Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

so, very, many, commas–and asides

There are things I adore about this novel–George Smiley in particular, but also the jargon, the focus on intricacy over action, and the interwoven plot. I mean, it basically defined my all time favorite genre of intricate espionage novels

And there are things I hate about this book. People always complain about the convoluted plot and the abundance of characters, but I had no issue at all with that (if anything I found it a bit too straight foward for the genre). What I can't deal with is le Carre's convoluted sentences and the abundance of commas. I couldn't focus on the plot because I was too busy rearranging his sentences in my head

I think I finally understand the plot! It took many viewings of the BBC mini-series, a couple of the 2011 movie, and a slow read of the book; comparing it to the 2 shows to understand this!

Although I can't identify with any of the actors in the mini-series I think I had to see this plot visually and it had the plot I could understand better. Of the entire book I surprised myself by enjoying the last couple chapters and I realized it was because I finally had the 1st person point of view. I like being able to see how someone thinks; I hate intentionally missing plot points and unexplained actions.

I will take ownership of my star rating as a personal failing - I read the first half of the novel in too many, too distanced spurts, and it took me recommitting to the read to feel the pace of the plot and keep the characters straight. I will say that I still have trouble imagining this as a movie (although perhaps I shouldn't doubt Gary Oldman's acting prowess) because it is mostly talking and psychological intrigue as opposed to action. It's great talking and psychological intrigue, though. Overall, it strikes me as an American reader as pleasingly British, and George Smiley is as lovable as an unglamorous-but-brilliant intelligence officer as one could ask for.

After “The Spy who came in from the cold”, this is my second book from John le Carré. Like with the previous one, I saw the movie before I read the book and like before I had no idea that there was a book.

Compared to the previous one, this book seems to be much more refined and better structured. The story is gripping and interesting from the first to the last page. It feels complex without being all too complex. A nice read, a good book. The perfect spy thriller.

On a side note. The movie for “The Spy who came in from the cold” is fantastic, better than the book. I have to say that this book is on par with the movie, the movie was excellent.

Recommended

The perfection of the pacing and plot aside, John le Carré is an exceptional writer, giving just the right detail to create a scene and navigating the complexities of class and society with an artists ease. The characters have their unique views and they express them profoundly.

Plus his spy-jargon is pitch-perfect and so smoothly inserted into the story that it took me half the book to realise I was reading something like “the headmen scoping a deaddrop picked up a double they could use for stock with the Cousins” and knew exactly what was going on without even thinking about it.

A really engaging read even though I was kind of lost through most of it. Not up on my spy jargon obviously. It kind of tickled me that for the majority of the book the characters are sitting around reading documents. The writing style was not what I expected – it seemed a bit jarring and haphazard but nevertheless it pulled me along.