A review by cinnamonvortex
The Looking Glass War by John le Carré

3.0

Yes, I know, this book took me nearly 2 years to read and it's less than 300 pages. I don't know why that's the case, but I just kept putting it down and reading other books. It never grabbed me the way other Le Carre novels have. Maybe it's because Smiley and the Circus were background figures or that it's such a political endeavor. The Department basically costs lives by wantonly betraying trust all to try to try to get back to the glory days and keep pace with the Circus. I may be wrong but this book seems to be one of the more dated books I've read. Not technology-wise (the best espionage novels are those set prior to the digital age anyway), but style-wise: It just felt like I was reading ancient files left about some operation and that kinda took the joy out of it and made it a drudgery. I usually like Le Carre's style, but this one was painful. Sad, because I really wanted to love it.