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Bruno Salvador has worked on clandestine missions before.
A highly skilled interpreter, he is no stranger to the Official Secrets Act. But this is the first time he has been asked to change his identity - and, worse still, his clothes - in service of his country.
Whisked to a remote island to interpret a top-secret conference between no-name financiers and the Congolese warlords, Salvo's excitement is only heightened by memoires of the night before he left London, and his life-changing encounter with a beautiful nurse named Hannah.
Exit suddenly the unassuming, happily married man Salvo believed himself to be. Enter in his place the pseudonymous Brian Sinclair: spy, lover - and perhaps even, hero.
A highly skilled interpreter, he is no stranger to the Official Secrets Act. But this is the first time he has been asked to change his identity - and, worse still, his clothes - in service of his country.
Whisked to a remote island to interpret a top-secret conference between no-name financiers and the Congolese warlords, Salvo's excitement is only heightened by memoires of the night before he left London, and his life-changing encounter with a beautiful nurse named Hannah.
Exit suddenly the unassuming, happily married man Salvo believed himself to be. Enter in his place the pseudonymous Brian Sinclair: spy, lover - and perhaps even, hero.
371 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
John Le Carré
412 books9,310 followersJohn le Carré, the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born 19 October 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), was an English author of espionage novels. Le Carré had resided in St Buryan, Cornwall, Great Britain, for more than 40 years, where he owned a mile of cliff close to Land's End.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 765 reviews
January 24, 2016
"Luck's just another word for destiny ... either you make your own or you're screwed."
- John le Carré , The Mission Song
My basic take on 'The Mission Song' is similar to Alvy's old joke in Annie Hall:
"um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."
Well, that's essentially how I feel about this book. Actually, wait no, I don't think 'The Mission Song' was terrible. I thought parts of it were actually brilliant and the potential for brilliance was huge. I loved the idea of Bruno Salvador, the interpreter, caught between two worlds. There JUST wasn't enough of THAT part. The plot was fairly simple and straightforward. Not bad, but again, only a tease, a taunt of le Carré brilliance wrapped in an average le Carré just makes me sad.
It also suffers from being proximately sat next to (or nearly next to) The Constant Gardener; yes, two le Carré's African twin sisters: one brilliant (The Constant Gardner), and one that only has the hint of brilliance (The Mission Song). One just pales in comparison to the other, and will perpetually be overshadowed by her better looking, more talented colonial twin.
Speaking of Colonialism, le Carré just wasn't pissed enough in this novel. I kind of like it when his anger is turned up to 11. The anger was here, but it was diffuse and subtle and romantic and sometimes a bit misdirected (to me). He merely twirled the narrative knife instead of shiving and shanking.
- John le Carré , The Mission Song
My basic take on 'The Mission Song' is similar to Alvy's old joke in Annie Hall:
"um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."
Well, that's essentially how I feel about this book. Actually, wait no, I don't think 'The Mission Song' was terrible. I thought parts of it were actually brilliant and the potential for brilliance was huge. I loved the idea of Bruno Salvador, the interpreter, caught between two worlds. There JUST wasn't enough of THAT part. The plot was fairly simple and straightforward. Not bad, but again, only a tease, a taunt of le Carré brilliance wrapped in an average le Carré just makes me sad.
It also suffers from being proximately sat next to (or nearly next to) The Constant Gardener; yes, two le Carré's African twin sisters: one brilliant (The Constant Gardner), and one that only has the hint of brilliance (The Mission Song). One just pales in comparison to the other, and will perpetually be overshadowed by her better looking, more talented colonial twin.
Speaking of Colonialism, le Carré just wasn't pissed enough in this novel. I kind of like it when his anger is turned up to 11. The anger was here, but it was diffuse and subtle and romantic and sometimes a bit misdirected (to me). He merely twirled the narrative knife instead of shiving and shanking.
December 8, 2011
This is one of le Carré's post-Cold War novels, and the subject is Africa. Like all of his spy thrillers, the tone is seedy, cynical, and heartbreaking, as a decent man has his idealism shattered and sees his best intentions trampled on and turned to shit.
"Salvo" is the son of a British missionary and a Congolese woman. He's grown up in England, and now he's a fully Anglocized African... or so he thinks. He makes a good living as a translator, having a talent for languages and knowing a bunch of little-spoken African languages, he's married to a pretty white journalist in a fashionable but shallow marriage in which it's hard to say who is whose trophy-spouse, and on the side, he also happens to be a contractor for British Intelligence when they need his special language talents.
Salvo gets a sudden assignment: 2 days, 3 days top, and a sizeable bonus, to attend a secret meeting of Congolese warlords. He's told this is for the benefit of British national security and also for the benefit of the Congo. They're trying to negotiate a peaceful and stable government. Instead, Salvo finds out that they're planning a coup and dividing the spoils... just business as usual in central Africa. He is sure his superiors will be shocked -- shocked! -- at these unsavory developments, and surely Her Majesty's government will want to prevent the imminent chaos and bloodshed over mineral rights.
