欧宝娱乐

Thank God I'm not the only one who felt this way about this book. Your review and mine could easily be two sides of the same coin. You've made my day.

Wale wrote: "Thank God I'm not the only one who felt this way about this book. Your review and mine could easily be two sides of the same coin. You've made my day."

Thanks - it's always good to make someone's day. ;)

I just read your review and I have to say that I agree on your "two sides of the coin" statement. I loved your line "A thriller is supposed to be thrilling. This wasn't." Couldn't agree more.

Me three! So disappointing. But like you, I got tired of trying to figure out what was going on, or whose POV it was. Next!

courageous review, I gave it 5 stars just to avoid altercations with my friends, but I also could'nt go after 54 pages. I think this is full of unnecessary sentences and those typical British jokes which at least I was quite unable to understand.

Thank you for your review. I've read the book and listened to the audiobook more than once. I doubt from your review that you would ever go back to it, but if you do, I might suggest you try the audiobook with LeCarre's narration. His reading of the novel is outstanding, and the individual voices he gives each of the characters may address many of your problems of differentiating the characters.

Yokosuka14 wrote: "Thank you for your review. I've read the book and listened to the audiobook more than once. I doubt from your review that you would ever go back to it, but if you do, I might suggest you try the ..."

Thanks for the suggestion! I generally prefer reading book as opposed to listening to them, but maybe this one will be the exception. I may give it a try.

Bullseye. I totally agree with you. I didn't even make it to 100 pages, and just wanted to see what other people thought, so I looked at some of the reviews. We're clearly in the minority, but with all the great spy/espionage work there is out there, why struggle with some thing as murky as this?

Laughable. Clearly you don't get it.

I appreciate your review as I'm in the same boat. My first spy novel, my first John Le Carr茅 and I'm so mad at myself for not loving it or even liking it. Like you, I was happy to have insomnia after placing my bookmark in between page 32 and 33. I cannot get through the prose and feel like I'm just reading words. I lose concentration and then reread what I just read. I'll try another Le Carr茅 novel before I move on to someone else.

It is not a book for entertainment, for sure. It is an independent piece of literary art, written in a style that is fit for the subject. It can be hailed the Proust of spy novels. I think expectation play a great part in how one can appreciate this novel. I am putting down this note here, in case anyone who wants to be challenged in multiple dimensions can try this work and enjoy the authentic taste it leaves in your mind.

Me too, I threw in the towel and read the ending.

I have read all of his others and loved them

This one seemed like self indulgence of a stream of consciousness. The writer's version of Jack Nicholson's over acting. 馃榿

I felt 180 degrees differently, but I've had the feeling you describe with other books. Sometimes the chemistry is there between the author and reader, and sometimes it isn't. No harm, no foul :)

I love John le Carre and I've read several of his books over the years, but I have to say I agree with you on this one. I'm less than 100 pages in and I'm on the verge of setting this book aside. The writing is elegant. I love the "understated" English way of writing. I love spy novels generally, and I understand that much of the world of espionage consists of little more than conversations, or people going quietly from one place to another.

But as I read this book I keep wondering where the story is. Wondering if there is any point to all of the beautifully assembled sentences.

For me, it helped to watch the BBC production of this novel with Peter Egan in the title role and Ray McAnally as his father. I thought it was great, but Le Carre didn't like Peter Egan's interpretation (according to Adam Sisman's bio of Le Carre). A Perfect Spy is his most autobiographical fiction, I believe. I watched the BBC show three times and read the novel twice. This is roughly how I took in Tinker Tailor, Smiley's People, and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold as well. I found the plots of especially the later three of those four novels unintelligible on the first read or watch, but I enjoyed seeing the mystery revealed (maybe this is how intelligence develops for spies), and the style and social commentary held my interest in the mean time. Your mileage may differ, probably for the better. When my wife and I watch mysteries, she usually gets them much faster than I do. ()

I read somewhere that Le Carre credits Joseph Conrad's Secret Agent as formative to some degree. The Guardian article linked above also makes a Conrad connection.

Requiescas in pace, David, and many thanks for great reads.