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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Another masterpiece. Le Carre closes the Karla trilogy with an in depth dimensional focus on Smiley. And it’s gorgeous and tragic.
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
A phenomenal close to the "Karla Trilogy." I'm just annoyed with myself that I'd never read the trilogy straight through before. Even for Le Carré, the plot development here is intricate; the writing gorgeous, whether it is rich or sparse; the character development nuanced and wise. Taken as a whole, the trilogy is just a masterwork, and this is the pièce de résistance. I cannot recommend these books enough.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
George Smiley, out of the service following the events of The Honourable Schoolboy, gets drawn back in when an Estonian national who defected to the British gets killed for some piece of information that he has been collecting from a Russian expat in Paris named Maria Adreyevna Ostrakova. Vladimir had been trying to contact Smiley through the Circus about information that might allow him to best his old nemesis Karla once and for all. With the aid of Toby Esterhase, George starts pulling at the threads to see what he might be able to accomplish. Smiley's People involves more jumps from one lead to another than Tinker Tailor, which I believe is the strongest of the Karla sequence, but it is close to that than to The Honourable Schoolboy. This is a taut espionage story where one misstep can be the difference between life and death.
I'm not sure how Le Carre makes subdued conversations (interrogations) as exhilarating as a car chase or action scene, but he does, and this hooked me all the way through... As ever, I am in awe of Smiley's quiet intelligent, his unassuming competence, as well as his deeply affecting humanity.