Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
19th out of 98 books
—
72 voters
Our Game
At forty-eight, Tim Cranmer is a secret servant in a premature retirement to deepest rural England. His Cold War is fought and won, and he is free to devote himself to his stately manor house, his vineyard, and his beautiful young mistress, Emma.
414 pages
Published
(first published 1995)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,391)
Aug 18, 2007
Sean
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
indulgent_spy_fiction,
genrefiction
Though this may be a cliche, Le Carre is one of those writers you either love or hate. I love him. I love the sarcasm and dry british public school wit, and I love the Smiley character (though he doesn't appear in this book). I've been dipping my toes into his books for the last year, but eventually, I am sure I will read all of them.
I've read four LeCarre novels so far, and this is probably my favorite. it is one of his post cold war books, and it is very well done. The book centers around the...more
I've read four LeCarre novels so far, and this is probably my favorite. it is one of his post cold war books, and it is very well done. The book centers around the...more
There was one spot in this book which recalled for me the pleasure I used to find in LeCarre's Smiley novels. But the rest of it did little for me. Immediately afterwards I picked up an Elmore Leonard mystery, and Leonard's lean, pared-down style made LeCarre's wordy and elliptical manner seem a hard slog by comparison. Oh, and once again the main character's wife is running around with another man. Can't this guy write a book without that leitmotif? With Smiley it was at the time a different ki...more
"FURIOUS IN ACTION...TAKES US BY THE NECK ON PAGE ONE AND NEVER LETS GO." That's how the Chicago Sun Times describes this book. My own impression: "BORING". The tale could be a good one if fleshed out more, but plot plods along with very little action or suspense. To call this book thrilling would be gross hyperbole. LeCarre tells you about what's happening rather than showing you. Perhaps I'm just too American in my preferences, and the author's dry British style doesn't provide me with enough...more
In life, as we both know, it's the luck of the draw, who you meet and when and how much you have left to give, and the point at which you say, To hell with everything, this is where I go the distance, this is where I stick. (p. 193)
This is Caitlin Myer: the character Emma.
"Before she met you, she was a shipwreck. She had no centre, no stability. SHe could have been anyone. Like you, perhaps, All she wished was to climb into a shell and live the life inside it. But now that is over. You were the...more
This is Caitlin Myer: the character Emma.
"Before she met you, she was a shipwreck. She had no centre, no stability. SHe could have been anyone. Like you, perhaps, All she wished was to climb into a shell and live the life inside it. But now that is over. You were the...more
My reading alternates between the classics and spy novels. Not sure why, but I’ve fallen into that habit. In terms of spy novels over the years, I started with Ian Flemming, then Robert Ludlum, and then for the last few years, John Le Carre (with some Len Deighton and, most recently Charles McCarry thrown in for good measure).
For those unfamiliar with LeCarre, his novels are not necessarily the most instantly accessible. For example, the style of his writing at times makes it difficult to note...more
For those unfamiliar with LeCarre, his novels are not necessarily the most instantly accessible. For example, the style of his writing at times makes it difficult to note...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I feel like some kid of betrayer of The Reading Code, but I'm getting really tired of John LeCarre's books and his "voice". Reading "Our Game" was a real disappointement. For the first 70 or so pages I kept thinking, "Geez, is this guy ever gonna write a different book?" Then LeCarre threw in a neat plot twist which rekindled my interest for about 100 more pages. But...it all just peters out in the end to another world-weary repetition of all his other work.
The thing about Le Carre, when he is at his best, is not his plots, not his tradecraft, not his settings or characters, but the ambiguity he brings to all of them. To paraphrase Smiley's People, half-angels battle half-devils, the right side loses, but the wrong side wins.
Our Game is a lesser Le Carre work. The Cold War is over, we're best friends with Russia now; when they crush troublesome little Islamic republics like Chechnya and Ingushetia, we look the other way. A retired double spy goes s...more
Our Game is a lesser Le Carre work. The Cold War is over, we're best friends with Russia now; when they crush troublesome little Islamic republics like Chechnya and Ingushetia, we look the other way. A retired double spy goes s...more
I loved reading John Le Carre as a teenager, not to mention watching the BBC series featuring the amazing Sir Alex Guinness from the Cold War 1980's over and over again. After a long period of not reading Le Carre's books, and having just finished reading two "feminist" novels before starting "Our Game", I realized that I what I adored most was the seeking part of the story. I love the idea of breaking into houses and reading people's mail. Of course I don't do this. I love the jettisoning of ca...more
Very poorely developing story about the ill thoughts of a desrted old man. This story has hardly anything to do with espionage. Don't expect a plot or some tension: It will not appear...
I was so disappointed in this book! I kept reading, hoping it would get better, but for me it just got worse. I could find absolutely no redeeming qualities in any of the characters or the plot ....not that it's necessary to do that to appreciate a book, but these folks were incredibly self-absorbed idiots "retired" British agents post-Soviet Union "collapse") who were unable to adjust to the real world and continued to degenerate into even more dysfunctional beings, consequently developing mess...more
When am i going to stop reaching out to Le Carre's lesser works? I don't know. I have Thomas Hardy Syndrome with this guy, and it doesn't even have as much payoff as applying Thomas Hardy Syndrome to John Irving.
sigh.
sigh.
a very detailed story of a retired spy master, his 'creature', and his lover all involved in a post-soviet arms smuggling. clever and complex, but way too long.