You can probably see that this isn't going to a happy place. Le Carré's story is a scathing and cynical indictment of African and Western corruption alike. I give The Mission Song 4.5 stars, as it was a fast-paced well-plotted thriller with great characterization. I can't quite give it that last half-star though, because of the predictable ending. Indeed, I pretty much knew everything that was going to happen from the halfway point onward; Salvo was just too naive. But le Carré is becoming one of my go-tos for tasty literary snacks.
I'm going to up my ranking to 5 stars though because of David Oyelowo's reading of the audiobook. The man's voice is perfect for the role, a real pleasure to listen to, and he conveyed all the emotions throughout the story just as if you are hearing Salvo himself speak.
"Salvo" is the son of a British missionary and a Congolese woman. He's grown up in England, and now he's a fully Anglocized African... or so he thinks. He makes a good living as a translator, having a talent for languages and knowing a bunch of little-spoken African languages, he's married to a pretty white journalist in a fashionable but shallow marriage in which it's hard to say who is whose trophy-spouse, and on the side, he also happens to be a contractor for British Intelligence when they need his special language talents.
Salvo gets a sudden assignment: 2 days, 3 days top, and a sizeable bonus, to attend a secret meeting of Congolese warlords. He's told this is for the benefit of British national security and also for the benefit of the Congo. They're trying to negotiate a peaceful and stable government. Instead, Salvo finds out that they're planning a coup and dividing the spoils... just business as usual in central Africa. He is sure his superiors will be shocked -- shocked! -- at these unsavory developments, and surely Her Majesty's government will want to prevent the imminent chaos and bloodshed over mineral rights.
You can probably see that this isn't going to a happy place. Le Carré's story is a scathing and cynical indictment of African and Western corruption alike. I give The Mission Song 4.5 stars, as it was a fast-paced well-plotted thriller with great characterization. I can't quite give it that last half-star though, because of the predictable ending. Indeed, I pretty much knew everything that was going to happen from the halfway point onward; Salvo was just too naive. But le Carré is becoming one of my go-tos for tasty literary snacks.
I'm going to up my ranking to 5 stars though because of David Oyelowo's reading of the audiobook. The man's voice is perfect for the role, a real pleasure to listen to, and he conveyed all the emotions throughout the story just as if you are hearing Salvo himself speak.
August 31, 2021
John Le Carre kept his edge right through the cold war spy period and into the 2000s, because he understood that there were hot spots and corrupt governments aplenty that could still use his particular brand of unmasking. If anything, and rightfully so, he found the post Cold War world even more cynical and heartless.
Bruno Salvador, affectionately known as Salvo, is a zebra from the Congo. His father was a Catholic priest who ran a mission there, and his mother was a native girl whom he never knew. Born with a special talent for languages, he is sent back to England to study, where he ultimately becomes a top-level interpreter. When he is selected to serve as an interpreter for a high-level and very secret meeting between several Congolese leaders and a “syndicate” of British businessmen and government operatives, he is excited and proud. But, this is Le Carre, so all is not what it seems, and Salvo will be faced with the most difficult decisions of his life in one frightening weekend.
I am sadly ignorant of most of the politics of Africa, only having a smattering here and there of whatever tidbits the West deems newsworthy. It did not surprise me, however, to know that the corruption at the top feeds the violence at the bottom, or that the top is likely kept in place by the Western governments who pretend to abhor it. What is undeniably true is that the ordinary people of the Congo have been exploited more than they have been championed. I think little there has changed since this book was written in 2006.
I could really visualize these greedy bastards saying this:
”And has it never occurred to you that it might be God’s will that the world’s resources, which are dwindling even as we speak, do better in the hands of civilised Christian souls with a cultured way of life than some of the most backward heathens on the planet?”
Really pisses me when they use God as their excuse, and I’m betting it doesn’t sit well with Him either.
I am on my own mission to read all the Le Carre’s that I have missed. I am glad I made time for this one, which shortens my list by one.
Bruno Salvador, affectionately known as Salvo, is a zebra from the Congo. His father was a Catholic priest who ran a mission there, and his mother was a native girl whom he never knew. Born with a special talent for languages, he is sent back to England to study, where he ultimately becomes a top-level interpreter. When he is selected to serve as an interpreter for a high-level and very secret meeting between several Congolese leaders and a “syndicate” of British businessmen and government operatives, he is excited and proud. But, this is Le Carre, so all is not what it seems, and Salvo will be faced with the most difficult decisions of his life in one frightening weekend.
