Rating: 
Summary: Exciting
Review: I liked this book very much because it's not an ordinary crime story, i.e. there isn't a normal plot with a detective and a murderer but a much more complicated story. Of course I also like it because of the agents and the secret service (that's also a reason why I like James Bond films!), because that's a very interesting subject for a detective story! I also enjoyed reading the book because of the fascinating characters, for example Captain Segura and others. They are really described very well and human. During the lecture I've begun to identify with the persons and started to understand their reactions and feelings. It's was also interesting to see how Greene created the whole plot, because there's really no point which isn't possible!
Rating: 
Summary: Like a guy I know
Review: I read this book lying on a beach in Mallorca over the course of two days. It's an easy and amusing read. I liked the main character Wormold. He's so laid back and lets events overtake him and take control of his life. Not unlike a few real life characters I know! Anyone who can "fall" into the role of a secret service agent and then believe he can fool them with plans of vacuum cleaner instead of a weapon is clearly off his head. What makes the character funnier is that he thinks that he will get away with it and it is an earnest attempt to fool them that he is doing something meaningful. There is nothing sinister in his deception - just a naive desire to please and get by in life as quietly as possible. As you will find out in this book, the quiet life is something that he fails to achieve.The only reason why it doesn't score 5 points is that it's a bit light weight. It's over all to soon. - Perfect for the beach though.
Rating:
Summary: Funniest Greene Spy Spoof!
Review: I read this one a long time back during my G Greene phase, and remember it as his funniest by far. Every great author has to have at least one laugh out loud tale, and so this fits the bill for Greene. If you've plunged through his torpid African books and need a breath of fresh air, you can't miss with this one! Yes, a vacuum salesman gets recruited as a spy, and passes on some bogus info causing some near panic situations. In fact he outwits his superiors! This one proves that Greene, sometimes obsessed with faith, religion, equatorial heat, etc., can whip up a top notch chuckler as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Too sly, too understated for it's own good
Review: I went into OUR MAN IN HAVANA with very few expectations. I was under the vague impression that it was a thriller of sorts and I somehow knew that there had a been a film made out of it a number of decades back. So I was a bit surprised when I started reading the book and found out that it was a comedy. Surprised and delighted, because OUR MAN turned out to be one of the more understated and enjoyable satires that I've read in a good long time. The book is a smart send up of a lot of the standard material one would have found in the noir films and books of the time (the novel was published in 1958, when the genre was starting to wear itself out). A British secret agent, looking to increase his community of contacts, has arranged for an ordinary vacuum cleaner salesman to file reports of any unusual activity in the area. The merchant, Mr. Wormold, reluctantly agrees to this arrangement for no reason other than the lure of extra money; he has a teenage daughter with very expensive tastes (to whit: men and horses). To keep himself employable, Wormold constructs a whole world of intrigue to write home about. The back-cover hints at one of the book's funnier gags, but all of Wormold's fictions (and especially the reaction they receive at the other end) are hilarious. Despite the comic portions of the plot, the characters themselves are allowed to retain a certain dignity. The prose is also as lush as one would expect from a Graham Greene novel. One particular scene stood out as a wonderful piece of writing. Placing two main characters inside a dark, dingy saloon, Greene describes the other inhabitants as looking like paratroopers about to parachute out of an airplane. Their quick glances at the door and their hushed demeanor are all exquisitely described. I like comedies as much as the next guy, but it's rare to find one that is simply this literate and also so entertaining. OUR MAN IN HAVANA is a relatively short novel; my copy clocks in at just two hundred twenty pages. It makes for a quick read, but not a throwaway one. It's smooth enough to be read as a straightforward thriller, if that's what you're in the mood for, as its comedy is more on the subtle than on the broad side. But, that said, the neat cuts of satire make this a hilarious and whimsical tale.
