What I believe is that there is actually a plot, an improvised and jaunty one, running through the richly written conversations that the deliberately old-fashioned prose is actually a strength in hearkening back to a slower, more leisurely time when people would have patience to talk and think and reflect and that Greene's queries into faith, belief and doubt have a mellow and poignant flexibility to them that makes them worth revisiting again.īut beyond all these qualities as well as its gentle, mesmeric pace, Greene's gift for evoking scenery superbly in just some words (better than Maugham and Hemingway, in my opinion), its understated but exquisitely enjoyable sense of humour and its rich feeling of universal compassion, is one thing that lifts "Monsignor Quixote" head and shoulders above its genre of pastiche. It is called "plot-less" by many some call it "dated" and "old-fashioned" and some even accuse Greene of treading similar ground, as already done in his earlier Catholic novels, of faith, its culpable lapses and what does it mean against the background of a constantly changing century. I can understand why, though I would not agree with them. Prayaag Akbar called it one of his favourite novels that he had read recently), consider "Monsignor Quixote" as one of Greene's low-points as a writer. There are many who, despite this novel's growing reputation (an Indian writer of note named Mr. And I also knew that I would eventually find more than that. And yet my feeling - as stated in my original review - of longing to return to this novel, as I have frequently done with Greene, stands intact as ever if anything, it had only grown stronger than ever, thus compelling me, at a time when I suddenly find myself not quite unsure of myself or my worthiness, to revisit it to find some solace. In these last two years, a lot of things happened - mostly terrible and devastating and still a few so good that they can almost overshadow the disappointments completely. Two years ago, I had just finished reading Graham Greene's "Monsignor Quixote" for the first time, and had promised that I would return to it again in due course of time. It is December 2021, or to be precise, almost the end of December and also of another year at that. "The believer will fight another believer over a shade of difference the doubter fights only with himself.”
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