I am sadly ignorant of most of the politics of Africa, only having a smattering here and there of whatever tidbits the West deems newsworthy. It did not surprise me, however, to know that the corruption at the top feeds the violence at the bottom, or that the top is likely kept in place by the Western governments who pretend to abhor it. What is undeniably true is that the ordinary people of the Congo have been exploited more than they have been championed. I think little there has changed since this book was written in 2006.
I could really visualize these greedy bastards saying this:
”And has it never occurred to you that it might be God’s will that the world’s resources, which are dwindling even as we speak, do better in the hands of civilised Christian souls with a cultured way of life than some of the most backward heathens on the planet?”
Really pisses me when they use God as their excuse, and I’m betting it doesn’t sit well with Him either.
I am on my own mission to read all the Le Carre’s that I have missed. I am glad I made time for this one, which shortens my list by one.
August 14, 2008
I found this to be one of the most successful of LeCarre's post-Cold War novels. His sense of outrage over conditions in Africa mirrors those of The Constant Gardener. The characters are compelling, and utterly believable.
As I was reading this book, I jotted down a list of phrases that caught my fancy. LeCarre's writing style is one of the best of any modern writer. Rather than review the plot of the novel, I thought I would share some of the language of the book. Here is my list:
"...[he] rakes the table with his wild, exophthalmic gaze..."
"...my needle-sharp ear..."
"...our corrupt government of loquacious fat cats..."
"UN headquarters in Bukara is a pig's breakfast..."
"...hands trailing like silk scarves against the clear blue sky..."
"...the vengeful glint in his wine-dark eyes is inextinguishable..."
"...the equatorial rain pounding like elephant's feet..."
"...viewed my continued presence among them as a festering affront."
"...had I been allowed to continue along this solitary and ambivalent path."
"...to glide without hiatus from one language to another...""
"...lilting intimacies of the African voice with its myriad shades and variations..."
"His purposes, inflamed by adoration..."
"...tendering a hand-rolled cigarette..."
"...the Congolese-flavoured Swahili of our childhoods with its playful mix of joy and innuendo..."
"...the in-out hum of a wonky table fan..."
"...my second-hand shoes hacking at my ankle bones..."
"...the see-saw whine of fax machines..."
"...abandoned without scruple to your fate..."
What is not to love with writing like this? Highly recommended.
As I was reading this book, I jotted down a list of phrases that caught my fancy. LeCarre's writing style is one of the best of any modern writer. Rather than review the plot of the novel, I thought I would share some of the language of the book. Here is my list:
"...[he] rakes the table with his wild, exophthalmic gaze..."
"...my needle-sharp ear..."
"...our corrupt government of loquacious fat cats..."
"UN headquarters in Bukara is a pig's breakfast..."
"...hands trailing like silk scarves against the clear blue sky..."
"...the vengeful glint in his wine-dark eyes is inextinguishable..."
"...the equatorial rain pounding like elephant's feet..."
"...viewed my continued presence among them as a festering affront."
"...had I been allowed to continue along this solitary and ambivalent path."
"...to glide without hiatus from one language to another...""
"...lilting intimacies of the African voice with its myriad shades and variations..."
"His purposes, inflamed by adoration..."
"...tendering a hand-rolled cigarette..."
"...the Congolese-flavoured Swahili of our childhoods with its playful mix of joy and innuendo..."
"...the in-out hum of a wonky table fan..."
"...my second-hand shoes hacking at my ankle bones..."
"...the see-saw whine of fax machines..."
"...abandoned without scruple to your fate..."
What is not to love with writing like this? Highly recommended.
September 29, 2018
This book is just one gigantic bore. Hero is a nerd, not much happens, hero winds up in jail. B-o-o-o-ring!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2018
Not quite up to le Carre's usual standard, but still well written and engaging. A skilled interpreter who speaks many African languages and does some part time work with the British Government becomes caught up in a plot to interfere with the Congo's election. Will this be for the good of the country and its people, or just another money-making enterprise for international syndicates and corporate fat-cats? Main flaw in my opinion was the first person narrative, in a protagonist that was not all that compelling. Normally le Carre's strength is characterisation of all the various players in the story - this was still done reasonably, but we were mostly dealing with Bruno Salvo, the interpreter whose naivety and idealism make him unable to remain detached. My most recent LeCarre was 'The Constant Gardener' which dealt with similar themes (multinational exploitation, Africa and corruption), but was much better.
Still, he is one of my favourite authors, and although this wouldn't be number 1 on my list when recommending his books, it is still good!
Still, he is one of my favourite authors, and although this wouldn't be number 1 on my list when recommending his books, it is still good!
June 17, 2020
I came to The Mission Song (2006) as a John le Carré fan and one who is working his way through all le Carré's novels.
