Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (1993), Paperback, 128 pages
Description
Bertram was not a believer in luck or superstitions. An unambitious assistant accountant, his plans for his second marriage are typically quiet- St Luke's, Maida Hill, then two weeks in Bournemouth. But then he comes to the attention of Dreuther, the director of Bertram's company, who changes Bertram's plans for him- wedding and honeymoon in Monte Carlo, on board his private yacht. Inevitably Bertram visits the casino and inevitably he loses. But then his system starts working, and his trouble really begins...
User reviews
LibraryThing member JimPratt
A decently crafted little moral story about an assistant accountant whose life is overturned by a sequence of happenings that begins with the ostensible kindness of a god-like senior partner in offering to host his wedding in Monaco instead of Maida Vale. Left on their own, the couple initially
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cope with misfortune and impending poverty, are rescued at a critical moment, and when casino winnings reach a heretofore unattainable level of wealth, find the basis of their relationship fundamentally altered for the worse. The crisis comes when Bertram is successful in his last gamble just as the missing senior partner arrives, this time as a caring and benevolent deus ex machina. By throwing away what he has won, Bertram is able to once again win back his wife, fulfilling the prediction in the title. Show Less
LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
I certainly liked the story, although it didn't take me very long to read - an hour during the afternoon one day, and then another one at night. Really, this should have been "Loser Takes All and other stories" and then grouped in with some of Greene's other writing.
I was worried at the beginning -
I was worried at the beginning -
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the GOM, around whom the plot events seemingly revolve, was drawn with such broad strokes as to make him seem jokingly one-dimensional. I was particularly glad to see Greene humanise him; I found the love story between the narrator and his young wife also very touching, if not as powerful as many of the other romances Greene has introduced me to. Show Less
LibraryThing member karamazow
An utterly romantic novelette with too many cardboard characters to even entertain. Both plot and protagonist are severely cliché-ridden. Apart from the usual striking sentence or two, there is not much here to attract the discerning reader. Especially the people that visit the casino are straight
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from the cliché book, while the young woman that will love her new husband only if he stays (relatively) poor is totally unconvincing without any background information on her state of mind. Could be the least interesting piece of Greene prose I have ever read. Stick to Brighton Rock, instead. Show Less
LibraryThing member Sean191
I think this was the shortest Graham Greene work I've read after The Fallen Idol but I did enjoy it more than The Third Man, if only barely. Even though there isn't much depth to the characters, they're still enjoyable to read about.
LibraryThing member mbmackay
Short novella of love and gambling that has not travelled well - very dated.
Read July 2006
Read July 2006
LibraryThing member BrokenTune
I SUPPOSE the small greenish statue of a man in a wig on a horse is one of the famous statues of the world. I said to Cary, ‘Do you see how shiny the right knee is? It’s been touched so often for luck, like St Peter’s foot in Rome.’
She rubbed the knee carefully and tenderly as though she
‘Are you superstitious?’ I said. ‘
Yes.’
‘I’m not.’
‘I’m so superstitious I never walk under ladders. I throw salt over my right shoulder. I try not to tread on the cracks in pavements. Darling, you’re marrying the most superstitious woman in the world. Lots of people aren’t happy. We are. I’m not going to risk a thing.’
There is not much I can say about Loser Takes All other than it is a delightful story of a newlywed couple on honeymoon. I have heard Loser Takes All being compared to Coward's Private Lives and just for once I have to admit that this comparison also came to my mind when reading Greene's story.
However, where wit and humor and sheer slapstick in Private Lives shows a couple (or two) that is very sure of itself, Greene's approach is different: His story is based on a couple who isn't sure of anything at all, and in the course of the book, this uncertainty keeps the story interesting.
"ONE adapts oneself to money much more easily than to poverty: Rousseau might have written that man was born rich and is everywhere impoverished."
She rubbed the knee carefully and tenderly as though she
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were polishing it.‘Are you superstitious?’ I said. ‘
Yes.’
‘I’m not.’
‘I’m so superstitious I never walk under ladders. I throw salt over my right shoulder. I try not to tread on the cracks in pavements. Darling, you’re marrying the most superstitious woman in the world. Lots of people aren’t happy. We are. I’m not going to risk a thing.’
There is not much I can say about Loser Takes All other than it is a delightful story of a newlywed couple on honeymoon. I have heard Loser Takes All being compared to Coward's Private Lives and just for once I have to admit that this comparison also came to my mind when reading Greene's story.
However, where wit and humor and sheer slapstick in Private Lives shows a couple (or two) that is very sure of itself, Greene's approach is different: His story is based on a couple who isn't sure of anything at all, and in the course of the book, this uncertainty keeps the story interesting.
"ONE adapts oneself to money much more easily than to poverty: Rousseau might have written that man was born rich and is everywhere impoverished."
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LibraryThing member gothamajp
A moralistic novella on the dangers of what happens when a “get rich quick” scheme actually works.
The style is very much a product of its time (1955) and while it’s at times witty and well observed none of the characters are particularly likeable and I had no real sympathy for their fate
The style is very much a product of its time (1955) and while it’s at times witty and well observed none of the characters are particularly likeable and I had no real sympathy for their fate
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good or bad. Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1955
Physical description
128 p.; 7.95 inches
ISBN
0140185429 / 9780140185423