John le Carre
1963
Around 240 pages
Like many dorks, I enjoy a good spy novel. This is what I meant by a lighter novel, by the way, great Powers That Be. It doesn't have to be about sunshine and fluffy creatures, but we can at least have some fun and excitement along the way.
This novel is actually a sequel to his previous novels, Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality, and no, my brain didn't short circuit because I hadn't read those books first. I'm complicated. Anyway, we get our typical convoluted spy plot, featuring George Smiley who is pretty much the anti-James Bond.
For the most part, this is pretty standard fare, with some notable exceptions. Le Carre doesn't present Western Intelligence as the good guys protecting the moon from being blown up by the Soviets. I enjoyed this, and I love Smiley. It's fun to watch characters underestimate him.
This was a refreshing change of pace, now I'm ready to be depressed again.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Interesting Facts:
Selected as one of the All-Time 100 Novels by Time magazine.
Le Carre was in part inspired by reading the translated novel The Darkroom of Damocles by Dutch writer Willem Frederik Hermans, who suspected plagiarism.
UP NEXT: Manon des Sources by Marcel Pagnol
1 comment:
In recent years I've found myself going on a Le Carre trail, picking my way through his books one by one. Got a few more queued up on the bookshelf waiting to go.
This isn't a sequel to the pair of books it preceded, it just happens to contain the same character; George Smiley who turns up in big or small roles in several of Le Carre's novels. I've read A Murder of Quality, which is a murder mystery and Smiley is retired from the secret service at the time. I understand that Call for the Dead is the same.
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