"Thou art too damned jolly. Sail on." Herman Melville in Moby Dick
Current book-selection rotation: B, M, J, A, K
Friday, November 25, 2011
"The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" by John LeCarre
I heard an interview with the author on the CBC and found out he was actually a spy! This is considered his best spy novel. Let's hope it is as good as they say!
So glad you opened a post, because I may have already finished the book...
I really liked it, and as always when a story grips me, I just devoured it. Plus, I had 5 days with nothing to do but laundry and read this week =) Anyway, I confess I have always enjoyed a good cold war spy thriller, a la Alistair MacLean, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., James Bond, etc.
I did sense from some of the conversations that a few of the characters had appeared in other books, and after looking around (and talking to Joy) I see that there are a bunch of books with George Smiley as the protagonist, although he had a rather small (but important!) role in this one. I would be interested in picking up some more of those books.
Also I found this self description on Le Carre's website that you gals might enjoy: “I hate the telephone. I can’t type. I ply my trade by hand. I live on a Cornish cliff and hate cities. Three days and nights in a city are about my maximum. I don’t see many people. I write and walk and swim and drink. Apart from spying, I have in my time sold bathtowels, got divorced, washed elephants, run away from school, decimated a flock of Welsh sheep with a twenty-five pound shell because I was too stupid to understand the gunnery officer’s instructions, taught children in a special school.”
What are your thoughts on the age difference between Leamus and Liz?
I noticed the age difference, too, A. Leamus must be more than 40- his gray haired is referred to and the fact that he was close to retirement age. Mentally I put him around mid-50s. I also placed Liz in 20s.
Miss Crail makes me laugh. While I have a hard time picturing Leamus and Liz, I can picture her perfectly. :-)
I have not yet finished but should later this week.
This has nothing to do with this book, but since you mentioned movies... Did you see that One for the Money is set to come to theaters early in 2012, with Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum?
Yep, I saw it and watched the trailer. I just don't think any of the actors are "right" except maybe for Lula and Morelli. Ranger seems too small, Grandma Mazur too plump, Stephanie too tall and pretty... I just don't know. I'm thrilled it's finally a movie, but now I'm not sure if I want to see it.
Spy/espionage stories are not my usual cup of tea. I did find this book interesting in spite of my lack of interest in this type of story.
I always have trouble with the plots of this type of story. I think if this were a movie I would be totally lost, especially at the trial scene.
I was very disappointed in the end. I guess I had gotten to like Leamus and Liz so the end bothered me. It did bring out one thing, though, and that Leamus really did love Liz. At least that is what that final scene said to me.
The brutality of men to each other is so cold and at times calculating in this story and read like "so what else did you expect". Men can be so hard. I have never liked that side of men and I guess that is why this type of books is not my favorite read - it too often points out the meanness/hardness of men. I suppose that is survival. Maybe they have to be that way so women can survive.
Harold did read the book, his comments were: 1) The plot was OK. 2) Didn’t like the writing style. 3) The ending was horrible.
I have been mulling over the ending for some time, trying to figure out who tipped off the border guards: Mundt or Smiley. I thought it was pretty clear that the orders were to kill the girl, let the man make his own decision, which really makes me think it was Smiley and/or Control that made the call. Leamus was a good agent, but his attachment to Liz was dangerous. On the other hand, maybe Mundt was resentful for having yet another person to smuggle out of jail, or, he considered her too much of a threat since she was a member of the Party but knew he was a double agent. Still, I think it was Smiley. This is a theme that comes up over and over again in espionage plots. Seems like the weakness of the hero is ALWAYS “the girl.”
Apparently, this is one of the first books that showed the Western countries to be just as cruel and dismissive of civilian casualties as the Eastern block.
After reading B’s post I started asking myself, why is it that I like cold war spy thrillers so much? I don’t have the same affiliation to modern espionage or pre-WW plots either. They are often cheesy, the villains are always Russian or German and there’s usually a fair bit of drinking. I think the reason is because the end of the cold war (Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!) was really the first bit of politics that I was interested in, followed with rapt attention, and thus understood on a broad adult-ish level. Also, I read a lot of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. books during my formative years (they were based on the TV show, but since I had never seen the show, I thought the books were the coolest thing ever). Long story short, they take me back to my late childhood, all in all a very happy time for me.
