Call number
FIC GRE
Collection
Genres
Publication
Simon & Schuster Trade, New York, NY, U.S.A. (1980), Edition: F
Description
Doctor Fischer despises the human race. When the notorious toothpaste millionaire decides to hold the last of his famous parties - his own deadly version of the Book of Revelations - Greene opens up a powerful vision of the limitless greed of the rich. Black comedy and painful satire combine in a totally compelling novel.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jcbrunner
Graham Greene never mastered either German or French. Thus, despite spending his final years in Switzerland, his depiction of Switzerland (or Austria) is rather lacking in both accuracy and perspicacity. Thus Doctor Fischer of Geneva is not bound to its titular location beyond the fact that the
The plot itself deals with classic Greeneland themes of ennui and humiliating power plays. Female characters are mere props for the male characters. Most of the story build-up is quite unnecessary to develop the Russian Roulette situation. Instead of a short novel, it might have carried more punch as a poignant short story. Given that Greene wrote his classic novels in the 1940s and 1950s, I found it quite amazing that new works were published even in the 1980s, even though, just like the Cold War, Greene's newer works never again reached the intensity of his early years. Only recommended to completists.
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city attracts a sizable number of rich people or in terms of the trade, HNWI. Greene's description of one Swiss army officer is also off the mark. Greene depicts him as a pomp-and-circumstance salon soldier. In reality, the Swiss army was afflicted in full Cold War mode, with every able-bodied man spending a few weeks each year practicing defense against a "red force" invader.The plot itself deals with classic Greeneland themes of ennui and humiliating power plays. Female characters are mere props for the male characters. Most of the story build-up is quite unnecessary to develop the Russian Roulette situation. Instead of a short novel, it might have carried more punch as a poignant short story. Given that Greene wrote his classic novels in the 1940s and 1950s, I found it quite amazing that new works were published even in the 1980s, even though, just like the Cold War, Greene's newer works never again reached the intensity of his early years. Only recommended to completists.
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LibraryThing member atimco
Fans of Graham Greene can tell me if Doctor Fischer of Geneva was a good choice to read after my introduction to his work, the dazzlingly insightful and painful End of the Affair. Though we view the world from entirely different perspectives, Greene deals with ideas that I find deeply compelling:
Our narrator is Alfred Jones, a middle-aged man living in Switzerland who translates letters for a chocolates firm. He lost his left hand working as a fireman during The Blitz and is a widower with no children. He falls in love with a much younger woman, daughter of the incredibly wealthy Doctor Fischer whose dinner parties have a sinister reputation that no one wants to plumb. Anna-Luise, estranged from her father, is happy with Alfred in their little flat, enjoying the simplicity of their love. They think they are safe from Doctor Fischer, who never has cared about his daughter. But then Alfred receives an invitation to one of the parties, and the first hint of tragedy begins to flavor their lives.
You have to hand it to Greene for finding new and creative ways to explore human depravity. The parties are disgusting in a way I had never imagined; they are orgies of selfishness. Doctor Fischer invites his circle of very rich, very select people and gives very expensive presents as favors. But there is a catch: to get their presents, his guests must submit to some humiliating ordeal. If they refuse to play their host's game, they forfeit their prize. None of them need Doctor Fischer's gifts; they are each rich enough to purchase the costly gifts themselves many times over, but their greed always wins over their dignity. They scrabble at the Doctor's feet like carrion-eaters in the dust, replete with fat things but never sated.
Greene loves to play with conceptions of God and sometimes conflate them with the devil. Alfred and Anna-Luise tell one another that her father is not God Almighty, that he can't touch what they have, but of course his influence stretches over their lives like some monstrous shadow. I think Greene intends Doctor Fischer to depict a God who is hungry for human humiliation, a hunger that can never be satisfied. The Doctor is not insane; he is, in his way, a researcher of the human condition. He wants to see how far his subjects will stoop to get his gifts.
