Reviews

The Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré

laticsexile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

As a story, it’s right up there with his other great books and apposite even 40 years on (reading this in 2023 during yet another dark period in Middle East politics). The reason I have it down as a 3.75 rather than 4 or higher is that Charlie seems to me to be too easily sucked into the opposite camp of her initial character’s leanings. It just doesn’t ring true. The plotting and detail and descriptions of places are all top drawer Le Carré 

alex7andria's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

4.5

baxtervallens's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

basilganglia's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

bukebooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

fionarp's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

acardattack's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This has a higher rating than I expected given seeing how some of le Carre's is rated.  I did consider DNFing this a couple times, but since I finished a book of this length, I dont feel I can go lower than 3 stars.

It is slow, A good half of the book could have been cut and it would have made for a much better book IMO.  Started very interesting, and then arduous middle half until about the last 25% where things started to really pick up 

rosekk's review against another edition

4.0

I wasn't sure how the book would handle the conflict, and since all I knew about the author what that he writes spy novels, I feared it would be quite shallow. It turned out to exceed my expectations by quite a long way.

nomadpenguin's review against another edition

5.0

Definitely one of le Carre's best works.

cher_n_books's review against another edition

3.0

3 stars - It was good.

You know how Israel was born? A European power made a present of an Arab territory to a Jewish lobby. And did not consult a single inhabitant of the territory concerned.

To be completely fair, this is not my go-to type of novel. A friend of mine wanted to do a buddy read as this is one of her favorite novels.

Entertainment wise for me it was a 2.5 (about average), which is great considering I typically would not even like a book about political espionage.

The author does an amazing job of explaining both sides with the Israel / Palestine conflict. You truly appreciate where everyone is coming from and why there is conflict, and for that, I have to bump up the rating. I absolutely love a book that teaches in addition to entertaining.

If you enjoy this genre, this one is easy to recommend.
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First Sentence: It was the Bad Godesberg incident that gave the proof, though the German authorities had no earthly means of knowing this.

Favorite Quote: Everyone who is not happy must be shot.