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gitli57 's review for:
The Honourable Schoolboy
by John le Carré
NOTE: This review is partly a copy and paste of reviews I did for the other two books in the "Karla Trilogy", Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People.
I tend to connect with writers rather than genres. I hardly ever read things that could be described as espionage thrillers except that I have read a lot of le Carré. But saying that le Carré writes spy books is kind of like saying Catch-22 is a book about airplanes. le Carré uses the tense, high stakes setting of espionage and geopolitics to examine the ambiguities and complexities of the human condition.
The Honourable Schoolboy is the second book of the "Karla Trilogy". The nine books in which George Smiley is an important character are not a series as a whole, but within that set, the "Karla Trilogy" is.
The "Karla Trilogy" can sit beside any great literary series and George Smiley beside any character.
This book took a while to settle in, but was a compulsive read once it did. The opening teeters on the edge of being imitation Waugh (from Scoop). For me, it probably would have been better at 500 pages than 600, but that is not to say it is bad. Far from it.
If your idea of spy books is simple good guy/bad guy, us versus them, lots of cool gear and high speed James Bond style action, you might find le Carré slow paced and politically questionable. If you understand the world as a complex and often ambiguous place, you might really vibe with le Carré and the Karla Trilogy is a good place to start with him, partly because the first book in the series is so well known in movie and TV adaptation forms. It doesn't hurt any that the writing itself is superb, often beautiful.
The Karla Trilogy titles in series order are:
Tinker, Tailor , Soldier Spy
The Honourable Schoolboy (Brit spelling)
Smiley's People
The BBC limited series adaptations of books 1 & 3 in the trilogy with Alec Guinness portraying George Smiley are both first rate. The more recent feature adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy with Gary Oldman as Smiley is well made with excellent performances and a well considered score my Alexander Desplat, but is so condensed that if you have not read the book, it could be confusing.
I tend to connect with writers rather than genres. I hardly ever read things that could be described as espionage thrillers except that I have read a lot of le Carré. But saying that le Carré writes spy books is kind of like saying Catch-22 is a book about airplanes. le Carré uses the tense, high stakes setting of espionage and geopolitics to examine the ambiguities and complexities of the human condition.
The Honourable Schoolboy is the second book of the "Karla Trilogy". The nine books in which George Smiley is an important character are not a series as a whole, but within that set, the "Karla Trilogy" is.
The "Karla Trilogy" can sit beside any great literary series and George Smiley beside any character.
This book took a while to settle in, but was a compulsive read once it did. The opening teeters on the edge of being imitation Waugh (from Scoop). For me, it probably would have been better at 500 pages than 600, but that is not to say it is bad. Far from it.
If your idea of spy books is simple good guy/bad guy, us versus them, lots of cool gear and high speed James Bond style action, you might find le Carré slow paced and politically questionable. If you understand the world as a complex and often ambiguous place, you might really vibe with le Carré and the Karla Trilogy is a good place to start with him, partly because the first book in the series is so well known in movie and TV adaptation forms. It doesn't hurt any that the writing itself is superb, often beautiful.
The Karla Trilogy titles in series order are:
Tinker, Tailor , Soldier Spy
The Honourable Schoolboy (Brit spelling)
Smiley's People
The BBC limited series adaptations of books 1 & 3 in the trilogy with Alec Guinness portraying George Smiley are both first rate. The more recent feature adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy with Gary Oldman as Smiley is well made with excellent performances and a well considered score my Alexander Desplat, but is so condensed that if you have not read the book, it could be confusing.