Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Abacus (1992), Edition: New Ed, Paperback
User reviews
LibraryThing member beerbelly666
Harlot's Ghost is a mammoth novel and most of its spectacular. It is about the life of a CIA agent and is also about alpha and omega - Mailer says every individual is being pulled in two different directions at a particular point in time by his/her alpa (optimistic and masculine) and omega
The novel starts off with Harry Hubbard,a CIA agent who has fallen from grace travelling to Russia to solve the mystery behind the dissaperance/possible murder of his mentor Huge "Harlot" Montague (who used to be the heart and nerve centre of the CIA). While in russia, Harry reads through his memoirs of life in the CIA. His memoirs begin with being tested by his eccentric father who works in the CIA. Mountain climbing expeditions with Hugh Montague, life in Berlin with Bill Harvey a self styled martini swigging CIA boss, playing two russian agents against each other over a woman in Montevideo,ganizing the Bay of Pigs operation, dating Sinatra and JFK's common air hostess girlfriend and finally the assasination of JFK are all part of Harry's memoirs. there are also epistolary converations with kitteridge (Hugh Montague's wife) with whom Harry embarks on a love affair.
Nearly every character in the novel is explained using the concept of alpha and omega. There are fantastic passages about East-West relations, communism, capitalism, american masculinity, love, fidel castro etc.
The book is a bit tedious at times. But just when you start to get tired with the minute details or long monologues Mailer engages you with a musing on communism or an interesting anecdote.
I recommend Harlot's Ghost whole heartedly. It is not a typical spy novel. It is worth reading if only for the larger than life characters that make appearances in the novel - the Kennedy brothers, Castro, Drezhnisky, Marilyn Monroe, Sam Giancana, Allen Dulles, Howard Hunt and even Lenny Bruce.
Show More
(pessimistic and feminine). The novel starts off with Harry Hubbard,a CIA agent who has fallen from grace travelling to Russia to solve the mystery behind the dissaperance/possible murder of his mentor Huge "Harlot" Montague (who used to be the heart and nerve centre of the CIA). While in russia, Harry reads through his memoirs of life in the CIA. His memoirs begin with being tested by his eccentric father who works in the CIA. Mountain climbing expeditions with Hugh Montague, life in Berlin with Bill Harvey a self styled martini swigging CIA boss, playing two russian agents against each other over a woman in Montevideo,ganizing the Bay of Pigs operation, dating Sinatra and JFK's common air hostess girlfriend and finally the assasination of JFK are all part of Harry's memoirs. there are also epistolary converations with kitteridge (Hugh Montague's wife) with whom Harry embarks on a love affair.
Nearly every character in the novel is explained using the concept of alpha and omega. There are fantastic passages about East-West relations, communism, capitalism, american masculinity, love, fidel castro etc.
The book is a bit tedious at times. But just when you start to get tired with the minute details or long monologues Mailer engages you with a musing on communism or an interesting anecdote.
I recommend Harlot's Ghost whole heartedly. It is not a typical spy novel. It is worth reading if only for the larger than life characters that make appearances in the novel - the Kennedy brothers, Castro, Drezhnisky, Marilyn Monroe, Sam Giancana, Allen Dulles, Howard Hunt and even Lenny Bruce.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Clara53
The sheer enormity of this novel was challenging at first: 1,282 pages!!! From the very beginning, I wished it came in 2 volumes - it was hard to pick up this book with one hand! I call it One Man's Saga of CIA, going from 1953 (with some flashbacks into earlier history) to 1963. Actual historical
The novel has moments of danger, intrigue, occasional boredom of routine CIA tasks, improbable hypotheses of historical events, and, for me, some real eye-openers of US and world policies at the time. Vivid portraits of Fidel Castro and Jack and Robert Kennedy. Of course, it didn't take just one sitting to finish this book, I had breaks for smaller books in between. And yet, the plot was strong enough for me to be able to keep it in memory throughout.
Show More
figures are not only mentioned but described in detail - CIA, FBI agents and political figures, as well as famous spies like Kim Philby, Burgess, MacLean... And among them, Harry Hubbard, our protagonist, is building his career in CIA, and one of the main reasons he is there is because he has been "intellectually seduced", as suggested by his colleague/friend/lover Kitteridge (also the wife of his CIA mentor and godfather - quite an intricate side plot here as well; Kitteridge is also the one who invented a very interesting theory of Alpha and Omega (sort of like Yin and Yang, but with different nuances...) - two parts of everyone's personality - which was used as a tool in her CIA work). The novel has moments of danger, intrigue, occasional boredom of routine CIA tasks, improbable hypotheses of historical events, and, for me, some real eye-openers of US and world policies at the time. Vivid portraits of Fidel Castro and Jack and Robert Kennedy. Of course, it didn't take just one sitting to finish this book, I had breaks for smaller books in between. And yet, the plot was strong enough for me to be able to keep it in memory throughout.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Cecilturtle
A very lengthy account of a CIA operative
LibraryThing member losloper
A metaphysical thriller set in the world of the CIA between Berlin in the 1950s and the assassination of JFK in 1963. In it, Norman Mailer created a tough, dangerous world that takes on its own unique set of spiritual values, challenging many of the preconceptions of 20th century American history.
LibraryThing member FKarr
I liked it a lot and really with the planned sequel had been completed.
LibraryThing member dbsovereign
A fun, if too long novel of the CIA with crosses, double crosses, and lots of intrigue. Does provide us with some interesting insight into the Cold War, and into the world before the Berlin Wall came down. My favorite scenes are the ones actually taking place in Berlin.
LibraryThing member RonWelton
Norman Mailer's Harlot's Ghost, and Robert Littell's The Company draw upon the same content: JFK's philandering, Chicago mobsters, and the CIA fiascos of the fifties and sixties. Both also include many of the same historical figures: Frank Sinatra, Sam Giancana, Johnny Roselli, Jack Kennedy, J.
They differ, though, greatly in writing style: The Company is brutal in syntax and language; Harlot's Ghost is deeply intellectual and framed within the profound relationship between protagonist, Harrick Hubbard and Kittredge Montague.
Show More
Edgar Hover, Fidel Castro, and many others. Both include a whisper of the supernatural: Littell, the voodoo of the Louisiana Bayou and Mailer, the ghosts of New England. Both are a few hundred pages too long.They differ, though, greatly in writing style: The Company is brutal in syntax and language; Harlot's Ghost is deeply intellectual and framed within the profound relationship between protagonist, Harrick Hubbard and Kittredge Montague.
Show Less
Awards
Hammett Prize (Nominee — 1991)
Language
Original publication date
1991
Physical description
1408 p.; 7.64 inches
ISBN
0349103186 / 9780349103181
Similar in this library
1876 by Gore Vidal