreality. Also more than a bit unreal is the detective’s suspicion that Anne may actually be Raven’s confederate and his attitude to her as a result—despite the fact that he was planning to marry her. Then there is the dying millionaire war profiteer, a larcenous landlady, the vice mayor’s wife and her dog, a despicable medical student…. You get the idea.
The book is full of set pieces—extended, barely related incidents involving minor characters—that seem to exist for no other reason than that Greene had a few things he felt like writing about. My real criticism, however, is that Greene doesn’t really seem to care about any of his characters all that much, and as a result, reading This Gun for Hire, despite its slick surface, didn’t strike me as the classic I had been led to believe it was. Raven is, in fact, the most sympathetic character, despite being a cold blooded killer. Even here, though, Greene can’t let well enough alone. Raven is a killer, you see, because his family was too poor to pay for surgery to have his lip fixed, which meant he was persecuted all his life, and after his father, a criminal, was hanged, and his mother committed suicide, he was raised in a cruel school where he was mistreated every day! It’s all too much. Were Greene a real noir writer, he would know that in noir, less equals more.
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
Maybe even 5 stars after I have had a chance to mull it over a bit. I devoured this thriller in one gulp because I couldn't put it down. As in Brighton Rock, Greene has written a brilliant portrait of an anti-hero. Raven is (in my opinion) less of a psychopath and so I had more feeling of sympathy
Greene's writing is wonderfully evocative and not a word is wasted or in excess. While I enjoyed his satires, his prose really shines in these thriller/crime novels.
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for him. I liked the way the story moved from Raven to Anne (the innocent girl caught up in the story) to Mather (the policeman hunting Raven and coincidentally engaged to Anne). Greene's writing is wonderfully evocative and not a word is wasted or in excess. While I enjoyed his satires, his prose really shines in these thriller/crime novels.
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LibraryThing member Dorritt
This tale of a plot by an armaments manufacturers to spark a profitable little war by hiring an assassin to bump off the British Minister of War showcases everything that Graham Greene does so brilliantly: memorably complex characters, biting social commentary, humor, pathos, a poke or two at
Or so discovers our doomed anti-hero, Raven, the assassin of the piece, an unloved and unloveable gent with a harelip and a justifiable grudge against the world, who experiences betrayal after betrayal: first, his employers pay him with stolen money, ensuring a police pursuit; then, his location is given up by a string of fellow villains; finally, having made the mistake of letting his guard down to the sympathetic woman of the piece, he is betrayed by her as well.
However, Raven isn’t the only one betrayed herein. Greene presents us with betrayal in all its most recognizable forms: children betrayed by their parents, orphans betrayed by the adults who are supposed to protect them, wives betrayed by their husbands, employees betrayed by their employers, war heroes betrayed by their nation, nations betrayed by their own industrial complex. This background of betrayal serves to shine a light on the few relationships in this tale that arise above the murk: the uncomplicated loyalty of a police sergeant towards his superior, the bedraggled affection of an old bawd towards her shop-stained husband, the tragedy-tested love between a courageous young woman and her stalwart beau … the hope and promise of virtue in a worth too often stained by vice.
All of which makes this sound like a bleak novel, which I regret, because in addition to being very funny, there’s also so much compassion here. You’d think after all the Graham Greene novels I’ve read over the years, I wouldn’t be surprised anymore to find myself crying over the downfall of the villain, but I always do and I always am. As Raven contemplates at one point: “Perhaps if we knew all there was to know, the kind of breaks a fellow had had, we’d see his point of view.” Greene’s particular gift is manipulating us into walking in the shoes of his damaged characters, forcing us to see the world through their damaged perspective. Yes, Raven’s an unrepentant murderer, but to what extent can we hold a man accountable for violence when all he has ever known is violence? In perhaps the most moving scene of the tale, Raven dares to drop his guard and confess his sins, revealing a soul as desperate for absolution as that of any saint.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry; you’ll probably feel a little bit more jaded about the world after this; but I’m also willing to bet that the complex moral questions aroused by this deceptively simple tale will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page.
