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A review by gwalt118
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre
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.