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Title: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by Le Carre ISBN: 0-7861-0278-0 Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks Pub. Date: 01 January, 1992 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 9 List Price(USD): $62.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.42 (33 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Gripping Espionage Thriller - 1st In Smiley /Karla Trilogy
Comment: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" has been called the best espionage novel ever written. John Le Carre's cynical and spellbinding spy thrillers are so unique because they are based on a wide knowledge of international espionage. Le Carre, (pen name for David John Moore Cornwell), acquired this knowledge firsthand during his years as an operations agent for the British M15. Kim Philby, the infamous mole, actually gave Le Carre's name to the Soviets long before he defected. The author's professional experience and his tremendous talent as a master storyteller and superb writer make this book one of the best novels I have read in the genre.
"Tinker, Tailor..." is the first in what has come to be called LeCarré's "Karla (or Smiley) Trilogy", in which English spy George Smiley is pitted against the Soviet spymaster Karla. Written during the Cold War, it is a portrait of that time, with its paranoid and morally ambiguous view of global politics.
A botched espionage operation in Czechoslovakia causes "Control," (Head of British Intelligence), and his associates to be discredited. "Control," already ill and aging quickly, dies soon after this debacle. George Smiley, his able lieutenant, is retired in disgrace. The two are succeeded by four "young turks," all highly ambitious men from Intelligence who had been trained by "Control" and Smiley. Months later, a maverick Far Eastern agent turns up in London with a story suggesting there is a mole (a deeply concealed double agent) in the Circus (Intelligence HQ). Smiley is called out of retirement to investigate the possibility that a Soviet mole has penetrated the very top levels of the British Secret Service. The "Tinker, Tailor..." nursery rhyme of the title refers to the codewords for the four prime suspects - the four men now running the Service. Smiley's job is to find the double agent. However the entire Intelligence network is so suspect that he must operate entirely without its resources, for fear of alerting the mole. Therefore he must operate undercover from his own people. This novel has more in common with the guessing-game puzzle of a great whodunit than with the typical action-packed spy thriller. Smiley gradually pieces together the story by analyzing files, interrogating witnesses and scouring his own memory and those of other retired Intelligence personnel, until he finally unmasks the traitor at the heart of the Circus.
This is not a simple, easy to read book. There is personal and public betrayal along with the treason of an unknown colleague. Smiley's beautiful, upperclass wife has been unfaithful with at least one of his associates, adding stress to his urgent, high-pressured assignment. Although Le Carre's novels are well-written and convincing, they can be very complicated - and this book is an example of one of his more complex endeavors. The storyline is not linear, and contains many subplots. Much is left for the reader to puzzle out, at least until the end. Just like the spies, themselves, the reader only observes the outward actions of the characters, and must piece together the facts without the assistance of an omniscient narrator. Some may find that it is difficult to get started with this novel, and once started, even harder to see where one is going. The effort to stay with Le Carre is well worth it though. A big part of the fun is working out the puzzle along with George Smiley.
An FYI: The other two books in the series are "The Honourable Schoolboy," and "Smiley's People." ENJOY!!
JANA
Rating: 5
Summary: Incredible Stuff!
Comment: Le Carre is the best spy novelist ever and truly a modern master of literature. Tinker Tailor takes the reader on a journey through the murky labyrinths of british intelligence as the antihero Smiley, a plump, confused, betrayed, but deceptively steely and intelligent spy, ferrets out a mole burrowed into the highest levels of British Intelligence by his Soviet nemesis, Karla. The themes of betrayal, downfall, and the inescapable immorality of spying permeate this finely written book, while the challenge of discovering, with Smiley, who the mole is, captures the reader from the start. Le Carre's character developement is superior to almost any writer, living or dead, and the complexity of the mole, Smiley, Connie Sachs, and a host of other characters adds another superior facet. Finally, Le Carre's use of wonderfully quaint terminology, with "moles", "legmen", "burrowers", "the circus", and others making frequent appearances, spices up the book. The best spy book I have ever read, and I have read every book by Forsyth, Higgings, Clancy, and Craig, and almost every Ludlum. This may be a great spy book, but it is also an outstanding work of literature, like its two successors, and is a classic in every respect. Everyone should read it who has a mind and appreciation for a nobly done turn of phrase. However, this book isn't for the James Bond Boom Boom kiss the girl and fly off sort- requires thought!
Rating: 5
Summary: The best
Comment: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a novel about the "Circus," an invented nickname for MI6, in the 70s. A mole has dug his way into the Circus over forty years, blowing agents, destroying spy networks, and generally making a mess of things for Control and his 2nd in command George Smiley. Just when Control was getting close to discovering the traitor, a disastrous operation in Czechoslovakia causes a changing of the guard - Control soon dies, and Smiley is fired. Now, the new leadership, an inner circle of four men, seems to be putting the Circus back in business (and keeping themselves on top). But one of them is still the mole, and is as yet unidentified. Smiley must come out of retirement and begin a long quest through the past to uncover the mole - and his nemesis Karla's calculated operation, that has perhaps damaged the Circus irreperably.
George Smiley is a recurring character in John LeCarre's works, beginning with LeCarre's first novel Call for the Dead, through his brilliant first big success The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, to Tinker, Tailor... and the Smiley/Karla trilogy. He has been called the greatest protagonist in spy fiction, sometimes even one of the best characters in contemporary literature. He is the anti-Bond, an aging, plump little man who probably never won a fight in his life and doesn't wear hats for fear that they make him look even more ridiculous. LeCarre casts him as a failed husband and cuckold to further emphasize his ridiculousness on the surface, but this is only seen as a weakness or something laughable by those who don't know him. In reality, Smiley tries hard not to let anything get to him. Indeed it is this calm and rationality, and his ability to meticulously analyze those things that would cause pain or panic in other men, that make him good at his work.
But one person can penetrate this defensive barrier of cold logic: his devious nemesis, Karla. This conflict is the one area of Smiley's life that cannot remain purely business, that has to be personal. At times, particularly in the sweltering heat of their first meeting in India, Smiley's emotion gets the better of him, so much so that the rivalry seems more human and personal even than Smiley's marriage; this idea is symbolized in the novel by Smiley's lighter, a gift from his wife that Smiley allows Karla to take.
But how can this very human conflict truly be expressed when Smiley and Karla have never even spoken? Throughout the interview the Russian does not say a word. Just like the Cold War, their conflict is never "spoken" or overt, only indirect and implied, yet each knows the other's character intimately. This makes their conflict more than pure business, and more than merely one of ideology. That seems one of LeCarre's major points in this work (and in Smiley's People) - that while one can explain away the Cold War by framing it as an ideological conflict, it was not fought by two populations with set ideologies - it was fought by individuals, people with failing marriages, people with sick daughters, people who are all ultimately human.
LeCarre is undoubtedly the master of the genre, and this, as well as the other two of the trilogy (Honourable Schoolboy, Smiley's People) are his finest.
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Title: Smiley's People by John Le Carre ISBN: 0671042769 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carre ISBN: 0743457919 Publisher: Scribner Book Company Pub. Date: 29 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre ISBN: 0743442539 Publisher: Scribner Book Company Pub. Date: 01 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Looking Glass War by John Le Carre ISBN: 0743431707 Publisher: Scribner Book Company Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Perfect Spy by John Le Carre ISBN: 0671042750 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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