Really liked it, sad but well written. ( )

First of all, The Comedians is not a comedy, and the humor is dark. It is about the regime of “Papa Doc” Duvalier in Haiti. It graphically portrays the terrorism of the Tontons Macoute, Duvalier’s secret police. The exact year is not given but it appears to be early 1960s. It opens on a ship with the three men, Smith, Jones, and Brown, traveling to Port-au-Prince. We hear parts of their back stories during the voyage and more details upon arriving in Haiti.

Mr. Brown operates a hotel in Port-au-Prince, but his hotel is now almost out of business due to the policies of the current dictatorship. Mr. Smith is an American politician, traveling with his wife. The couple is idealistic, and they want to bring vegetarianism to Haiti. They stay at Brown’s hotel. Major Smith is the mystery man of the novel. He tells many tales of his past exploits but has not convinced everyone. His mission to Haiti is initially unclear but we find out more as the story progresses. The title refers to people that do not take a stand in life. They are “the comedians,” and protagonist Mr. Brown admits to being among them. He admits to going through life without realizing what is important, and at the end, we see the ramifications of his indecisiveness.

Greene’s writing is wonderfully expressive. His characters are flawed and well-formed. He takes on the US and other countries’ policies of the period in support of dictators, providing they were anti-communist. Published in 1966, it is a novel of its time but still absorbing these many years later.
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I really liked reading this book that takes place under Papa Doc's reign of terror in Haiti. A ship, under Dutch registration, the Medea, sails from New York with few passengers aboard. The protagonist is returning to his hotel, The Trianon, in the hills above Port 'o Prince, after unsuccessfully trying to sell it in New York for the last few months. Mr and Mrs Smith, vegetarians from Wisconsin, are sailing there to attempt to open a vegetarian center there, with school, kitchen, library, lecture hall...two Innocents. Jones is a constant liar, who seems unable to tell the truth about the smallest thing, but the reader in this case gets a big whiff of the con man. A few other passengers don't play such a big part in the story.
It's a story full of violence, but the white people are, as always, protected by the color of their skin, while the poor inhabitants of the island nation's lives are meaningless and thrown away in torture and beatings in the dictator's bloody reign. ( )

Another great story by Mr. Greene. ( )

A tale of 3 varied sorts coming from the Medea (ship) to Haiti in about 1965. The innocent Mr. and Mrs. Smith (vegetarian promoters - to eliminate the passions), Major Jones (adventurer, liar, charmingly drifting and brave) and Mr. Brown- our narrator. Owner of the Trianon hotel, lover of Martha, the german wife of the south american ambassador, son of the wild mom who left the hotel to him. He comes back to Haiti to see the poor, good minister who kills himself in the pool on the 1st night back. We see the machinations of Brown / Martha, Jones/Tonton and Smith / Vegetarian center - all through the light of the brutal and corrupt Duvalier regime. Powerful. And as always with Greene- the detached tone that allows to go down comfortably. Ultimately a pretty heroic story about Jones and about the self destructiveness of random possessive jealousy. (with Martha). ( )