Rating:
Summary: Wickedly entertaining
Review: I went into OUR MAN IN HAVANA with very few expectations. I was under the vague impression that it was a thriller of sorts and I somehow knew that there had a been a film made out of it a number of decades back. So I was a bit surprised when I started reading the book and found out that it was a comedy. Surprised and delighted, because OUR MAN turned out to be one of the more understated and enjoyable satires that I've read in a good long time. The book is a smart send up of a lot of the standard material one would have found in the noir films and books of the time (the novel was published in 1958, when the genre was starting to wear itself out). A British secret agent, looking to increase his community of contacts, has arranged for an ordinary vacuum cleaner salesman to file reports of any unusual activity in the area. The merchant, Mr. Wormold, reluctantly agrees to this arrangement for no reason other than the lure of extra money; he has a teenage daughter with very expensive tastes (to whit: men and horses). To keep himself employable, Wormold constructs a whole world of intrigue to write home about. The back-cover hints at one of the book's funnier gags, but all of Wormold's fictions (and especially the reaction they receive at the other end) are hilarious. Despite the comic portions of the plot, the characters themselves are allowed to retain a certain dignity. The prose is also as lush as one would expect from a Graham Greene novel. One particular scene stood out as a wonderful piece of writing. Placing two main characters inside a dark, dingy saloon, Greene describes the other inhabitants as looking like paratroopers about to parachute out of an airplane. Their quick glances at the door and their hushed demeanor are all exquisitely described. I like comedies as much as the next guy, but it's rare to find one that is simply this literate and also so entertaining. OUR MAN IN HAVANA is a relatively short novel; my copy clocks in at just two hundred twenty pages. It makes for a quick read, but not a throwaway one. It's smooth enough to be read as a straightforward thriller, if that's what you're in the mood for, as its comedy is more on the subtle than on the broad side. But, that said, the neat cuts of satire make this a hilarious and whimsical tale.
Rating:
Summary: Subtle and humorous with a FANTASTIC plot
Review: If you've got Scotch miniatures at home, you are bound to be reminded of this book pretty often.This is one of Greene's lightest, but best novels.Brilliantly crafted characters and a fabulous storyline make this a joy to read. The unworldy air of the events and a grand climax grips the Greene fan and the uninitiated alike.The conflict present in Greene's characters is present here as well -Wormold,the vacuum-cleaner seller cum spy struggles to keep his life in check and conscience within bounds. Greene himself was an MI-6 agent.Is he trying to put across something about MI-6 or the secret services in general?Apparently Greene once acknowledged this fact. A must-read.
Rating:
Summary: Entertainment but biting entertainment
Review: In this novel, set in Cuba in the days before Castro, Mr Greene is at his most ironic. He tells the tale of Jim Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman who lives quietly in Havana and worries about his devoutly Catholic teenage daughter whom he is raising as a single parent. He is unexpectedly recruited, in a public toilet, by the British Secret Service to "keep an eye on things" in Cuba. When no obvious "things" present themselves, Wormold decides to invent agents and situations to pad his reports. But then things start to go wrong and reality begins to mirror fiction.
Graham Greene captures the sleepy, sensual heat of the Caribbean perfectly. His characters are extraordinarily vividly painted and the book lurches wildly from comedy to tragedy to farce, damning the bureaucrats, the police and the sinister, grey men of the secret services along the way. With The Comedians and Brighton Rock this must surely rank as one of Mr Greene's best entertainments.
Rating:
Summary: Light and Ironic
Review: Ironic, in my book, is usually a code word for not quite funny. But when applied to "Our Man in Havana", the term conveys Graham Greene's knack for plausibly refuting our expectations, with his sinister characters sweet, his innocent characters inadvertently deadly, and his espionage professionals inept. Greene achieves all this with the lightest touch, making his story of a failing vacuum cleaner merchant and his inventions for the British Secret Service an amusing and plausible romp through pre-Castro Cuba.
Greene's style, by the way, is so quick and light that the characters begin to resonate only after the book's completion, when, at least, this reader began to consider this rich tapestry of characters and their interaction. Lots of fun.
Rating:
Summary: SENSE OF HUMOR AND SUSPENSE
Review: It is already my fourth book of Graham Green, and without any doubt the best one. It is a combination of humor and suspense as I have never seen in other books. It is also a way of laughing about the Cold-War and the sometimes absurd behaviour of spies, secrets and Government's Intelligent Services. Really I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Farcical Tale of Cold War Espionage
Review: It is the age of The Bomb, the Cold War, and the perceived threats of Soviets in Cuba. Against this backdrop, Graham Greene presents his readers with a dark, yet farcical and even humorous tale of deception. The British Secret Service is looking for sources of military and political intelligence in Havana. Mr. Wormold, a simple vacuum cleaner salesman finds himself at the center of it all. He is recruited by the British Secret Service - in a bathroom - to develop a network of informants throughout Cuba. They suspect his position as a salesman has him well connected with all levels of society. After all, everyone needs a vacuum cleaner. Mr. Wormold is offered generous compensation for his services, an offer which is hard to refuse given that he has a capricious young daughter with expensive tastes in things such as . . . ponies. Wormold's alleged network of informants, however, is the product of wishful thinking on the part of his handlers. His friends marvel at his windfall in being asked to supply such secret information. "You are a lucky man, Mr. Wormold," says his friend Dr. Hasselbacher, "That information is always easy to give. If it is secret enough, you alone know it. All you need is a little imagination, Mr. Wormold." Imagine he does, and sets into motion a series of very real events based on a very mythical reality.
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