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Catholicism, empathy for the damaged people of the world, all overlaid by an exquisite patina of irony. (There’s even a bit with a dog!) Only the themes change from novel to novel, the theme of this one being the ease with which we betray one another. Or so discovers our doomed anti-hero, Raven, the assassin of the piece, an unloved and unloveable gent with a harelip and a justifiable grudge against the world, who experiences betrayal after betrayal: first, his employers pay him with stolen money, ensuring a police pursuit; then, his location is given up by a string of fellow villains; finally, having made the mistake of letting his guard down to the sympathetic woman of the piece, he is betrayed by her as well.
However, Raven isn’t the only one betrayed herein. Greene presents us with betrayal in all its most recognizable forms: children betrayed by their parents, orphans betrayed by the adults who are supposed to protect them, wives betrayed by their husbands, employees betrayed by their employers, war heroes betrayed by their nation, nations betrayed by their own industrial complex. This background of betrayal serves to shine a light on the few relationships in this tale that arise above the murk: the uncomplicated loyalty of a police sergeant towards his superior, the bedraggled affection of an old bawd towards her shop-stained husband, the tragedy-tested love between a courageous young woman and her stalwart beau … the hope and promise of virtue in a worth too often stained by vice.
All of which makes this sound like a bleak novel, which I regret, because in addition to being very funny, there’s also so much compassion here. You’d think after all the Graham Greene novels I’ve read over the years, I wouldn’t be surprised anymore to find myself crying over the downfall of the villain, but I always do and I always am. As Raven contemplates at one point: “Perhaps if we knew all there was to know, the kind of breaks a fellow had had, we’d see his point of view.” Greene’s particular gift is manipulating us into walking in the shoes of his damaged characters, forcing us to see the world through their damaged perspective. Yes, Raven’s an unrepentant murderer, but to what extent can we hold a man accountable for violence when all he has ever known is violence? In perhaps the most moving scene of the tale, Raven dares to drop his guard and confess his sins, revealing a soul as desperate for absolution as that of any saint.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry; you’ll probably feel a little bit more jaded about the world after this; but I’m also willing to bet that the complex moral questions aroused by this deceptively simple tale will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page.
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LibraryThing member tzelman
Pre-WWII melodrama--too many vignettes of side characters, too much soul-searching
LibraryThing member Cathymacleod
I enjoyed this book by Graham Greene but it needs a rewrite. I found myself editing some badly constructed sentences, and the plot is ridiculous. Furthermore, events in this pre WW2 story are linked by coincidence after coincidence. The redeeming quality is the familiar narrative voice of Graham
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Greene, both comforting and compelling. I confess to an enthusiastic read, from first lines to a somewhat rambling conclusion, but I can give it only three stars. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cecrow
Now I know what a mix of thriller and solid literature reads like. The 1936 publication date explains why war is in the air, and all the comparisons with how the Great War was triggered. Raven (we aren't told his real name) commits the murder that precipicates these and, as nations react, he
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discovers himself framed and sets out to track down his mysterious employer. I felt real sympathy for the guy despite his rough-and-tumble ways and his quickness to threaten people with lead. It isn't hard to follow the trail that led to how he views the world and his distrust of everyone. Ultimately this novel is a tragedy, but it was a tragedy before it began. I'd not read Greene before but after this I'm sure to read more by him. Show Less
LibraryThing member jonfaith
It was a premature beginning to the Greene marathon. I read this early novel, Greene's effort at a thriller which anticipates Brighton Rock in its icy approach. there is a section towards the end where a group of medical students are involved in hazing and the collective cruelty maintained is
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another variation on the The Destructors. All in all, I have to admit i was thinking of Jim Thompson as this nihilistic fable ends in bloodshed. Show Less
LibraryThing member otori
This is a recording of one of the so-called entertainment novels by Graham Greene written in 1936. What is absolutely remarkable is the warning of war (WWII) which is sounded even as the book ends. (Note that in 1936 W.S. Churchill was passed over for the post of Minister of co-ordination of
3 1/2 stars for the book. Four stars because of Patrick Tull's brilliant reading
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defence as avoiding giving Germany any sign that the United Kingdom was preparing for war, and as avoiding someone who had few allies in the Conservative Party and was opposed as a war monger by some people in the United Kingdom). Apparently Greene was better at interpreting the omens.3 1/2 stars for the book. Four stars because of Patrick Tull's brilliant reading
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
A Gun For Sale by Graham Greene was originally published in 1936. It is a story about a professional assassin, Philip Raven, who kills the Czech War Minister and leaves behind evidence that points to other European nations. This is a ploy by those who hired him to push Europe towards war, but they
I found this to be a story of contrasts. Raven is a dark, damaged character who speaks in a hard-boiled manner. Anne, the girl he uses, is idealistic and has hope for the future. The times are politically difficult as war is looming over Europe and the general population is fearful and uncertain. Yet Raven was hired to provoke war as there are some who would profit greatly from war.