As a picture of the Christian God, this can't but be offensive to Christians, and yet somehow it does not offend me. Even at his most blasphemous, Greene isn't one of those authors who gets my back up. And I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because he doesn't like the ideas he's exploring either; something is seriously jarring about a God who acts more like the devil and Greene knows it. It can't be true. He never seems to deny God's existence, only to question His character — and when you do that, of course, you lay yourself open to the possibility that the ugliness and awfulness are all on your side, flaws of your perception, and not God's fault at all.
At the end it all comes undone; Anna-Luise dies in a skiing accident and Alfred is devastated enough to attempt suicide. When the attempt fails, he considers that in some way he wants revenge on her father, and so he accepts the invitation to Doctor Fischer's final party. At this party the stakes go beyond abject humiliation into the realm of the downright dangerous, and such is the slavering greed of the guests that they still plunge into the game. In the end, the man who studies evil so carefully in others cannot stand aloof from it as he has believed. His soul-destroying fascination with human depravity undoes him. Alfred is left with nothing but empty memories.
Greene is a brilliant author and I look forward to reading more of his work. It makes me think and see things as I haven't before. And all I want to say to him is, how sad it is that you never knew.
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the character of God, the nature of man, and human suffering. He really wants to know. Please be warned that there are spoilers in this review.Our narrator is Alfred Jones, a middle-aged man living in Switzerland who translates letters for a chocolates firm. He lost his left hand working as a fireman during The Blitz and is a widower with no children. He falls in love with a much younger woman, daughter of the incredibly wealthy Doctor Fischer whose dinner parties have a sinister reputation that no one wants to plumb. Anna-Luise, estranged from her father, is happy with Alfred in their little flat, enjoying the simplicity of their love. They think they are safe from Doctor Fischer, who never has cared about his daughter. But then Alfred receives an invitation to one of the parties, and the first hint of tragedy begins to flavor their lives.
You have to hand it to Greene for finding new and creative ways to explore human depravity. The parties are disgusting in a way I had never imagined; they are orgies of selfishness. Doctor Fischer invites his circle of very rich, very select people and gives very expensive presents as favors. But there is a catch: to get their presents, his guests must submit to some humiliating ordeal. If they refuse to play their host's game, they forfeit their prize. None of them need Doctor Fischer's gifts; they are each rich enough to purchase the costly gifts themselves many times over, but their greed always wins over their dignity. They scrabble at the Doctor's feet like carrion-eaters in the dust, replete with fat things but never sated.
Greene loves to play with conceptions of God and sometimes conflate them with the devil. Alfred and Anna-Luise tell one another that her father is not God Almighty, that he can't touch what they have, but of course his influence stretches over their lives like some monstrous shadow. I think Greene intends Doctor Fischer to depict a God who is hungry for human humiliation, a hunger that can never be satisfied. The Doctor is not insane; he is, in his way, a researcher of the human condition. He wants to see how far his subjects will stoop to get his gifts.
As a picture of the Christian God, this can't but be offensive to Christians, and yet somehow it does not offend me. Even at his most blasphemous, Greene isn't one of those authors who gets my back up. And I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because he doesn't like the ideas he's exploring either; something is seriously jarring about a God who acts more like the devil and Greene knows it. It can't be true. He never seems to deny God's existence, only to question His character — and when you do that, of course, you lay yourself open to the possibility that the ugliness and awfulness are all on your side, flaws of your perception, and not God's fault at all.
At the end it all comes undone; Anna-Luise dies in a skiing accident and Alfred is devastated enough to attempt suicide. When the attempt fails, he considers that in some way he wants revenge on her father, and so he accepts the invitation to Doctor Fischer's final party. At this party the stakes go beyond abject humiliation into the realm of the downright dangerous, and such is the slavering greed of the guests that they still plunge into the game. In the end, the man who studies evil so carefully in others cannot stand aloof from it as he has believed. His soul-destroying fascination with human depravity undoes him. Alfred is left with nothing but empty memories.