The Mission Song is convincing and impeccably researched however it lacks the dramatic tension of his best work. It's a shame, as there is so much to like and admire in this book. From Salvo, the mixed race interpreter and narrator, who gets reluctantly dragged into an attempted Congolese coup, to le Carré's anger about the exploitation of Africa.
Then again, even a slightly below par le Carré knocks spots off most writers.
3/5
The Mission Song is convincing and impeccably researched however it lacks the dramatic tension of his best work. It's a shame, as there is so much to like and admire in this book. From Salvo, the mixed race interpreter and narrator, who gets reluctantly dragged into an attempted Congolese coup, to le Carré's anger about the exploitation of Africa.
Then again, even a slightly below par le Carré knocks spots off most writers.
3/5
July 14, 2012
((الترجمة التي قتلت المترجم))
القصة – الرواية هي العشرون للكاتب الشهير (جون ليكارييه) وبالمناسبة فهو انجليزي بعكس ما قد يشي به اسمه للأذن العربية من وقع موسيقي فرنسي ، الرواية تدور حول أفريقيا الوسطى المظلومة من العالم كله وما يحاك لها من دسائس ومؤامرات تبدأ من أهلها ولا تنتهي في بلاد المؤلف ...
بطل الرواية هو مترجم لطيف ألا أن الترجمة الصادرة من الدار الناشرة للغة العربية قد قتلت المؤلف بعدم وجود قراءة ثانية ، فالقارئ العربي لا يكره شيئا كما يكره أن يقرأ عبارة "هل لديك شيء من الكلتان للبيع ، قال سالفو " وقد أثر هذا كثيراً على ترابط الأحداث وسريانها ، دعك من السبب المجهول الذي جعل الناشر يحول "أغنية المهمة" والتي يقصد بها أهزوجة الحرب إلى "خيوط المؤامرة".... نصيحة بخصوص الرواية الرائعة : إذا كنت تتقن الإنجليزية ... فلا تقرأ الطبعة العربية !
القصة – الرواية هي العشرون للكاتب الشهير (جون ليكارييه) وبالمناسبة فهو انجليزي بعكس ما قد يشي به اسمه للأذن العربية من وقع موسيقي فرنسي ، الرواية تدور حول أفريقيا الوسطى المظلومة من العالم كله وما يحاك لها من دسائس ومؤامرات تبدأ من أهلها ولا تنتهي في بلاد المؤلف ...
بطل الرواية هو مترجم لطيف ألا أن الترجمة الصادرة من الدار الناشرة للغة العربية قد قتلت المؤلف بعدم وجود قراءة ثانية ، فالقارئ العربي لا يكره شيئا كما يكره أن يقرأ عبارة "هل لديك شيء من الكلتان للبيع ، قال سالفو " وقد أثر هذا كثيراً على ترابط الأحداث وسريانها ، دعك من السبب المجهول الذي جعل الناشر يحول "أغنية المهمة" والتي يقصد بها أهزوجة الحرب إلى "خيوط المؤامرة".... نصيحة بخصوص الرواية الرائعة : إذا كنت تتقن الإنجليزية ... فلا تقرأ الطبعة العربية !
July 18, 2017
A slight departure from the usual Le Carré variation on a theme, but nevertheless a chip off the old block. Anyone interested in languages and interpreting, and in the eastern DRC, will find a lot to like about this book (as will any vintage Le Carré aficionado). I fall into all three categories, and so unsurprisingly I have read this book three times, and enjoyed it thoroughly each time. It is extremely well researched, for a context so far off the beaten track for most westerners. But the conclusion is bog-standard Le Carré - the civil service doesn't hesitate to shit from a great height on anyone it has been happy to use for years in dubious circumstances, as soon as it looks they might become a liability and do the right thing. A brilliant read.
February 2, 2025
The hero/protagonist is a 25-year old Irish-Congolese interpreter living in London. I'll accept for the purposes of plot that he's fluent in about a dozen obscure languages. But this young man's knowledge, experience, and worldview were those of someone in their forties, at least. Also there was a love story (quite a large part of the novel) that started instantly. Three minutes, and they were not just in love but ready to yoke their lives together forever.
In this one le Carré very annoyingly switches between past and present tense constantly, for no apparently reason. I loathe present tense unless it's done completely unobstrusively, which really good writers can do. But when every four sentences you're being switched into another tense, it's obtrusive.