For Harold's comments: Ditto. I really did not care for this book, and usually I like spy thrillers, cold war or otherwise.
I also think Smiley tipped off the border guards and that they were ordered to take down the girl and not the man. Afterall, women are expendable... I have to agree with B, that this book reminds me how cruel men are, though I don't think cruelty is restricted to men. Rather depressing. No wonder A liked it. :-)
As for One for the Money, I have to agree with you A. Ranger is too short and too... boyish. I like the woman who is playing Grandma Mazur, but G.M. is supposed to be skinny, like a chicken. And I like K. Heigl but just cannot see her as S. Plum.
In an interview with J. Evanovitch, she was quoted as saying she knew K. Heigl would be the perfect Plum because she fit her mental image. Isn't it weird that an author can pictures characters so differently from the readers?
With that said, I do plan on watching the movie because it looks like a funny movie even if it isn't perfectly set to the book. I'll just pretend like I haven't read the book and don't know the characters.
When I read the ending, it did not occur to me that someone tipped off the guards. I thought that because of their recent ordeals neither Leamus or Liz were able to climb that wall in the allotted time. Liz was out of her element and scared. Leamus had been treated brutally. So they just couldn't do it in that short a time. I told you I have trouble following these spy plots.
I didn't think the guards were tipped off either, just ghat they did not have enough time. Also I figured Leamus to be in his 40's since I didn't think he would work in the "field" at an older age.
A phrase I enjoyed was from chapter 12 (East). "Well, you've boobed." Did not know boob was a verb. Officially from the dictionary, it is "to make a stupid mistake", like I should write that on some of these math tests I'm grading,ha!
Jeopardy had a category last night about birds, and one of the questions was something like "This sea bird was so named because its clumsy nature made it very easy to kill."
16 comments:
So glad you opened a post, because I may have already finished the book...
I really liked it, and as always when a story grips me, I just devoured it. Plus, I had 5 days with nothing to do but laundry and read this week =) Anyway, I confess I have always enjoyed a good cold war spy thriller, a la Alistair MacLean, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., James Bond, etc.
I did sense from some of the conversations that a few of the characters had appeared in other books, and after looking around (and talking to Joy) I see that there are a bunch of books with George Smiley as the protagonist, although he had a rather small (but important!) role in this one. I would be interested in picking up some more of those books.
Also I found this self description on Le Carre's website that you gals might enjoy:
“I hate the telephone. I can’t type. I ply my trade by hand. I live on a Cornish cliff and hate cities. Three days and nights in a city are about my maximum. I don’t see many people. I write and walk and swim and drink.
Apart from spying, I have in my time sold bathtowels, got divorced, washed elephants, run away from school, decimated a flock of Welsh sheep with a twenty-five pound shell because I was too stupid to understand the gunnery officer’s instructions, taught children in a special school.”
What are your thoughts on the age difference between Leamus and Liz?
I think Harold is going to read this one too!
More to come when others have finished.
Just finished. Loved it.
I never even thought of the age difference. Do we know Leames' age? I figured him to be 40? And Liz in her 20s?
I noticed the age difference, too, A. Leamus must be more than 40- his gray haired is referred to and the fact that he was close to retirement age. Mentally I put him around mid-50s. I also placed Liz in 20s.
Miss Crail makes me laugh. While I have a hard time picturing Leamus and Liz, I can picture her perfectly. :-)
I have not yet finished but should later this week.
New movie coming out based on one of LeCarre's books. You can read the story on NPR here.
This has nothing to do with this book, but since you mentioned movies... Did you see that One for the Money is set to come to theaters early in 2012, with Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum?
Yep, I saw it and watched the trailer. I just don't think any of the actors are "right" except maybe for Lula and Morelli. Ranger seems too small, Grandma Mazur too plump, Stephanie too tall and pretty... I just don't know. I'm thrilled it's finally a movie, but now I'm not sure if I want to see it.
What do you think?
