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lbrex 's review for:
The Honourable Schoolboy: A George Smiley Novel
by John le Carré
It's true that this is not as good as _Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy_, but it is still an expertly plotted, highly interesting novel. I've given it four stars because of the sections in the last 1/3 of the book in which Jerry Westerby wanders about war-torn southeast Asia. I'm sure these sections were probably fascinating at the time of publication due to their immediacy (an introduction indicates that they were based on Le Carre's experiences), but they don't contribute to the overall direction of the story.
SOMEWHAT SPOILERY SECTION:
I also found the deliberately engineered anticlimax of the ending to be powerful. The reader is clearly placed in a position to cheer for the Circus and its recovery after the discovery of the mole in the last book, and I expected a "victory" full of revelation and insight. This is not what Le Carre gives us. Instead, we get a portrait of the complicated place of espionage in relation to the British government and the CIA, a "warts and all" rendering of back-stabbing, bureaucracy, and American exceptionalism.
SOMEWHAT SPOILERY SECTION:
I also found the deliberately engineered anticlimax of the ending to be powerful. The reader is clearly placed in a position to cheer for the Circus and its recovery after the discovery of the mole in the last book, and I expected a "victory" full of revelation and insight. This is not what Le Carre gives us. Instead, we get a portrait of the complicated place of espionage in relation to the British government and the CIA, a "warts and all" rendering of back-stabbing, bureaucracy, and American exceptionalism.