Michael Arlen (1895–1956)

First published in 1924, The Green Hat seems to be a reflection on a generation that came through the first world war and is now living a shallow life of gaiety, and non-purpose. The book was very popular during the 1920s, a melodrama that is centred around Iris Storm, a woman who has caused death and destruction but seems to have a fatal appeal for men. The writing was dense and poetic but the author had clearly studied British society in order to have produced this well drawn picture of the upper classes.

Iris, who wears a green hat and drives a yellow Hispano-Suiza is presented as a woman of easy virtue but in fact, has a dark secret in her past. It is obvious that the narrator of the book is totally fascinated by her and apparently the author based her on Nancy Cunard, who I now feel that I need to investigate. I simply wasn’t in the right mood to enjoy this book, although I can see it’s merit and appreciate the author’s talent for writing.

I had to push myself through the first few chapters but after that the story did pull me in. There were plenty of “hot button” issues such as suicide, homosexuality, venereal disease, and excessive drinking touched upon but, for me, the tragic story was a little too dark, without the sparkle that Fitzgerald can add or the humour of Waugh.… (more)

This book was a smash when it was published in 1924, and shows up on some lists of novels you absolutely must read. For me, however, it was a bit of a dud. The novel recounts the adventures of its beautiful, damned, and doomed heroine, Iris Storm, whose most notable feature is that she drives around London in a massive yellow Hispano-Suiza. She and her alcoholic twin brother are the last of a long line of nobility; the family is financially ruined, but Iris has managed to keep up her end (and the Hispano Suiza) by two marriages rapidly followed by widowhood. In its time, the story was shocking -- Iris sleeps around, even though she feels dreadful about it.

Why didn't I like this book? First, the prose struck me a generally overwrought, and sometimes needlessly confusing. True, there are some nicely pointed bits, but in general the lush style struck me as altogether too much of a good thing. Secondly, the novel is dated, in a bad way. Most novels that survive do become dated in one or another aspect, but there is something about many of them that transcends their time and place, which can make the "datedness" a plus rather than a minus -- another lens through which to view the human condition. This one, for me, does not acheive that --the characters are to a large extent caricatures of their time and place, and they don't emerge as human beings. Finally, the story -- again for me -- got dull, lots and lots of dashing about without much being revealed until the "shock" ending. Having guessed what that was going to be, I sped through the second half of the novel at top speed.

This novel treats on some of the themes of "Brideshead Revisited". The aristocracy is revered, simply for being aristocratic (yes, one is tempted to observe, the aristocracy is different from you and me. They have more ancestors"). The family at the center of the story is seriously troubled, and the narrator is an outsider who becomes involved in the story. And this book shares some of the linguistic opulence of "Brideshead". Waugh, however, did it much, much better than Arlen. Besides, one ends up caring about the characters in "Brideshead". I never did have much sense of the characters in "The Green Hat", let alone an interest in them.… (more)