''This is a record of hate far more than of love''. Review on End of the Affair, The - Graham Greene

This is an incredible novel about an obsessive love, hate, jealousy, and faith. A fairly unusual love triangle - the lover, the adulteress and God.

The main character, who narrates the events, is Maurice Bendrix. He falls in love with Sarah Miles who is married to Henry. It is one of those dull, platonic marriages which leaves Sarah unfulfilled, sexually and emotionally and she has an affair with Maurice. They fall in love...passionately and then she leaves him, abruptly, without any explanations, immediately after he has a near death experience in her presence.

He writes about how jealous he feels, about his hate for Sarah, and for God - who he blames in spite of the fact that he doesn't believe in his existence...''I hate you, God. I hate you as though you existed''. I think anyone who has ever felt jealousy and an almost selfish love, would be able to relate to this book and the protagonist.

This book is about Sarah's belief that love doesn’t end just because two people stop seeing each other. People love God without having ever seen him, don’t they? It is about an atheists nagging doubt regarding the existence of God, after he sees miracles performed and he sees the amount of faith that the woman he loves, has in God.

It is about how the lover develops a friendship with the husband of the woman he loves...in spite of having hated him for years, for possessing that which he wanted more than anything. And how both of them are afraid that she's cheating on them (the husband is unaware of Maurice and Sarah's affair - which has ended by the time they become friends).

The end of the affair focusses on a love felt by a man for a woman and the love that the woman feels for God, and how it comes between them. It is an excellent novel weaving in themes of passion and faith simultaneously. It is an atheists account of belief in God...

''O God, You've done enough, You've robbed me of enough, I'm too tired and old to learn to love, leave me alone for ever''.

It is apparently a semi autobiographical novel, where Graham Greene converted to Catholicism soon after. Many may find it overly preachy and focused on a religion that they do not belong to...but if you look beyond that, and see it just as a novel on the struggle of love, and belief...of sin and retribution, of passion and jealousy...at the imagery and feelings that the writing evokes, then I am positive you'll enjoy the novel.