April 18, 2011
It's no secret that the state of African politics is corrupt and dirty. Still reeling from decades of colonization by Western nations, riven by tribal loyalties, brutally ruled by an ever-changing assortment of strongman rulers who can temporarily unite a people before collapsing into the ever-familiar patterns of megalomania and constructing their own cult of personality, the continent seems like the nearly perfect place to set a tale of intrigue and betrayal of the sort that John le Carre has been spinning for years. With the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, le Carre lost his thematic touchstone and was forced to look beyond the Balkan settings of his famous spy novels. Some new settings have been found wanting, such as in his forgettable Tailor of Panama, while others have been positively inspired, such as in Absolute Friends, his look at the German revolutionaries of the late 60s and early 70s. Never, though, has he been able to weave a web of intrigue as well as he does when he's charting the recolonization of Africa by various corporate powers who manipulate desperate governments and corrupt militaries to win concessions to either pillage valuable resources for export to the all-consuming American maw, or to use these developing nations as test beds for new drugs and procedures that would never pass the scrutiny of any regulatory agency as he did in the masterful The Constant Gardener.
Not content to merely reveal the effects of those decisions made in secluded board rooms atop large skyscrapers and carried out in the backwater locales of the Congo, The Mission Song puts us in the room with these decision-makers as they weigh the worth of human lives against the possible profits to be squeezed from their blood-soaked land. Bruno Salvador, or Salvo to his friends, is the bastard son of an Irish priest and a Congolese woman who has used his extensive knowledge of various tribal languages to secure a much-valued post in the translation department of British Intelligence.
All goes swimmingly for Salvo until he is asked to serve as translator at a conference to be held at an undisclosed location for undisclosed African power brokers to hammer out the details of a new coup that will bring "peace" to his war torn homeland and enormous profits for the coup's faceless backers. Inadvertently overhearing (and recording) a torture session used to sway a recalcitrant plotter back into the conspiracy, Salvo realizes that this coup is just another aspect of business as usual for his masters. What follows is an exercise in futility as Salvo attempts to gain the ear of someone, anyone, in authority who can call off this coup before yet more blood is poured on the earth.
This is not the greatest le Carre that I've read, but neither is it the weakest. It has the feel of a dashed-off effort used to fulfill some contractual obligation more than as a labor of love- those stories that well up inside you and demand to be recounted. Still, it is a fast and entertaining read that provides all the suspense that le Carre is rightly renowned for. Perfect for reading in the park on a sunny day or at the beach as you keep half an eye on your wayward children.
Not content to merely reveal the effects of those decisions made in secluded board rooms atop large skyscrapers and carried out in the backwater locales of the Congo, The Mission Song puts us in the room with these decision-makers as they weigh the worth of human lives against the possible profits to be squeezed from their blood-soaked land. Bruno Salvador, or Salvo to his friends, is the bastard son of an Irish priest and a Congolese woman who has used his extensive knowledge of various tribal languages to secure a much-valued post in the translation department of British Intelligence.
All goes swimmingly for Salvo until he is asked to serve as translator at a conference to be held at an undisclosed location for undisclosed African power brokers to hammer out the details of a new coup that will bring "peace" to his war torn homeland and enormous profits for the coup's faceless backers. Inadvertently overhearing (and recording) a torture session used to sway a recalcitrant plotter back into the conspiracy, Salvo realizes that this coup is just another aspect of business as usual for his masters. What follows is an exercise in futility as Salvo attempts to gain the ear of someone, anyone, in authority who can call off this coup before yet more blood is poured on the earth.
This is not the greatest le Carre that I've read, but neither is it the weakest. It has the feel of a dashed-off effort used to fulfill some contractual obligation more than as a labor of love- those stories that well up inside you and demand to be recounted. Still, it is a fast and entertaining read that provides all the suspense that le Carre is rightly renowned for. Perfect for reading in the park on a sunny day or at the beach as you keep half an eye on your wayward children.
May 25, 2012
I picked up this book from a friend's shelf, because I've never read any books by John le Carré and I've always been interested. Unfortunately I was rather disappointed. I should say, however, that at least some of my disappointment was probably a result of incorrect expectations. The rest of the review is a spoiler, so proceed with caution if you want to read this book some day!
So yes, I was disappointed. He's a good writer, and I'll probably try reading one more of his books in future (hopefully this time with slightly more accurate expectations), but I have to say that I spent most of this book waiting for something to happen (something has to happen soon!...it can't be all set up!...) and nothing ever happened...
So yes, I was disappointed. He's a good writer, and I'll probably try reading one more of his books in future (hopefully this time with slightly more accurate expectations), but I have to say that I spent most of this book waiting for something to happen (something has to happen soon!...it can't be all set up!...) and nothing ever happened...
