Dr Fischer Of Geneva (Vintage Classics)

Editorial Reviews. Review. "Manages to say more about love, hate, happiness, grief, Dr Fischer Of Geneva (Vintage Classics) by [Greene, Graham]. Kindle App.
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Jones, is at the beginning of the story alone, and at the end he is again alone, but left on earth with a lot of rich and also bad experiances. I like the book because I was never sure what will happen next.

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The story goes on like a street with a lot of bends. Somehow the ambiance is happy, somehow strange and somehow hostile.


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Unfortunately the main character is not a very comunicative person, you always have to guess what he feels. But i like also greens kind of how to compose the characters toghether. They are all very special individuals, especially Doctor Fisher, but together they make sense. Die hilfreichsten Kundenrezensionen auf Amazon.

This is one of Greene's later novels, first published in when he was in his 70s. It has the flavor of Greene's spiritual questioning, although placed into a nearly completely secular context. The plot centers on Dr.

Fischer, a sadistic, wealthy man, who made his fortune on toothpaste "Dentophil Bouquet". Fischer's achievement lags his status and his self-image -- he is treated as an immensely important man, always to be given special treatment. And he takes every advantage of it. His hobby is testing people -- a small group, called "Toads" by his daughter Anna- Luise who attend regular parties at Dr. He tests his guests by humiliating them in return for the promise of a valuable gift if they endure his humiliations. Although already wealthy, his guests, the Toads, willingly accept the humiliations and treasure his gifts.

Alfred Jones, the narrator of the story, marries Dr. Fischer, while professing little interest in either his daughter or her marriage, tests Jones. But Jones is very unlike the Toads -- he is neither wealthy nor greedy, and he does not accept Fischer's humiliations. It's a story about souls, about having a soul, losing a soul, winning one's own soul.

Fischer and Jones must test each other.

Dr Fischer Of Geneva (Vintage Classics)

It is a test of Dr. Fischer's nihilistic desire to tempt everyone into abandoning their souls against Jones' own dignity. This isn't the best of Greene's novels, but I think it is neat, precise, and quick, running only about pages. But I enjoyed it, and it left me with things to think about. Alfred Jones works as a translator and letter-writer in a chocolate factory in Vevey. The latter became a millionaire by selling toothpaste and lives in a mansion in Versoix. A strange marriage it is because Jones is in his fifties and Anna-Luise could almost be his daughter - she is But this is perhaps what she seeks, a father more sympathetic than Dr Fischer whom Jones detests because of his pride, his contempt of all the world and his cruelty.

He doesn't even oppose to his marrying Anna-Luise. Dr Fischer is famous for the parties he gives at his house.

Doctor Fischer of Geneva or the Bomb Party: Graham Greene: leondumoulin.nl: Books

The parties are always attended by the same people: Though wealthy, all these characters are in one way or other dependant on Dr Fischer which allows him to humiliate, despise and belittle them during those parties. Only Jones doesn't allow himself to be mocked which greatly displeases Dr Fischer. Write a customer review. Read reviews that mention greene rich greed human graham parties jones wealthy lives wealth tale toothpaste alfred father society integrity late toads allegorical perhaps.

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. While this novella - my early Avon paperback edition reaches pages, while I notice some other editions are , it's clearly not a novel - is deeply moral, it is also entertaining yet also deeply poignant, and never preachy in tone or sanctimonious.

Written from the embittered, disillusioned, disheartened viewpoint of Mr Jones, the man who falls deeply in love with the enigmatic, sad but wonderful Anna-Luise, the only daughter of multi-millionaire, megalomaniac and entirely monstrous Doctor Fischer rich because of a toothpaste formula , it has an easy, graceful style as to be expected of Greene , and the tone of a fable on greed, and questions of integrity and submission. The opening line immediately draws you into what you know will be a compelling tale: A moment later, Picasso returns the piece of paper, with a wonderful little abstract line drawing.

The interviewer looks admiringly, and then asks Picasso does he feel guilty that something he drew in mere moments could sell instantly for a large sum of money.

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Picasso replies simply, and immediately: As any devoted fan of Greene's oeuvre will tell you, this is a quirky work in light of his other fictions, and is reminiscent in its uniqueness among his works, as The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold: It also rewards you far in excess of the little time it takes to read.

This is my second foray into Graham Greene territory. As my title states, the book reads quick and easy like. It does not take too long to get to the heart of the matter, namely, the nature of Dr. The upshot is that one does not have to wait; the downside is that the opening feels a little hollow. It covers all the basic bases of the backstory, but lacks emotional oomph.

Dr Fischer Of Geneva

While I wholly enjoyed the story, the one thing that stuck with me was the stuffiness of the book. By my reckoning, the action is supposed to take place in or around , but the language of the book has a weird effect. I kept transposing the action in my mind to somewhere between and It just had that stuffy English feel to it. Outside of the brilliantly mean-spirited tongue of Dr. Fischer, the dialouge has the same pent-up feel about it. Perhaps it is meant to refelct on the age of the primary characters and harken back to a different period, but it just seemed odd.

References to Fiats and credit cards kept catching me off-guard: That being said, once the book revs up to The Bomb Party of the alternate title, the pace really revs up and I found myself unable to stop reading.

The ending is a bit abrupt and a little anti-climactic, but, upon refelction, that plays into the moral story of the book. This is one of those pieces that might have been better if a little bit shorter or a little bit longer. Outside of Alfred Jones interacting with Dr. Fischer, the narrative feels a little thin. I could have used more development of Anna-Luise, she never felt very real to me. There are several references to sex in the book, but most have a very simple, very matter-of-fact feel to them.

More of that stuffiness of which I spoke. Some are even a bit creepy, but that is probably just me, for I cannot explain why they felt thus. All in all, it is a good read that doesn't dissapoint. It also fails to capture the period in time where it takes place. Jones could have been placed in the the late 19th or early 20th century and would not have felt out of place. Perhaps that was part of the plan to make them more timeless, but it felt more like a hrumphy distraction. See all 22 reviews. Most recent customer reviews. Published on December 31, Published on September 13, Published on October 27, Published on August 19, Published on February 6, Published on November 27, Published on April 4, Published on January 13, Published on September 2,