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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
A beautifully bitter piece of satire: straight-faced, bone-dry, and with enormous wit and sadness to be found between the lines.
Context is important with this one: when ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ won John Le Carré some well-deserved success, it was praised for de-glamourising the world of espionage; for taking the spy novel as far from James Bond as it could go.
Le Carré, however, felt it didn’t go anywhere near far enough into the banal reality he experienced working in British intelligence. Yes, it showed spying as a frustrating and futile profession, but it still had the classical narrative of star-crossed lovers sacrificed for some abstract greater good; the catharsis of a big picture at least partially revealed.
So he followed up with this deeply cynical novel, more absurd but with a powerful ring of truth to it, in a heartbreaking generals-sipping-tea-as-men-die-in-the-trenches way.
People are bad at their jobs. Petty egos and half-imagined rivalries cloud judgement. The bureaucracy of civil service gets a body count. Characters are placed a stone’s throw from redemption but denied it. There is no greater good. There are no answers. Nobody wins. It’s a black comedy the Coen Brothers could do very fine things with.
I’ve always found Le Carre’s trademark dryness very funny, but here he borders on Catch-22 absurdity. I’m inclined to agree with his (characteristically honest and reflective) foreword: maybe he could have gone further still. Maybe it was a mistake to involve George Smiley and the Circus — the more efficient civil servants of his more famous novels — as supporting players. But part of me loves that these ridiculous people one department over can share a world with the ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ outfit. It’s as if the characters of Veep and The West Wing really did occupy adjoining rooms.
Context is important with this one: when ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ won John Le Carré some well-deserved success, it was praised for de-glamourising the world of espionage; for taking the spy novel as far from James Bond as it could go.
Le Carré, however, felt it didn’t go anywhere near far enough into the banal reality he experienced working in British intelligence. Yes, it showed spying as a frustrating and futile profession, but it still had the classical narrative of star-crossed lovers sacrificed for some abstract greater good; the catharsis of a big picture at least partially revealed.
So he followed up with this deeply cynical novel, more absurd but with a powerful ring of truth to it, in a heartbreaking generals-sipping-tea-as-men-die-in-the-trenches way.
People are bad at their jobs. Petty egos and half-imagined rivalries cloud judgement. The bureaucracy of civil service gets a body count. Characters are placed a stone’s throw from redemption but denied it. There is no greater good. There are no answers. Nobody wins. It’s a black comedy the Coen Brothers could do very fine things with.
I’ve always found Le Carre’s trademark dryness very funny, but here he borders on Catch-22 absurdity. I’m inclined to agree with his (characteristically honest and reflective) foreword: maybe he could have gone further still. Maybe it was a mistake to involve George Smiley and the Circus — the more efficient civil servants of his more famous novels — as supporting players. But part of me loves that these ridiculous people one department over can share a world with the ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ outfit. It’s as if the characters of Veep and The West Wing really did occupy adjoining rooms.
a very early le Carré novel. more noir than his later work. slow to start, but once it gets going it's very exciting. all the usual characters and an obligatory bureaucratic cock-up. the best part...George Smiley.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
Desiccated men with no power and no love and hollow faith and two boys who want to belong and believe jesusssss
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
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
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No