Spy/espionage stories are not my usual cup of tea. I did find this book interesting in spite of my lack of interest in this type of story.
I always have trouble with the plots of this type of story. I think if this were a movie I would be totally lost, especially at the trial scene.
I was very disappointed in the end. I guess I had gotten to like Leamus and Liz so the end bothered me. It did bring out one thing, though, and that Leamus really did love Liz. At least that is what that final scene said to me.
The brutality of men to each other is so cold and at times calculating in this story and read like "so what else did you expect". Men can be so hard. I have never liked that side of men and I guess that is why this type of books is not my favorite read - it too often points out the meanness/hardness of men. I suppose that is survival. Maybe they have to be that way so women can survive.
Harold did read the book, his comments were:
1) The plot was OK.
2) Didn’t like the writing style.
3) The ending was horrible.
I have been mulling over the ending for some time, trying to figure out who tipped off the border guards: Mundt or Smiley. I thought it was pretty clear that the orders were to kill the girl, let the man make his own decision, which really makes me think it was Smiley and/or Control that made the call. Leamus was a good agent, but his attachment to Liz was dangerous. On the other hand, maybe Mundt was resentful for having yet another person to smuggle out of jail, or, he considered her too much of a threat since she was a member of the Party but knew he was a double agent. Still, I think it was Smiley.
This is a theme that comes up over and over again in espionage plots. Seems like the weakness of the hero is ALWAYS “the girl.”
Apparently, this is one of the first books that showed the Western countries to be just as cruel and dismissive of civilian casualties as the Eastern block.
After reading B’s post I started asking myself, why is it that I like cold war spy thrillers so much? I don’t have the same affiliation to modern espionage or pre-WW plots either. They are often cheesy, the villains are always Russian or German and there’s usually a fair bit of drinking. I think the reason is because the end of the cold war (Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!) was really the first bit of politics that I was interested in, followed with rapt attention, and thus understood on a broad adult-ish level.
Also, I read a lot of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. books during my formative years (they were based on the TV show, but since I had never seen the show, I thought the books were the coolest thing ever).
Long story short, they take me back to my late childhood, all in all a very happy time for me.
For Harold's comments: Ditto. I really did not care for this book, and usually I like spy thrillers, cold war or otherwise.
I also think Smiley tipped off the border guards and that they were ordered to take down the girl and not the man. Afterall, women are expendable... I have to agree with B, that this book reminds me how cruel men are, though I don't think cruelty is restricted to men. Rather depressing. No wonder A liked it. :-)
Anyway, I'm ready to move on.
As for One for the Money, I have to agree with you A. Ranger is too short and too... boyish. I like the woman who is playing Grandma Mazur, but G.M. is supposed to be skinny, like a chicken. And I like K. Heigl but just cannot see her as S. Plum.
In an interview with J. Evanovitch, she was quoted as saying she knew K. Heigl would be the perfect Plum because she fit her mental image. Isn't it weird that an author can pictures characters so differently from the readers?
With that said, I do plan on watching the movie because it looks like a funny movie even if it isn't perfectly set to the book. I'll just pretend like I haven't read the book and don't know the characters.
When I read the ending, it did not occur to me that someone tipped off the guards. I thought that because of their recent ordeals neither Leamus or Liz were able to climb that wall in the allotted time. Liz was out of her element and scared. Leamus had been treated brutally. So they just couldn't do it in that short a time. I told you I have trouble following these spy plots.
I didn't think the guards were tipped off either, just ghat they did not have enough time. Also I figured Leamus to be in his 40's since I didn't think he would work in the "field" at an older age.
A phrase I enjoyed was from chapter 12 (East). "Well, you've boobed." Did not know boob was a verb. Officially from the dictionary, it is "to make a stupid mistake", like I should write that on some of these math tests I'm grading,ha!
The comment "boobed" probably is an English (as in England) thing. It does remind me of the "boobies" - those birds that make stupid landings.
Jeopardy had a category last night about birds, and one of the questions was something like "This sea bird was so named because its clumsy nature made it very easy to kill."
Answer: The boobie!
I choose this intelligent, serious spy novel and we end up talking about boobies? Seriously. :-)
Post a Comment