March 10, 2011
I found this book frustrating. On the one hand, Carre is taking dead aim with outrage at sub-Saharan African politics, back-room dealings and the general indifference/greed of the remaining global nation-state coterie who appear willing to wait out short breaks in the constant bloodbath to run in and scoop out a chunk of mineral wealth. His quivering outrage is clear. He reiterates it over and over and over, even though the best and brightest part is this almost chess-like philosophical and linguistic awakening that Bruno has while he is translating a back-room deal between a faceless Syndicate (global conglomerate) and three Congolese warlords. But, because of the repetition and the endless hand-wringing that Bruno does throughout the entire book, it made it difficult to stay with the plot, and certainly difficult to feel an ounce of sympathy for him as he (quite confusingly since he's highly educated, street-savvy and married to a journalist???) blunders madly from one Bad Person Who Has Clearly Shown Evidence of Not Being A Friend to the next while trying to "out" the back-room deal and avert a new wave of bloodshed. You have a man who knows enough to get away from his home, disable his cell phone and/or only make calls within no real range of his house, but he blindly trusts all of the people he works for in the secret service, and whom he has AUDIO TAPE RECORDINGS of doing enormously, awfully illegal things? REALLY? It was this part which made me feel like I was almost reading a Black Sambo tale "Oh look how charmingly stupid and feckless they are" which I'm quite sure le Carre didn't mean to engender.
April 7, 2008
I'm a fan of Le Carré, particularly the angrily politicised version we've seen in the last few novels, but I wonder how much longer he'll be able to use his "innocent against the corrupt system" structure without it becoming tired and predictable. To be honest, I think it just has; and that's one of the problems with this novel. The narrator/hero is an interpreter and Le Carré gets a lot of mileage out of the idea of truth, and its manipulation, but inevitably the action, or a large chunk of it, is verbal, which slows the action down. This isn't the kind of novel that can afford to have not very much happen except discussion for the entire central section, well done though it is. Of course, it's a good read, and certainly a useful primer to Central African politics, though occasionally a little too expository, but it's not a patch on The Constant Gardener.
January 7, 2021
The Mission Song by John le Carré
The premise was good overall enjoyed it, weird ending but that's Johns style. Our main character Salvo echoes a rather naive idealistic crusader with definitely misplaced loyalties. A real gun at being a translator that ultimately is his undoing. This in parts kind of reminded me of Forsyths Dogs of War the planning and back stage schemes taking place for a military coup. Hoping for a good ending nope not going to happen. Left you with food for thought about central African political woes, tick a big gigantic yes sir. Question will African politics sort it self out answer not in my life time but I've known to be wrong on the rare occasion. Overall started out well got draggy midway then hotted near the end, then a burst of cold water at the end to remind you its Africa.
The premise was good overall enjoyed it, weird ending but that's Johns style. Our main character Salvo echoes a rather naive idealistic crusader with definitely misplaced loyalties. A real gun at being a translator that ultimately is his undoing. This in parts kind of reminded me of Forsyths Dogs of War the planning and back stage schemes taking place for a military coup. Hoping for a good ending nope not going to happen. Left you with food for thought about central African political woes, tick a big gigantic yes sir. Question will African politics sort it self out answer not in my life time but I've known to be wrong on the rare occasion. Overall started out well got draggy midway then hotted near the end, then a burst of cold water at the end to remind you its Africa.
April 13, 2022
4.5 stars
August 13, 2025
3 and 1/2 stars
August 31, 2020
In The Mission Song John le Carré re-visits the world of espionage that we associate with his writing. He is a master of the clandestine, the deniable, the re-definable. Bruno Salvador is a freelance linguist. His parentage is complex, his origins confused, but his skills beyond question. By virtue of an upbringing that had many influences, he develops the ability to absorb languages. Having lived in francophone Africa and then England, he is fluent in both English and French plus an encyclopaedia of central African languages. His unique gifts, considerable skills and highly idiosyncratic methods qualify him for occasional assignments as an interpreter. He is trusted. He is also, he discovers, pretty cheap, and already has considerable experience of working for those aspects of government and officialdom which sometimes transgress legality. He is also, therefore, vulnerable. So when a new assignment – so urgent that he has to skip his wife’s party – drags him to a secret destination, he initially takes everything very much in his stride.
But Bruno is much more than a linguist, certainly much more than a translator and, as a result of the application of conscience, considerably more than the interpreter his employers have hired. His perception of language is so acute that it provides him with an extra sense, a means of interpreting the world, no less, not just a method of eliciting meaning. But he also has the intellectual skills to identify consequences, to interpret motives. And it is here where he begs to differ with his paymasters.
The Mission Song is the kind of book where revelation of the plot, beyond this mere starting point, would undermine the experience of reading it. Suffice it to say that Bruno’s task is both what is seems to be and also not what it seems. Bruno’s ambivalence in relation to its aims prompts him to go beyond the call of duty. And, in doing so, he learns more about his near-anonymous employers. But, of course, they learn more about him, a reality that eventually has fairly dire consequences.
The Mission Song is also a love story, or two, one on the way in and one on the way out. It’s also about privilege and power, plus their use, misuse and abuse. In many ways it inhabits similar territory to John le Carré’s Absolute Friends, but is singularly more successful, especially in the credibility of the eventual denouement.
