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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
A devastatingly tragic view of the spy game, focusing on the flawed humans carrying it out. My only complaint is the frequent use of very odd similes, each of which jarred me out of the book to shake my head.
mysterious
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:
N/A
Only good thing is Smiley
Brutal. Even without understanding every cultural nuance and reference of post-War British military types, le Carre paints such a stark picture of these variously desperate, pathetic, fading, stupid, pompous people and the ways they destroy themselves and those around them just to maintain their delusions for one more day.
I like the idea of it. A novel about incompetence, hubris, petty rivalry and nostalgia. Of people with some degree of power desperately seeking to relive the good old days unable to face reality. Jumped up posh boys who think they deserve status.
However while my inclination was to go two stars cause so much about the chatacters deeply deeply irritated me and I just kind of hated the book as a result
I have to acknowledge how good the writing is because that's on purpose. It made me hate almost everyone in this novel. It just made it a thoroughly annoying read.
However while my inclination was to go two stars cause so much about the chatacters deeply deeply irritated me and I just kind of hated the book as a result
I have to acknowledge how good the writing is because that's on purpose. It made me hate almost everyone in this novel. It just made it a thoroughly annoying read.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
I feel mixed about The Looking Glass War. On one hand, I can applaud the boldness of Le Carré to intentionally deromanticize the espionage/spy story to the point of parody. After The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, it would have been much easier for him to continue along those lines for the follow-up book. Instead, TLGW is a cynical, occasionally funny and dark story about incompetent agents bungling their way through an operation that seems doomed to fail. I laughed a few times while reading, mostly at the absurdity of the characters and their poshness juxtaposed with the ridiculousness of the scenarios that they contrived for themselves, but I felt like it was a step down from The Spy Who... and Call for the Dead. Also, unlike those books, I think this would make for a poor introduction to the series (duh, you might say, it's the fourth book, but the other two, the first and thir book, are much better intros to the series than this one.) Through a sleepy brain I have ordered two copies of this book by mistake, but do not feel the same immediate urge to recommend this or lend out my copies as the previously mentioned Le Carré works that I have read. Still, I think there's a lot of good to be found here. Le Carré's writing is as engaging and evocative as ever, but there is a layer of bitterness to the work which made me feel a little dirty afterwards. This can be a good or bad thing depending on what you're looking for in your spy fiction.
Very much looking forward to Tinker Taylor, and hope that it is more like Spy Who... and Call for the Dead.
Very much looking forward to Tinker Taylor, and hope that it is more like Spy Who... and Call for the Dead.
I enjoyed a couple of sections in this book tremendously, but the characters did not seem as defined as in other le Carre novels. There is a lot of technical jargon and descriptions of setting up radio equipment that may have been a metaphor for the hopelessly bumbling condition of military intelligence but it made for difficult reading. I wish the book had been longer with more detailed character development. Smiley is barely included in the story at all, only popping up a handful of times and (unless you have read other le Carre novels) without justification. If this had been the first book of le Carre's I had read, I would have been asking, "Who is that guy supposed to be? Where did he come from?"
As a satire, fantastic and brutal.
As a piece of the wider Smiley universe, the tone is a bit off. He was still finding his feet and I can’t hate him for it! Plus this book reeks of him really trying to make a point w it.
As a piece of the wider Smiley universe, the tone is a bit off. He was still finding his feet and I can’t hate him for it! Plus this book reeks of him really trying to make a point w it.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
informative
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
A flawed but still fascinating attempt to demythologize foreign intelligence in the Cold War. This novel is to the spy genre what the police procedural is to the crime/detective genre. Smiley is only a supporting character in a team of spies that works at cross-purposes, conflicting over budgets, departmental authority, and strategy. It is anticlimactic by design. It's not for everyone's taste, but I appreciate how the book took its time describing aspects of an intelligence mission that are usually glossed over in James Bond-type thrillers--such as the recruitment and training of an agent. The descriptions of early wireless communication were also interesting.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No