Graham Greene has produced a claustrophobic manhunt novel that immediately grabs the readers attention. His writing skill is such that Raven, the main character, is someone who the reader can both hate and empathize with. While the story is quite bleak and chilling, the use of Anne with her innocence and idealistic hopes for the future helps to lighten the tone. A Gun For Sale is a tight, well crafted story that captures the pre-war jitters and sentiments of the times.
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make the mistake of betraying Raven by paying him off in counterfeit money. Now Raven is being sought by the police for passing phony money, but he is also on the trail of those who betrayed him. He manages to lures a young woman into helping him even though he plans on murdering her when she is no longer useful.I found this to be a story of contrasts. Raven is a dark, damaged character who speaks in a hard-boiled manner. Anne, the girl he uses, is idealistic and has hope for the future. The times are politically difficult as war is looming over Europe and the general population is fearful and uncertain. Yet Raven was hired to provoke war as there are some who would profit greatly from war.
Graham Greene has produced a claustrophobic manhunt novel that immediately grabs the readers attention. His writing skill is such that Raven, the main character, is someone who the reader can both hate and empathize with. While the story is quite bleak and chilling, the use of Anne with her innocence and idealistic hopes for the future helps to lighten the tone. A Gun For Sale is a tight, well crafted story that captures the pre-war jitters and sentiments of the times.
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LibraryThing member karatelpek
A dud. The setting was interesting with the backdrop of an approaching WW2, but otherwise Raven with his hare-lip was a dull villain.
LibraryThing member Zare
This one took me longer to finish than I anticipated.
Story begins when Raven, assassin for hire, book protagonist and all-around anti-hero gets double-crossed after a high profile assassination he executed on Europe mainland. Cold and ruthless Raven is not interested in his marks, he knows only he
So when he gets betrayed his rage grows, not because of betrayal itself (risk o business ... I guess?) but because he was betrayed by his own kind, criminal underworld. If there is no honor amongst thieves what can man do - right? So he decides to take revenge and goes to north of England chasing the man that is responsible for putting police on Raven's track. On his way to kill the people that betrayed him Raven will cross paths with Anne, friendly and justice driven member of acting and dancing troupe and Mather, policeman and Anne's fiancee who is not sure what is going on and why is Anne found working alongside Raven.
Unlike stoic gunmen like say Delon's Le Samourai or Leon Professional, Raven is very much self-aware and runs on pure emotions and rage. After very hard childhood and aware that his harelip was cause of so many difficulties Raven thinks everybody is after him because of his scarred face (which I guess was quite an issue when the novel was written). We follow him as he moves from the cold calculated killer to someone truly touched, like an animal that was constantly beaten and then shown true kindness, by friendship and support of Anne (no matter she might have few hidden motives of her own). Raven is a tragic figure, man who survived only by living in great fear, man to be brought down after he accepts other's friendship and kindness.