Fans of John le Carré will need no convincing. For those who have found his work less than satisfying, The Mission Song shows the author at his best, presenting a complex, highly credible plot in a skilful, illuminating, informative and yet entertaining way. Its eventual message about the abuse of power is subtly threaded into the very substance of the plot and makes its point with strength and relevance. We know a little more about the world by the end.
But Bruno is much more than a linguist, certainly much more than a translator and, as a result of the application of conscience, considerably more than the interpreter his employers have hired. His perception of language is so acute that it provides him with an extra sense, a means of interpreting the world, no less, not just a method of eliciting meaning. But he also has the intellectual skills to identify consequences, to interpret motives. And it is here where he begs to differ with his paymasters.
The Mission Song is the kind of book where revelation of the plot, beyond this mere starting point, would undermine the experience of reading it. Suffice it to say that Bruno’s task is both what is seems to be and also not what it seems. Bruno’s ambivalence in relation to its aims prompts him to go beyond the call of duty. And, in doing so, he learns more about his near-anonymous employers. But, of course, they learn more about him, a reality that eventually has fairly dire consequences.
The Mission Song is also a love story, or two, one on the way in and one on the way out. It’s also about privilege and power, plus their use, misuse and abuse. In many ways it inhabits similar territory to John le Carré’s Absolute Friends, but is singularly more successful, especially in the credibility of the eventual denouement.
Fans of John le Carré will need no convincing. For those who have found his work less than satisfying, The Mission Song shows the author at his best, presenting a complex, highly credible plot in a skilful, illuminating, informative and yet entertaining way. Its eventual message about the abuse of power is subtly threaded into the very substance of the plot and makes its point with strength and relevance. We know a little more about the world by the end.
August 31, 2018
This is first from John Le Carre before that i have never read any of John Le Carre but ofcourse i have heard quite rave reviews from some of the books by him.
I picked this book, because i got this in dirt cheap price :) and i like espionage, thrillers. and i like books set up in Africa also movies too like 12 years a slave,. blood diamond, but The mission song lacks thrilling part in many areas where it could be have been.
I was not aware of Kivu, Rawandas, congos, literally no knowledge so in that part as well it is not that as such insightful, coming to protagonist - Bruno Salvador comes as surprise when it comes to spy novel, he is an interpreter and given the plot he doesn't actually fit, and also misses the character development part, he was attending a dinner when he was assigned the task to interpret in some conference and during the conference he realizes the agenda of conference is misleading,
The plan is to step in and install a visionary leader, and deliver democracy from the barrel of a gun. It is a preposterous plot - until you remember how coups in Africa often look like opéra bouffe, but with real blood. Indeed, as a model for the killer-clown soldiers whom Salvo must out-manoeuvre, Le Carré seems to have another putsch in mind. In 2004, a group of Old Etonians, former SAS soldiers and muscular South African mercenaries, with supporters ranging from Mark Thatcher to other political figures abroad, and with the connivance of the British and Spanish secret services, planned an assault on Equatorial Guinea, a country even more unhappy, if that is possible, than the Congo. The idea was to overthrow a man-eating tyrant named Obiang Nguema and install a puppet president, who would then turn over a large slice of the country's considerable oil revenues to what was known as "the Syndicate". This is also the name of the outfit who plan the coup in The Mission Song. And in their swagger and their stupefying greed, Le Carré depicts the sort of sweet reason that is to be found in Europeans whom Africa has sent barking mad.
I love sad endings so the ending serves me well, but overall okayish book, so i would rated 2.5/5,
I picked this book, because i got this in dirt cheap price :) and i like espionage, thrillers. and i like books set up in Africa also movies too like 12 years a slave,. blood diamond, but The mission song lacks thrilling part in many areas where it could be have been.
I was not aware of Kivu, Rawandas, congos, literally no knowledge so in that part as well it is not that as such insightful, coming to protagonist - Bruno Salvador comes as surprise when it comes to spy novel, he is an interpreter and given the plot he doesn't actually fit, and also misses the character development part, he was attending a dinner when he was assigned the task to interpret in some conference and during the conference he realizes the agenda of conference is misleading,
The plan is to step in and install a visionary leader, and deliver democracy from the barrel of a gun. It is a preposterous plot - until you remember how coups in Africa often look like opéra bouffe, but with real blood. Indeed, as a model for the killer-clown soldiers whom Salvo must out-manoeuvre, Le Carré seems to have another putsch in mind. In 2004, a group of Old Etonians, former SAS soldiers and muscular South African mercenaries, with supporters ranging from Mark Thatcher to other political figures abroad, and with the connivance of the British and Spanish secret services, planned an assault on Equatorial Guinea, a country even more unhappy, if that is possible, than the Congo. The idea was to overthrow a man-eating tyrant named Obiang Nguema and install a puppet president, who would then turn over a large slice of the country's considerable oil revenues to what was known as "the Syndicate". This is also the name of the outfit who plan the coup in The Mission Song. And in their swagger and their stupefying greed, Le Carré depicts the sort of sweet reason that is to be found in Europeans whom Africa has sent barking mad.
