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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Call it 4.5 stars on this one. When I first read this as a teenager, I found it confusing and long. Now that I’m older I have more sympathy for Jerry Westerby, in particular his growing sense of displacement and disillusionment.
At this point I’m only deducting a half point for the character of Fawn, who is some sort of absurd caricature.
At this point I’m only deducting a half point for the character of Fawn, who is some sort of absurd caricature.
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed this book, but can see why some wouldn't. le Carre's books read more like spy literature than they do spy thriller. The Honourable Schoolboy is a more procedural/politically focused book that slowly burns. It gave me some Heart of Darkness / Apocalypse Now vibes towards the end.
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Violence, Murder
Minor: Torture
At 30 percent The Karla second audiobook seemed too long and too detailed for my tangled mind, maybe later...
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5
I read somewhere that this was one of the first JLC novels where he got to travel to the region to do research. You can definitely tell: at over 600 pages, I believe this is his longest work, and a good 40% of it is flavor text. Unfortunately, he misses the forest for the trees and an otherwise clever plot is bogged down by inexplicable digressions and character decisions unsupported by the text.
Some notes:
-Westerby's motivations start understandable and then completely lose the plot. Unlike other JLC characters who become victims of the Service, such as Leiser, Avery, Leamas, or Fiedler, here it just baffles the reader. Everything is too telegraphed and not supported enough at the same time.
-JLC has an incredible eye for character. Charlie Marshall, Tiny Ricardo, Drake Ko, and Luke are all vibrant characters.
-It's always interesting how, for an author so obsessed with interiority, Smiley is a peripheral character in his own narrative.
-My fave line from THS: "it is also the pardonable vanity of lonely people everywhere to assume that they have no counterparts."
-JLC's anti-militarism leaps out in this one. The futility of war and the machinations of empire create an utterly blood-soaked setting where the Brits and the Americans try their parlor games. As usual, his disgust for these calculations seeps through.
-If you are a Le Carre head you will recognize the same themes in THS: the expense of service, the narcissism of loneliness, the bleak portrait of intelligence. Even if I didn't like how the plot unravels in the back half, I loved the portrayal of the same.
-I have to wonder about the bloat of this book. Books like In from the Cold and Looking Glass War are so taut that it makes you question what happened here: editor on vacation? This book could be 200 pages shorter and be much better for it.
I read somewhere that this was one of the first JLC novels where he got to travel to the region to do research. You can definitely tell: at over 600 pages, I believe this is his longest work, and a good 40% of it is flavor text. Unfortunately, he misses the forest for the trees and an otherwise clever plot is bogged down by inexplicable digressions and character decisions unsupported by the text.
Some notes:
-Westerby's motivations start understandable and then completely lose the plot. Unlike other JLC characters who become victims of the Service, such as Leiser, Avery, Leamas, or Fiedler, here it just baffles the reader. Everything is too telegraphed and not supported enough at the same time.
-JLC has an incredible eye for character. Charlie Marshall, Tiny Ricardo, Drake Ko, and Luke are all vibrant characters.
-It's always interesting how, for an author so obsessed with interiority, Smiley is a peripheral character in his own narrative.
-My fave line from THS: "it is also the pardonable vanity of lonely people everywhere to assume that they have no counterparts."
-JLC's anti-militarism leaps out in this one. The futility of war and the machinations of empire create an utterly blood-soaked setting where the Brits and the Americans try their parlor games. As usual, his disgust for these calculations seeps through.
-If you are a Le Carre head you will recognize the same themes in THS: the expense of service, the narcissism of loneliness, the bleak portrait of intelligence. Even if I didn't like how the plot unravels in the back half, I loved the portrayal of the same.
-I have to wonder about the bloat of this book. Books like In from the Cold and Looking Glass War are so taut that it makes you question what happened here: editor on vacation? This book could be 200 pages shorter and be much better for it.
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Definitely a step down from Tinker Tailor. On the one hand, it’s a more diverse cast. On the other hand, all of those characters are either stereotypes or sexy lamps.