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A review by margaret_j_c
Absolute Friends by John le Carré
5.0
This one was up there with the Karla books. Phenomenally well-executed.
Le Carré’s books aren’t spy stories, they’re stories about spies. They’re for those of us who have wondered what it is like to live a life of deception and intrigue, a life that is not your own. The answer is compromise, dissonance, loss of self. Le Carré's characters are all forced to develop identity after identity for the sake of survival and the cause they have been caught in. They find themselves in the same position as Mundy, who is "made up of all the odd bits of of his life that are left over after he has given the rest of himself away." Good side, bad side, there are no winners. Le Carré makes this painfully clear time after time.
Le Carré’s books aren’t spy stories, they’re stories about spies. They’re for those of us who have wondered what it is like to live a life of deception and intrigue, a life that is not your own. The answer is compromise, dissonance, loss of self. Le Carré's characters are all forced to develop identity after identity for the sake of survival and the cause they have been caught in. They find themselves in the same position as Mundy, who is "made up of all the odd bits of of his life that are left over after he has given the rest of himself away." Good side, bad side, there are no winners. Le Carré makes this painfully clear time after time.