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ziggy8's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
4.0
A wild ride. Truth is stranger, and, in this case, far more thrilling than fiction
gwalt118's review against another edition
challenging
tense
slow-paced
2.5
This was an IRL book club pick that I could have done without. Technically speaking, I DNFed this book at pg. 223, i.e. the beginning of Part 3. But I also skimmed ahead to see the details of what happened, so you can decide if I finished this one or not.
The story of The Spy and the Traitor is inspiring and one that should certainly be told. Oleg Gordievsky is an incredibly courageous individual who risked his life to do work that he believed was morally right and just. I had never heard of him prior to reading this book, and I think more people should know about him and his life's work.
Despite the incredible nature of the story, the book itself is slow-moving. It is explicitly detailed with a lot of moving parts and many people, and I found it difficult to follow at times. There were sections of the book that hooked me, and there were sections where I was so bogged down with details that I became a bit bored. Admittedly, I don't read a ton of non-fiction; but, I have read enough to believe that this book could have been written to be more captivating and engaging for the reader.
The story of The Spy and the Traitor is inspiring and one that should certainly be told. Oleg Gordievsky is an incredibly courageous individual who risked his life to do work that he believed was morally right and just. I had never heard of him prior to reading this book, and I think more people should know about him and his life's work.
Despite the incredible nature of the story, the book itself is slow-moving. It is explicitly detailed with a lot of moving parts and many people, and I found it difficult to follow at times. There were sections of the book that hooked me, and there were sections where I was so bogged down with details that I became a bit bored. Admittedly, I don't read a ton of non-fiction; but, I have read enough to believe that this book could have been written to be more captivating and engaging for the reader.
sasubbarao's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
tense
fast-paced
4.5
a really great cold war era story.. felt like reading Frederick Forsyth.. Yes.. true stories are always stranger than fiction...
sammo236's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
jennyfish10's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Absolutely fascinating. A little slow and repetitive in spots, but I read Part 3 in one day.
weeties's review against another edition
4.0
P85 of the edition I read stated that Lelia worked for the World Health Organisation in the late 1970s. P95 said she worked for the World Trade Organisation. The only problem is that the WTO was only created in 1994 ... ooops ...