Besides Raven author gives very good description of society classes - those at the top looking forward to profiteering from war either directly (money) or indirectly (other material or social privileges) and those at the bottom either dumb and witless about the horror of wars and seeking glory in it, or terrified to the very bone [since terrors from the last one are still fresh in memory]. This entire reaction and justification of war have left bitter taste in my mouth because they show how propaganda can direct nations in a very, very, very wrong direction (like last year......brrrr).
Only issue I had with the book was level of details and descriptions author paints in his story. It could be that today we are more or less more visual creatures and do not have problems imagining things [when provided with less information] - authors very detailed descriptions and the ways he handles character discussions (ticks and face expressions included) tend to be verbose, and as a result my reading pace would suddenly drop to very low rate. Again this could be me [English is not my mother tongue] but was a cause for longer than expected time period to finish the book. On the good side when action picks up it truly picks up and pages just fly away.
Very interesting story, recommended to fans of slower burning thrillers.
Story begins when Raven, assassin for hire, book protagonist and all-around anti-hero gets double-crossed after a high profile assassination he executed on Europe mainland. Cold and ruthless Raven is not interested in his marks, he knows only he
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needs to go to specific location, kill the mark and return back safely.So when he gets betrayed his rage grows, not because of betrayal itself (risk o business ... I guess?) but because he was betrayed by his own kind, criminal underworld. If there is no honor amongst thieves what can man do - right? So he decides to take revenge and goes to north of England chasing the man that is responsible for putting police on Raven's track. On his way to kill the people that betrayed him Raven will cross paths with Anne, friendly and justice driven member of acting and dancing troupe and Mather, policeman and Anne's fiancee who is not sure what is going on and why is Anne found working alongside Raven.
Unlike stoic gunmen like say Delon's Le Samourai or Leon Professional, Raven is very much self-aware and runs on pure emotions and rage. After very hard childhood and aware that his harelip was cause of so many difficulties Raven thinks everybody is after him because of his scarred face (which I guess was quite an issue when the novel was written). We follow him as he moves from the cold calculated killer to someone truly touched, like an animal that was constantly beaten and then shown true kindness, by friendship and support of Anne (no matter she might have few hidden motives of her own). Raven is a tragic figure, man who survived only by living in great fear, man to be brought down after he accepts other's friendship and kindness.
Besides Raven author gives very good description of society classes - those at the top looking forward to profiteering from war either directly (money) or indirectly (other material or social privileges) and those at the bottom either dumb and witless about the horror of wars and seeking glory in it, or terrified to the very bone [since terrors from the last one are still fresh in memory]. This entire reaction and justification of war have left bitter taste in my mouth because they show how propaganda can direct nations in a very, very, very wrong direction (like last year......brrrr).
Only issue I had with the book was level of details and descriptions author paints in his story. It could be that today we are more or less more visual creatures and do not have problems imagining things [when provided with less information] - authors very detailed descriptions and the ways he handles character discussions (ticks and face expressions included) tend to be verbose, and as a result my reading pace would suddenly drop to very low rate. Again this could be me [English is not my mother tongue] but was a cause for longer than expected time period to finish the book. On the good side when action picks up it truly picks up and pages just fly away.
Very interesting story, recommended to fans of slower burning thrillers.
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LibraryThing member breathslow
It’s all about betrayal - betrayal of the innocent and the malevolent; betrayal of the individual and the country; betrayal of self and ideals. Crime fiction with a political and ethical undertow. Given Greene’s slightly stiff 1930s style, it mercifully delivers its punches quickly and
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unsentimentally. The distant lights of faith, hope and charity sputter thinly in the cold yellow fog of the nearly unredeemed nihilism curling through these pages. Show Less
Awards
Physical description
227 p.; 20 cm
ISBN
0670701726 / 9780670701728
Local notes
uniform edition
Other editions
A gun for sale : an entertainment by Graham Greene (Paperback)