The Lawless Roads

This is definitely not a bad book, but I did find it a difficult read. For me it was incredibly dense, although my Penguin edition does have very small font, which did not help. Every paragraph was filled with description - not that this is a bad thing - but it was relentless in its presentation. There was much that was outside of my knowledge - lots of religion, lots on politics - neither of which are really things I look for in books. I acknowledge this is not the fault of the book, but the reader.

I had been looking forward to reading another Graham Greene non-fiction travel book, this one in Mexico in spring of 1938. However it was not really just a travel book. Greene was commissioned to visit and write about the anti-Catholic purges of Calles which had occurred and were ongoing. This became more of a focus for the book than I would have preferred. After some fairly rapid travel from Laredo, Texas, Greene pausing in Monterrey, San Luis Potosi, Mexico City and Vera Cruz before his travel concentrates on the provinces of Tobasco and Chiapas.

Greene writes of religion & the religious purges, politics and insurgents, history and culture. He meets with priests, politicians, military leaders and old men in the streets; a doctor and a dentist feature heavily too. He visits closed churches, he visits empty churches (the clergy were banned from entering them) where people still visit - “...it gave the effect of fullness - and of emptiness, like a meeting where the leader has gone.” P173. The people attended mass in private houses, hiding away from the military.

But, I have not yet mentioned the tone of this book. It is overwhelmingly dour. Mexico at this time was a loveless place. The people were oppressed, there was no joy, little colour and the people seemed almost devoid of hope. I know Paul Theroux takes inspiration from Greene, and without doubt this book picks up on a lot of the negative reportage we see in Theroux's travel books (not a negative, I love Theroux's grumpy outlook), but I have not seen it before from Greene in such a one sided presentation. This was by no means the reason I didn't love this book, but if you are a person who thrives on positives and upbeat reportage, this book will wear you down.

3.5 stars, rounded down.