The book I have just finished at times made me feel like packing a bag and just buying a ticket to somewhere and then just travel round wherever I go and see where I go from day to day. to have an adventure and explore the world. Unfortunately I do have a job, laundry to do and plants to water so I decided to just stay put for now.
The fact that the book got finished as soon as it did is kind of short of miraculous as I was "distracted" by some normal and not so normal stuff: there was the mountain of laundry patiently waiting to be done, cooking a nice soup and a lovely casserole with chicken and red wine. The not so regular stuff was my back pain (not normal and not really planned), slight addiction to new Nintendo DS game (I'm a little Ninja fighting my way through foreign lands) and the gift buying frenzy to get my oldest niece a birthday present (now I just have to remember to send it).
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Travels with my Aunt - Graham Greene
I know GG from my Uni days and I remembered that I liked what books I read of his. I just did not exactly remember why I did. This book has brought it all back to me. GG writes in a lovely, skipping sort of way. He seems to wander happily through his story and brings his characters to life really well. He has a great sense of humour and even though it seems like he is just telling you a little story, there is some deeper human feeling and emotion in what he writes. the main characters have something to learn, go through a learning experience themselves or make you think about what they are going through.
In this one we have the main character Henry Pulling. He is a retired bank manager - he's sort of boring and bland, as is his life, and he does not even know it. He meets his Aunt Augusta for the first time at his mother's funeral and his life is a roller coaster ride of travel and intrigue after that. He not only learns that his mother is not his mother, but his mother's ashes gets replaced by pot by one of his Aunt's friends (the ever popping up where you least expect him, Wordsworth), he meets some of his Aunt's friends through her stories (mr Dambreuse, Mr Visconti, Curran) and befriends a young girl (Tooley) on the Orient Express. He even gets into a slight bit of trouble with the police. Although Henry is so innocent he probably was never in any real danger of being arrested or anything. They are more after his Aunt and her friends and contacts. The only ones to suffer are his beloved dahlia's. Well, they are his beloved ones at the start of the book. When we get to the end of the book he does not seem to have any fascination for them. He is more intoxicated by the smell of oranges.
Aunt Augusta is a lovely character, She is a formidable lady with enough life experience for 3 people. She has lived ad worked all over the world. Although it is never quite clear what she has been up to you can be sure not all of it was completely legal. She tells Henry her life story as they travel around. First they go to Brighton - this is when we learn about one of her loves, Curran. He apparently found a niche market in setting up a church for dogs. We also find out some more about one of Henry's uncles, Jo. He seems to have had the idea that by living somewhere only for a little while would make life seems longer. So he got a big house a lived in each from for a week. However, being ill he never made it to room 52.
The next trip they take is on the Orient Express. Here we learn a bit more about Aunt A through her love affair with mr Dambreuse. This little rascal had two mistresses set up in the same hotel, independent from one another. Only thing was, one time they ended up having lunch together when mr Dambreuse wandered in accompanied by his wife. Neither mistress was really intending to end the affair but as Aunt A stays, the mystery had gone for mr D and that was the end of that. It's also on of the first times she mentions a Mr Visconti and you know from the way she talks about him (and by the fact that you find out little a bit at the time about him throughout the book) that he is/was important in her life and means/t a lot to her. It is also clear the mr Visconti did what he had to do to stay alive in WW2 and cheated each side equally out of what they thought was theirs. We also meet Tooley on the train. She is a young girl traveling around, having some issues with her boyfriend and possibly pregnant. She is neglected by both her father and mother equally and seems quite happy to just sit and talk to Henry. You have no real idea why she is there but all will be revealed later one. There is a bit of police trouble at the hotel and Henry learns the reason why his Aunt's candle weighed almost as much as a ton of bricks.
Once Henry is home things no longer seem the same. He is a bit restless and I think he almost feels lonely without his travel and his travel companion. As it happens, he realises, it is the anniversary of his father's death so Henry and his Aunt set off for Boulogne where his father died. They meet a woman who was with him as he died and learn that dad had some intent of making her heaps a bit more than an acquaintance. unfortunately for him he died before he could put that plan into action. Aunt A does not like the woman at all. Henry and his Aunt part ways in Boulogne. His Aunt goes on to Paris to sort out something or other and Henry goes back to his home... well his house. It no longer really suits him as a home. His horizons seems to have been broadened by the travel and the mundane existence of Southwood does not suit him any longer. He seems restless, has lost interest in his dahlias an even throws away the urn without his mother's ashes... she was not really his mother anyway. I think Henry himself sums it up quite nicely:
"..., I was left with the sad impressions that my aunt might be dead and the most interesting part of my life might be over. I had waited a long time for it to arrive, and it had not lasted very long."
Then, a long time goes by before Henry hears from his Aunt again. when he does she is in South America, Buenos Aires. She has let him know she plans not to return to Europa and to sort her affairs out and then come over himself. Henry meets a guy on board the boat, James O'Toole (Tooley for short) who turns out to be the father of the girl Henry met on the Orient Express. Apart from being her father Mr O'Toole also turns out to be in the CIA. O'Toole ha the strange habit of writing down how much he pisses and when... good thing that that's not a running theme in the novel! One familiar face that turns up again is Wordsworth. He is helping out Aunt A while she gets a house in order for when Mr Visconti arrives. You feel that the guy is going to stand her up and leave her to foot the bill for the place and break her heart but true to his word the illusive mr Visconti does finally make an appearance. Only just though, he has managed to use Aunt A's money to persuade a local police officer that he needs to be a free man. Everyone is suspicious of everyone there in South America and ll the players are out to get something for themselves. mr Visconti buys his freedom, Aunt A buys furniture, Wordsworth wants Aunt to love him again, O'Toole wants a Da Vinci drawing and Henry..... well he just wants to stay with is Aunt and forget all about Southwood. I think he is a bit intoxicated by what life could be like for him if he stays and he ends up being a bookkeeper for mr Visconti. I think Henry knows fully the business he is getting into and yet he does not seem to hesitate. He is happy to leave his old, boring, sedate life behind. He is ready for a new adventure.
The fact that Aunt A turns out to be Henry's mother is really no surprise. The way she tells him about her life and the way they get along implies some deeper connection between them then just Aunt and Nephew meeting for travel. It's a great ending to a great story. Henry is where he belongs and although at the beginning of the book you would have never pictured him there he is exactly where he needs to be, and where he belongs.
Title: Travels with my Aunt
Author: Graham Greene
265 pages
Vintage
ISBN nr 0-09-928258-5
Books read: 1
Books to be read: 74
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