Reviews for Stamboul Train

The average rating for Stamboul Train based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-02-23 00:00:00 Michael Rojas I like Greene, I liked that the book was entertaining, social commentary and political all at the same time, a hallmark of Greene novels. What I didn't like and what really upset me, is the marking out of someone as Jewish. Rant follows! If you are not Christian, not White or not able-bodied you might well identify with it. I have no idea if anyone else in the story, in many, many stories, newspaper articles, tv reportage, online news sites, are Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist or White. But Jews, Jews have to be identified. Especially if they are in finance, although in Greene's story, he wasn't. Bankers and other financiers who are not Jewish are not identified by their religion, only Jews. Are there more Jews in banking than any other industry? No. In London there is a joke that on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, you can't catch a taxi. Who would think of mentioning that a taxi driver was Jewish? It isn't necessarily anti-Semitism in any shape of form, but something of the Nazi doctrine remains (yes, I know it dates back to Roman times but this is the 21stC and we know about genetics now) that Jews, whether they are from Zimbabwe, Eastern Europe or Malaysia are all really one race and no one should forget that and all that the writer wants to imply (usually negative stuff). That's some baggage there for all of us born Jewish whatever religion or philosophy we actually espouse. It is no longer considered polite or politically-correct to point out that some woman is actually a transgendered pre-op male. ie. A man. We have to rightfully consider not only their feelings but that (unless you are going to sleep with them) it really doesn't matter anyway. But somehow being Jewish does. Why is Catholic not important? Why is Anglican not important? Why is atheist not important? Why is Black important? Why does my mixed race son who looks White have to have it pointed out in articles that he is Black, and Jewish, do people think he might pass as a White Christian which is somehow wrong, somehow fooling people if it wasn't pointed out?

Review # 2 was written on 2021-06-29 00:00:00 Nima Hala Orient Express is another wonderful classic by Graham Greene first published as Stamboul Train until the title changed when it was published in the United States as the Orient Express. It details the journey on a train from Ostend to Constantinople, later known as Istanbul. I have long had a fascination and love for trains from the time I was a small child sitting with my grandfather on many afternoons at a train station enthralled with all of the activity as he told me stories of his time with the railroad. I boarded my first train on a journey alone at age nine. My experiences on that memorable trip still remains as one of my most vivid and favorite memories. A classic this book is, and it should be. It was riveting literature from beginning to end. This wonderful novel where we meet a lot of diverse characters traveling for very different motivations and purposes as their lives become intertwined over the course of their journey in many unpredictable ways. There is a sense of unease throughout the book that keeps you on edge. I will continue to work my way through the works of Graham Greene. And this underlying theme of anxiety is foreshadowed in the beautiful and lyrical epigraph: "Everything is lyrical in its ideal existence; tragic in its fate and comic in its existence." --- GEORGE SANTAYANA "All down the restaurant-cars fell the sudden concerted silence which is said to mean that an angel passes overhead. But through the human silence the tumblers tingled on the table, the wheels thudded along the iron track, the windows shook and sparks flickered like match heads through the darkness."