Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene

Title: Travels With My Aunt

Author: Graham Greene

Pages: 244

Finished: May 22, 2018

First Sentence: I met my Aunt Augusta for the first time in more than half a century at my mother's funeral.

Summary: Henry Pulling, bank retiree and homebody extraordinaire, meets his eccentric Aunt Augusta at his mother's funeral. It isn't long before he's pulled into her world of travel, insane stories, petty smuggling, and other general excitement as she searches for her lover Mr. Visconti.

Thoughts: There was a particular scene that reminded me of Gandalf trying to get Bilbo Baggins to go on an adventure. Sadly, this one just didn't deliver for me. Pulling was rather obtuse and naive. I found myself yelling at him to just get a clue already. Meanwhile, Aunt Augusta was just absurd. Her stories were so fantastic that I found myself putting the book down and going to bed very often because I figured I was just too tired to make sense of what was happening. Then I'd reread the passage the next morning and realize it was just as inane as I thought it was.

I also found the time period oddly disconcerting. The book was published in 1969, and as I understand it was contemporary fiction at that time. For some reason, I kept reading it as belonging to pre-1930s and was understandably confused every time World War II was mentioned. Or "modern" technology. I don't know why I got so disoriented.

For a 244 paged book, this one was a bit of a slog to get through. If it weren't for a book discussion, I probably wouldn't have kept it up. I feel a bit bad as my dad suggested it. Graham Greene is apparently his favorite author. Discussion is Thursday.