This was probably not the best place to start in le Carré's oeuvre. As a rule of thumb I try not to describe any work of fiction as 'boring', this seeming to me an awfully lazy criticism, but in this case it seems particularly apt. Taking for the most part the form of a mediocre human drama in the shell of a spy novel, with the requisite love triangle, Our Game trudges slowly towards its conclusion with very little suspense, danger or sense of urgency. There was a great opportunity here to reall...more
Didn't enjoy as much as other by LeCarre, but am not as versed in areas of the world in which this takes place.
Not up to his usual standards. The last third was quite tedious
A quick, Cold War suspense. A great read and very well written.
There is so much that I love about Le Carre. I think that often the things he says about what makes women attractive is a bit like listening to myself. And there is also some interesting stuff in this in which I think he might well be playing around with an adult version of the Repunzel story. The female character sure does do a lot of standing at the window – interesting given her initial willingness to be locked in the tower and then her rescue by a man blinded by his beliefs.
I really like boo...more
I really like boo...more
Very neat book. Real interesting plot and very good twists. Story of a decent man who does his time in the English Secret Service only to be dragged back in because of his old partner's change of opinions and actions. In the end, sad to know that there are people out there who think they have the right to kill others because of politics, religion, race, imaginary borders, or persecution, or to retaliate because of it. Vicious cycle...
Tim Cranmer retires and is drawn back into the game because a person who mentored and was a double agent has stolen a lot of money from Russian with the help of his Russian boss to help the people in Ingushettia. I learned a lot about this part of the world, including Ossetia and Chechenia. Generally well written. A little drawn out towards the end.
The first 3/4, describing the longstanding friendship between the narrator and his best friend is magnificent. When this part ended and the book completely changed the tone, I was disoriented and disenchanted. But when I read it for the second time, I found out the reason for the transformation.
As all of LeCarre works it is a good, but sad book.
As all of LeCarre works it is a good, but sad book.
Another masterly creation by Le Carre of an emotionally constipated, doggedly persistent Englishmen of the generation that formed mine. Deighton's protagonists are so much more appealing. Both Le Carre and Deighton make you feel the physical/cultural settings of their always interesting plots. Now I know not to visit Ossetia, Ingushetia or Chechnia.
Paint by numbers Le Carre about a burnt-out ex-spy who falls in love with a beautiful girl who holds out hope for an existence that is not utterly bleak until his past ruins his hopes. Interesting twist about male rivalry, and insightful placement of the final third in the area near Chechnya fail to raise this book to the level of his best work.
Le Carre tells of two retired British spies one content in retirement the other not. The discontentment of the one leads them both to Ingushetia in Russia where the people have been mistreated by one power or another since the time of the Czars. It is perhaps detailed to a fault as they use their craft one to disappear and the other to follow.
My first Le Carre`......good narrative, but definitely not breathtaking. Did not feel like it was espionage. Cant compare with Frederick Forsyth's spy fiction which is unbeatable and page turning. I hear this is not the best of Le Carre`, and I am relieved to hear that.....
This was my first book by Le Carre, and I wasn't impressed at all. I had a hard time following parts of this book. The way he described the events and kept jumping around in time wasn't very clear. There were times when the story got interesting, but it fell very flat in the end. Also, by the end I hated all of the characters.
I don't recall other LeCarre's written in the first person and it fits for this rather personal story of Tim, Emma, and Larry. Larry was a Brittish double agent, uneasily run by Tim through the Cold War. Both are uncermoniously retired from service following the collapse of the Soviet union. This is merely the begining as Larry searches for a new cause, recruits Tim's love Emma in it and Tim is left to find the threads and pieces. Good for both the personal and political questions of the spy wor...more
Was I supposed to sympathize with Pettifer and the Chechens? Because I didn't. Nor did I see how I was supposed to. The ending came out of nowhere. My first Le Carre experience, and I have to say -- underwhelming.
Huh. Not bad. But I didn't like it as much as Trevanean or Ludlum's stuff. I didn't like any of the characters, and they were living lives that not even they seemed to find particularly interesting. And so it goes.
I can't believe that there are people on GR who found this book boring. What is to bore with Le Carré's beautiful writing? What is to bore with a book that teaches so much about the forgotten people, the Ingush, and the intrigues and treachery of Russian politics? What is to bore with the master of the spy novel - no, forget it, I just don't understand such comments.
For me this book was like lovely, almost syrupy, ruby port and the richest fruit cake. I wanted to upend the bottle and guzzle the...more
For me this book was like lovely, almost syrupy, ruby port and the richest fruit cake. I wanted to upend the bottle and guzzle the...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
John le Carré, the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born 19 October 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), is an English author of espionage novels. Le Carré has resided in St Buryan, Cornwall, Great Britain, for more than forty years where he owns a mile of cliff close to Land's End.
More about John le Carré...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“A dead man is the worst enemy alive, I thought. You can't alter his power over you. You can't alter what you love or owe. And it's too late to ask him for his absolution. He has beaten you all ways.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
Mar 25, 2012 02:59pm