Greene is a brilliant author and I look forward to reading more of his work. It makes me think and see things as I haven't before. And all I want to say to him is, how sad it is that you never knew.
Show Less
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
Of the books I've read, this is as close as I've seen Greene come to emulating the enormous tragedy at the heart of Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms." Both books are about the same length - Greene's might be a little shorter - and about vastly different things, but both look at human corruption, at
Greene's is the lesser of the two, without a doubt, though it isn't without its own highlights. The tale of Dr Fischer is morally ambiguous. He hosts parties where he expects his guests to humiliate themselves, with a fabulously expensive gift their reward if they do. One guest, the narrator, who works as a translator in a chocolate factory, refuses to lower himself as others do so quickly; it is ironic - or morally the heart of the story - that the narrator needs the money, and the others do not.
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love, and end tragically.Greene's is the lesser of the two, without a doubt, though it isn't without its own highlights. The tale of Dr Fischer is morally ambiguous. He hosts parties where he expects his guests to humiliate themselves, with a fabulously expensive gift their reward if they do. One guest, the narrator, who works as a translator in a chocolate factory, refuses to lower himself as others do so quickly; it is ironic - or morally the heart of the story - that the narrator needs the money, and the others do not.
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LibraryThing member tzelman
Intruiguing nastiness, but heavy moralizing
LibraryThing member pinkmouse
I really enjoyed it, and although i cannot find out why i thought it was a great insight into the lengths which people will go to get money but also how sadistically interested (doctor fisher) people can be. Haunting but brilliant.
LibraryThing member john257hopper
A story about an eccentric and creepy millionaire who prays on people's material greed. Fairly mundane but also oddly compelling.
LibraryThing member baswood
This novella of 140 well spaced pages was written in 1980. An afternoon's read then and a great way to spend the afternoon in Mr Greene's company. He has a good story to tell and does so with an economy of writing that flows deliciously from beginning to end. A black comedy and a satire of the rich
If you have not read any Greene then this short novel might be a good place to start
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and greedy with enough suspense to keep the book firmly in your hands until the very end. If you have not read any Greene then this short novel might be a good place to start
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LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
Humiliation and boredom are themes that run through a lot of Greene's work. Plenty more of both here. I've read that Green listed his works in two categories, his 'serious' works and what he considered his 'comedies' (though he didn't mean that literally...I believe he just meant that they were
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lighter fare) . This is one of his late works, and one that I would think he listed under 'comedies'. Good read, straight ahead and not a great deal of overt style—just what one would expect of Greene. Show Less
LibraryThing member raizel
An ultimately sad story about a disagreeable man who likes to humiliate people and the people who let him. The narrator loves the man's daughter.
LibraryThing member sundowneruk
On completion I realised that just a couple of months ago I doubt if I could have finished this book. It is full of despair and depression yet is quite an enjoyable read non the less. The main story follow 'Jones' who works as an interpreter and marries the daughter of an uncaring millionaire. From
His father-in-law also has this morbid self destructive streak but alleviates this by holding 'parties' where he humiliates his acquaintances or 'Toads' by making them suffer ever increasing humiliations in return for expensive presents.
Then 'Jones' wife dies suddenly and he is drawn into ever deeper depths of depression and decides that he will attend his father-in-laws 'Last Party' or 'The Bomb Party' of the title. The presents include a bomb that will kill the recipient if opened, leaving the others a share of a massive fortune.
Jones sees a way to join his wife but will he take the bait or will he be further humiliated in his despair like the 'Toads' have been in the past.
I could associate myself with the character of 'Jones' at the beginning but as the story went on I found myself pitying him in an odd sort of way but I don't think that was the authors main aim. An enjoyable read even though it is full of something I'm trying to escape.
