Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene (Penguin, 2007; originally pub. 1958)
Greene’s most widely-read novel was written before the rise of Fidel Castro, and his characters were developed before the advent of 007. His main character, James Wormold, is a single man, living in Havana, Cuba, selling vacuum cleaners and raising a devoutly Catholic, 17-year old daughter. When he is randomly pinned to serve as a secret service agent, he jumps at the opportunity and develops fictional local agents and draws fake weapon plans out of vacuum sketches in order to collect a sorely needed income. The novel is written in a disjointed manner, loaded with characters from all over the world who gather in a depraved Havanna that writhes with drugs and murderers and prostitutes, all in an effort to establish larger, less appealing farce (7.5/10).
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