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The Destructors and Other Stories

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The Destructors and Other Stories

By: Graham Greene
Narrated by: Stephen Thorne
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About this listen

From a childish fear of the dark in "The End of the Party" to the chilling conclusion of the "Destructors" and the all-consuming selfishness of "May We Borrow Your Husband", this collection opens with three of Greene's most disturbing stories. Things take a surreal turn in "Under the Garden" before finally blossoming for a moment in "Two Gentle People", then there's a detective story and a brush with Greene's sardonic wit to finish.

Extremely enjoyable and easy to dip in and out of...

  • "The Destructors"
  • "The End of the Party"
  • "Under the Garden"
  • "A Discovery in the Woods"
  • "May We Borrow Your Husband"
  • "Mortmain"
  • "The Invisible Japanese Gentleman"
  • "Two Gentle People"
  • "Murder for the Wrong Reason"
  • "The Man Who Stole the Eiffel Tower"
©2012 Estate of Graham Greene (P)2013 Spoken Ink Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Classics Witty Marriage
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Greene is a great writer. His short stories do not disappoint..Recommended.
Murder for the wrong reason is particularly intriguing

Brilliant. Enjoyable

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I was introduced to GG when doing O level Eng Lit (exam June 1978) we read Brighton Rock which to my 16 year old mind even back then was the most lowbrow of our 3 books.
In some ways GG though thought of as a classic modern literary author and born the son of schoolmaster and related to wealthy business people he never got beyond basic school boy mindset. Almost like he was pushing boundaries with vulgar language.
He did have good observational skills however and a good mind was buried beneath the schoolboy smut and vulgarity so though like I did as a teenager I have come away from these stories conflicted and I will probably again try to find out why people think he’s such a good writer at some point I currently think my then 3 year old grandson dictating Nana’s a poopoo head to my notes app was more mature than GG in some of these stories.
The highlights (most mature stories) were the one involving the murder of a blackmailer, and the one about twins where one was afraid of the dark.
Personally I feel I wasted a credit.

I always forget how brutal and vulgar Graham Greene can be

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Enjoyed this, a selection of weird and weirdly humourous stories, I forgot how good Greene was at dark humour, recommended.

great selection of weird short stories.

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Not read any of his short stories before only his full length novels. Didn’t like how they ended abruptly. Wanted to know what happened next. Can see why in the movie Donnie Darko, the PTA woman got so upset at the English teacher having this as the set text

Different from Graham Greene

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Big fan of most of GGs work but this just felt like floor-sweepings compared to masterpieces such as end of the affair. Time to let this one go out of print.

Dated and weak. A man out of ideas.

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