Decided to give up on this, 31% in, after the scene where the inexplicably handsome middle-aged male professor and the sexy, emotionally volatile WestDecided to give up on this, 31% in, after the scene where the inexplicably handsome middle-aged male professor and the sexy, emotionally volatile West German journalist have an intimate dinner together. She gets upset about geopolitics, calls him a pig and storms off; he grabs her; the waiters ask him if everything is all right, whereupon he pretends that they’re married and she didn’t like the coffee. Then he sits her down and pats her hair, and she apologises.
Honestly, I should have given up after the very first page, in which a male ice-climber ignores the repeated practical advice of his female colleague and, in an entirely predictable turn of events, falls off the glacier they’re ascending.
I thought I would skim through this for the setting and ignore the rest, but every part of the novel featuring human interaction is a bad cartoon and I don’t have time for this much bullshit....more
My only problem might be that I haven't yet read any of the other Smiley books. I've just started reading Smiley's People so apparently I'm reading this backwards! I hope there aren't too many important spoilers....more
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