Loser Takes All

"Loser Takes All" is one of Graham Greene's lighter novels yet is still full of Greene's unique observations and colorful characters. Taking place mostly within a casino, it has at its base the dream of every gambler: The unbeatable method of winning. The consequences of this discovery and how they play out in the life of the main character and his new wife, comprise the majority of the plot line. Although "Loser Takes All" is certainly entertaining, Greene does tackle some of his old familiar themes like the corruption of money and its subsequent affect on human relationships. The male character who stands both inside and outside of his own world, common in his other novels, also makes an appearance in the main character of Bertram, although Bertram does retain some of his lighter elements as can be seen in the restaurant scene with his wife, her new boyfriend, and Bertram's date. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something simple and amusing yet also memorable.

This slight Graham Greene novel is really more of a long short story--I read virtually the entire thing on a two-hour flight to New York City. But Greene is still able to infuse his story and characters with the moral significance that infuses all of his work. What happens in this novel really seems to *matter* in a way that it wouldn't in the hands of another author. Greene was great at making the most innocuous of situations feel full of portent; it's as if the character's moral fate will be decide once and for all by whether or not they take that last trip to the gaming table, or have that last drink, or go through with that meaningless one-night stand. It's this quality of Greene's that make his "entertainments" so satifsying to literature lovers: they have all of the attributes of the most thrilling page-turner, but the reader doesn't have to feel like he needs to sacrifice a love for style and substance in order to enjoy it. Not one of Greene's most profound works, but very entertaining.

Obviously Graham Greene is a great storyteller. There's a lot of sarcasm in his writing, which I love. This is about a mediocre accountant, Bertram, marrying for the second time to a women much younger than himself. They are both stranded in Monte Carlo, and much to his new wife's chagrin, he becomes obsessed with a gambling system which starts to work for him. "Loser Takes All" has a good twist at the end. Actually, I was surprised by the end of this book, not only by what happened, but how the tone seemed to change completely. I fully expected something different. Maybe the story itself didn't interest me all that much. I wouldn't say it was fantastic or anything. It was all right. Still, this was the first Graham Greene book I've read, and I'm sure it won't be the last.