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that moment on the story follows the spiral of self destruction that follows 'Jones'.His father-in-law also has this morbid self destructive streak but alleviates this by holding 'parties' where he humiliates his acquaintances or 'Toads' by making them suffer ever increasing humiliations in return for expensive presents.
Then 'Jones' wife dies suddenly and he is drawn into ever deeper depths of depression and decides that he will attend his father-in-laws 'Last Party' or 'The Bomb Party' of the title. The presents include a bomb that will kill the recipient if opened, leaving the others a share of a massive fortune.
Jones sees a way to join his wife but will he take the bait or will he be further humiliated in his despair like the 'Toads' have been in the past.
I could associate myself with the character of 'Jones' at the beginning but as the story went on I found myself pitying him in an odd sort of way but I don't think that was the authors main aim. An enjoyable read even though it is full of something I'm trying to escape.
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LibraryThing member BrokenTune
'It’s a bit too late for that, isn’t it?’
‘It’s never too late to spit at God Almighty. He lasts for ever and ever, amen. And he made us what we are.’
‘Perhaps he did, but Doctor Fischer didn’t.’
‘He made me what I am now.’
‘Oh,’ I said – I was impatient with the little man
What a book! I can't reveal too much about the plot without giving some of the twists away but this was a meticulous exercise in spunky, dark. twisted, cynicism - and I loved it. If you're not a fan of Greene's dark side, stay way away from this one.
In places, the eponymous Dr Fischer and his games actually reminded me of Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter character - except without the gore and cannibalism. The end of Dr Fischer reveals their differences in motivations, which was nice to read because it added another dimension to Dr Fischer.
‘It’s just to show the others that he can get you to come. He may try to humiliate you in front of them – it would be like him. Bear it for an hour or two, and, if he goes too far, fling your wine in his face and walk out. Always remember we are free. Free, darling. He can’t hurt you or me. We are too little to be humiliated. It’s like when a man tries to humiliate a waiter – he only humiliates himself.'
‘It’s never too late to spit at God Almighty. He lasts for ever and ever, amen. And he made us what we are.’
‘Perhaps he did, but Doctor Fischer didn’t.’
‘He made me what I am now.’
‘Oh,’ I said – I was impatient with the little man
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who had broken my solitude – ‘go up there then and spit. A lot of good may it do you.’What a book! I can't reveal too much about the plot without giving some of the twists away but this was a meticulous exercise in spunky, dark. twisted, cynicism - and I loved it. If you're not a fan of Greene's dark side, stay way away from this one.
In places, the eponymous Dr Fischer and his games actually reminded me of Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter character - except without the gore and cannibalism. The end of Dr Fischer reveals their differences in motivations, which was nice to read because it added another dimension to Dr Fischer.
‘It’s just to show the others that he can get you to come. He may try to humiliate you in front of them – it would be like him. Bear it for an hour or two, and, if he goes too far, fling your wine in his face and walk out. Always remember we are free. Free, darling. He can’t hurt you or me. We are too little to be humiliated. It’s like when a man tries to humiliate a waiter – he only humiliates himself.'
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LibraryThing member ParadisePorch
A darkly comic novel about a misanthropic millionaire who decides to hold the last of his famous parties, first published in 1980.
At first, nothing seems to happen. Our narrator arrives as an invited guest to find other diners already at the table. There is a strange current in the air, eventually
Clever, as you might expect of Greene.
4 stars
At first, nothing seems to happen. Our narrator arrives as an invited guest to find other diners already at the table. There is a strange current in the air, eventually
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traced to the strange gifts Dr. Fischer has distributed to his guests.Clever, as you might expect of Greene.
4 stars
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LibraryThing member lucybrown
an odd little book.
LibraryThing member lucybrown
an odd little book.
LibraryThing member lucybrown
an odd little book.
LibraryThing member hhornblower
I am becoming more and more a fan of Graham Greene. His writing just flows. This is a bit a simple story, not much depth, not a lot of character development, but what is there is done well.