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A review by romankurys
Call for the Dead by John le Carré
4.0
So, once again I plunge into an un-familiar reading territory. I've heard the name of Le Carre but never really read any of the books or seen any of the movies.
Since I usually like reading in publishing order for no real reason at all, this was a natural choice to try Le Carre. His first novel with a very unusual main hero: George Smiley.
While I don't think this was really a spy story, more of a murder/mystery with a spy in it, it was still a very good read.
What I found I enjoyed the most here was Le Carre writing style. For some reason I found it very appealing and enjoyable to read. In my mind I compare it to eating a nice cake. You want to take a whole thing and just shove it in your mouth, but just know that it'll be better if enjoyed piece by piece.
Exactly what I did.
Character: 5
I think that just the pure way in which Smiley is NOT your typical hero just attracted me right from the beginning. I wanted to know more about who he is and still do after finishing this book. An intriguing person to say the least.
Setting: 3
Setting was ok for my taste. I can't get super excited about post war city descriptions and that whole era overall feel and setting. I think Le Carre did it well and I got a decent feeling of the setting and mindset of people back then, it just wasn't the best part of the story.
Plot: 4
I did enjoy the set up and watching Smiley's brain working on solving a mystery. Good thing was that while I had my suspicions I was not ever entirely sure I was right. Until closer to the end, and by that time I just wanted to see what would happen. Compared to my usual fantasy / sci-fi reads this was very different, and in this case it was also good!
Gonna read the next part!
Roman "Ragnar"
Since I usually like reading in publishing order for no real reason at all, this was a natural choice to try Le Carre. His first novel with a very unusual main hero: George Smiley.
While I don't think this was really a spy story, more of a murder/mystery with a spy in it, it was still a very good read.
What I found I enjoyed the most here was Le Carre writing style. For some reason I found it very appealing and enjoyable to read. In my mind I compare it to eating a nice cake. You want to take a whole thing and just shove it in your mouth, but just know that it'll be better if enjoyed piece by piece.
Exactly what I did.
Character: 5
I think that just the pure way in which Smiley is NOT your typical hero just attracted me right from the beginning. I wanted to know more about who he is and still do after finishing this book. An intriguing person to say the least.
Setting: 3
Setting was ok for my taste. I can't get super excited about post war city descriptions and that whole era overall feel and setting. I think Le Carre did it well and I got a decent feeling of the setting and mindset of people back then, it just wasn't the best part of the story.
Plot: 4
I did enjoy the set up and watching Smiley's brain working on solving a mystery. Good thing was that while I had my suspicions I was not ever entirely sure I was right. Until closer to the end, and by that time I just wanted to see what would happen. Compared to my usual fantasy / sci-fi reads this was very different, and in this case it was also good!
Gonna read the next part!
Roman "Ragnar"