The Quiet American Audiobook By Graham Greene cover art

The Quiet American

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Quiet American

By: Graham Greene
Narrated by: Joseph Porter
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $9.77

Buy for $9.77

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel
Alden Pyle, an idealistic young American, is sent to Vietnam to promote democracy amidst the intrigue and violence of the French war with the Vietminh, while his friend, Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, looks on.

Fowler's mistress, a beautiful native girl, creates a catalyst for jealousy and competition between the men and a cultural clash resulting in bloodshed and deep misgivings.

Written in 1955, prior to the Vietnam conflict, The Quiet American foreshadows the events leading up to the Vietnam War. Questions surrounding the moral ambiguity of the involvement of the United States in foreign countries are as relevant today as they were 50 years ago.

©1983 Graham Greene (P)1993 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Classics Espionage Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Witty Emotionally Gripping American Literature

Critic reviews

"There has been no novel of any political scope about Vietnam since Graham Greene wrote The Quiet American." ( Harper's)
"Greene is a superb storyteller. He evokes the most actual streets, the most vivid skies, and individuals who can have a lacerating reality as they search the labyrinth of their lives." ( Newsweek)
Prescient Historical Perspective • Complex Characters • British Accent Appropriate • Rich Storytelling • Engaging Plot
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would like to have known more of Phoung, her thoughts, her views, her decision making process.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Vigot, as he is torn between friendship and duty is one of the more interesting characters.

How could the performance have been better?

My major critique is that many of the American accents by the reader sounded very similar to each other. As such, there in a passage where the Americans were speaking with each other, it was hard to follow who was who.

Interesting story, poor performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a wonderful and fascinating story. Unfortunately, this reading is so bad as to be nearly on listenable. The accents are simply awful. They are so awful that it makes it hard to concentrate on the actual story. I am shocked that there is not another option available to purchase.

Narrator so terrible, distracts from story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a famous book. It is supposed to be about the American despoilation of Vietnam in the pursuit of 'hearts and minds.' To my mind it is one of Greene's lazier efforts and a scrim for his anti-Americanism. The story is a love triangle between an ageing cynical British journalist, a naive American CIA agent and Phoung, a beguiling totally sexist/racistly draw Vietnamese woman who is the source of the key conflict in the story but who is really just a stand-in for the whole of Vietnam, with the tussle between the two men a field for Greene to let go with both barrels on American perfidy, ruthlessness and ignorance. When I first read this book in the 1960s it resonated. Now it seems dated, but there is no doubt that Greene can turn a phrase and the underlying issues are certainly worth exploring. Just with not such a ham hand.

Love Triangle as Allegory

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is my foray into Greene’s prodigious body of work. I am heartened with his brilliant writing and story telling craft. It took a long bit to acclimate to the reader’s style. Three quarters in I adjusted sufficiently to appreciate it. I will read my way through Greene’s work.

Salute

Kudos — My Applause

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic book which only gets more impressive the more you learn about the time the author wrote it and why. The audio quality was less than desired but good enough to enjoy the story.

Great story, okay audio

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
the narrator's accents were terrible and basically all the same All the Americans sounded like a Englishman doing a poor rendition of a stereotypical American Southerner. Pyle was supposed to be from the Northeast, not Alabama. All the other characterizations were equally bad.
He continually put the emphasis and/or pauses in the wrong place.
A dialog that would go something like:

...
"what would you like?", he asked.
I ignored his question. "Maybe tomorrow".
He repeated, "what would you like?"

was read as:
"what would you like?", he asked.
I ignored his question.
"Maybe tomorrow", he repeated.
"What would you like?"

Terrible.

good story terrible narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This novel managed to be quite clear while balancing a tinge of mystery. Also, it is fascinating how Greene could foresee the moral implications of America’s growing involvement in Vietnam. A bit unsure of how women are presented in the novel.

Prescient Tale on America’s Impact on Vietnam

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I found the reading in general good: the pace, clarity, emotional distancing. The attempt at an American accent, though, was a sad mistake that detracted from my enjoyment of the work.

American accent attempt

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This one is much better read than listened too. It is not just the weird accents the narrator uses but the whole audio production is poor. I love Graham Green but this production was not good.

Great story - poor performance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The book makes very evident the conflicting points of view about the war in Vietnam . I felt the treatment of women was definitely misogynistic. Joseph Porter was good as the Englishman but not so good as the American.

Makes you think

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews