num_pages: 189
description: The Quiet American is a terrifying portrait of innocence at large. While the French Army in Indo-China is grappling with the Vietminh, back at Saigon a young and high-minded American begins to channel economic aid to a 'Third Force'. Fowler, a seasoned foreign correspondent, observes: 'I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused.' As young Pyle's policies blunder on into bloodshed, the older man finds it impossible to stand aside as an observer. But Fowler's motives for intervening are suspect, both to the police and to himself: for Pyle has robbed him of his Vietnamese mistress.
language: English
title: The Quiet American
titlecomplete: The Quiet American (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics)
characters: Phuong, Vigot, Alden Pyle, Thomas Fowler
genres: Literature, Classics, Literary Fiction, Espionage, Novels, Asia, War, Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature
ratings_count: 61164
places: Southeast Asia, Saigon, Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City
publisher: Penguin Classics