Three stars on Goodreads means "I liked it," but two stars means it was just "OK." Well, I liked this lightweight novella by Graham Greene, even though, ultimately, it was just OK. So, it gets two stars, even though I liked it. Dig where I'm coming from here?The story covers about two weeks in the topsy turvy early days of the marriage of lower-echelon Brit accountant, Mr. Bertram, and his young bride, Cary. He's 40 and on his second marriage and she's a virginal 25. Their plans for an unremarkable church wedding followed by a Bournemouth honeymoon are turned on end by a twist of fate, and suddenly the couple find themselves sent off to Monte Carlo for a wedding and casino-filled holiday, thanks to the machinations of Bertram's eccentric and mysterious boss, Mr. Dreuther (also known as the GOM, or Grand Old Man, but which could easily also mean GOD). Things do not go as planned when Dreuther fails to sail to Monte Carlo in time for the couple's wedding, which precipitates the couple's financial crisis, a growing gambling urge, Bertram's development of a failsafe mathematical way of winning at the tables, and a marital crisis when Cary begins to favor a hungry young man over her increasingly petty and greed-obsessed husband. But, in the end, domestic happiness and poverty win out.The book starts out rather amusingly; Dreuther is like one of those benevolent capitalists straight out of a 1930s screwball comedy movie, and the initial scenes between he and Bertram are funny, but the book doesn't sustain this level of humor and becomes a bit dour when it tries to examine (somewhat shallowly) the causes of marital strife. The moral hardly rises above the "money doesn't buy happiness" ilk, and in the end Greene seems to plump for boring British marriages.
"Loser takes all" belongs perhaps not to the masterpieces of Greene. But I like Greene's quietly humorous dialogues which often have a twist in them. Greene's novel is a romantic comedy where an English couple, Mr. Bertram and Cary, are about to get married and have a honeymoon in Monte Carlo. To me the plot of the story is weak, being based on a "secure" system to win in the roulette tables of the Monte Carlo Casino. However,the week plot is compensated by Greene's excellent control of the language. In the following typical Greene-dialogue the to-be wife Cary and her to-be husband Mr. Bertram discuss their relationship:"I don't like young men. I expect I've got a father fixation.""Damn it, Cary," I said, "I'm not old enough to be your father.""Oh yes you are," she said, "puberty begins at fourteen."Below Mr. Bertram discusses his marital problems with his boss, Mr. Dreuther:"I have had four wives. Are you sure you want her back?""Yes.""It can be very peaceful without them.""I'm not looking for peace - yet.""My second wife - I was still young then - she left me, and I made the mistake of winning her back. It took me years to lose her again after that."The dialogues are where Greene excels.
What do You think about Loser Takes All (1993)?
Even Graham Greene takes a shot at the soulless despair of the late 1950s in this silly love story about a lowly middle-aged accountant in a London firm. Mr Bertram is about to be married, for the second time, to a young lighthearted girl he met in a restaurant. He gets summoned to the big boss' office and invited to honeymoon on the man's yacht in the Mediterranean. Of course it all goes wrong and Bertram winds up in the casinos of Monte Carlo trying to use his mathematical powers to beat the house and losing his new bride in the process. The happy ending reads like a Doris Day romantic comedy of the day. (In fact there was a movie in 1956 with Greene writing the screenplay.) I know that Greene wrote what he called "entertainments" next to his literary novels to pay the bills and usually they are almost as good but this one was too light for me.
—Judy
I've been on a Graham Greene kick and while this one may not be one of his greats -- it seems to have been dashed off, to be turned into a film -- it is quite delightful. The dialogue reminds me of Noel Coward, and you get wonderful descriptions, deftly sketched as in this brief insight into the main character's boss, a rather laconic figure who possesses a subtle mind:He was a prisoner in his room, and small facts of the outer world came to him with the shock of novelty; he entertained them as an imprisoned man entertains a mouse or treasures a leaf blown through the bars.Greene's writing, even when he is not giving it his full attention, is better than most of us can muster on the best of days.
—Lisa Lieberman
Dear Frere, As we have been associated in business and friendship for a quarter of a century I am dedicating this frivolity without permission to you. Unlike some of my Catholic critics, you, I know, when reading this little story, will not mistake me for 'I', nor do I need to explain to you that this tale has not been written for the purposes of encouraging adultery, the use of pyjama tops, or registry office marriages. Nor is it meant to discourage gambling. Affectionately and gratefully, Graham Greene.And in a few words Graham Greene dismisses this "entertainment" as he did most of his lighter work as a little bit of fun, not to be taken seriously. And who could take something so obviously designed to be a James Stewart and Audrey Hepburn vehicle with a set up of two young lovers mooning, pouting, quarrelling and generally playing around in Monte Carlo seriously? It is exactly what Greene says it is, frivolous, and latterly adapted in to a Molly Ringwald comedy called Strike it Rich.Calling it slight might be an insult to the word, there's very little here but what is here is both fun and as ever coloured slightly with Greene's constant struggle with his Catholic faith and it's conflict with the natural order of Human life.
—Tfitoby