I love sad endings so the ending serves me well, but overall okayish book, so i would rated 2.5/5,
April 7, 2021
Really, the title tells you almost nothing about this book; a better title would be “Abbot and Costello Meet the Illuminati” because that gives you an idea of how it went. The narrator is a brilliant linguist, particularly talented with languages spoken in the former Belgian Congo, now just Congo, but an idiot in almost everything else. This includes love, but is especially evident in his ignorance of how the world works. He’s called by His Majesty’s Government to translate for a conference on an unnamed North Sea island, during which time he overhears plans for a military intervention of his native land. Our hero, Salvo (short for Salvador, which ironically means "savior") and his Congolese girlfriend look for someone to whom they can show the evidence, only to find that almost everyone is in on it – this includes government officials, Congolese freedom fighters, his employers and probably the milkman and greengrocer as well – and now they’re in deep doo-doo. It was painful to listen to this imbecile telling his story and if I’d been there, I’d have needed a serious dose of my “anti-throttling” medication not to finish him off myself. John LeCarré was a brilliant writer but this is a black comedy and I’m hoping there aren’t any others lurking out there to surprise me because while it’s possible to laugh at such stupidity, the fact remains that it’s based on truth: whether the leader is Mobutu, Kabila, Kabila Jr, or whomever followed, the fact is that its wealth is below the ground and none of it reaches the people, making it one of the poorest countries in Africa. As for Westerners exploiting it, with the help of Africans lining their pockets, this is no news either so it’s hard to laugh at a pair of buffoons wading into this mess. There is a Pyrrhic victory of sorts but the price paid is entirely realistic and keeping with the LeCarré tradition of not sugar-coating things. There wasn’t all that much tension here because it could only end relatively badly; perhaps if I could have overcome my aversion to the narrator, I would have enjoyed it more but I couldn’t and didn’t.
February 19, 2012
Listening to this as an audio book. The reader is good, but, oh - will it NEVER end? The main character is so annoying.
December 17, 2018
I come to Mission Song as a fan of John Le Carre’ of many decades. There is not much he has written that I have not read, often more than once. It may be that my let down is a case of over familiarization. It may also be that the otherwise exceptionally fine performance of the reader, David Oyelowo left me feeling too hopeless too soon. For the reader not too studied John Le Carre’s novels, the book is exactly why the author remains one of the great authors of the last 50 years. It may be that I have come to know what to expect and therefore missed some of the edges in the book.
The Narrator of Mission Song is Bruno Salvo. Outwardly a British citizen of great personal accomplishment and ability. He is a highly skilled interpreter, and master of both languages and their nuances. He is also a Zebra; that is a half cast African and European. His Father was a wayward Catholic priest and missionary. Consequently Salvo was raised according to his luck as a barely tolerated accident of the Catholic Mission to Africa.
Because of his advanced abilities in so many languages he has become a contract stringer with English Intelligence. As such he is sub-contracted to an un-named, legally non-existing consortium. The game is afoot. Salvo is asked to be both an active and only apparently neutral part of negotiations among participants in a possible coup to be made in his native Congo.
Le Carre’ does a masterful job of defining several possible points of view and competing interests. The coup has implications for and against the people of Congo, creates possible opportunities for the already engaged violent interests in Rhodesia. The Europeans masterminding the coup have openly stated economic interests in a success, but also what may be a legitimate desire to relieve the Congolese people from what had been an unending cycle of civil unrest and corrupt misgovernment.
The Congolese contingents include a representative of what may be a sincerely liberating and uniting candidate to lead a better Congo, and competing political, economic and revolutionary power brokers.
It is the purpose of this secret meeting to negotiate who will get what and perform what to insure that the coup succeeds, with minimum loss of life. In the end a share of the vast Congolese wealth in natural resources will include a “People’s Share”.
This is John Le Carre’. The devil is always in the details and particularly the vagaries of the human motivations. Le Carre’ is a master of such details. Controlling the gradual reveals and the turns in the path to the outcome is what he does best.
For too much of the book I felt I knew what was coming. The author almost trumpets these intermediate plot points.
In truth I only thought I knew the final outcome. And in the very end Le Carre’ manages to keep his secrets. My let down remains that too much of the tone and mood of the book is the same tone and mood of too many other Le Carre’ books. His craftsmanship remains superb, but points of view and major themes do not vary sufficiently to make this book that much different from others. For most readers, Mission Song will be more than worth their time. I may just need a break.
The Narrator of Mission Song is Bruno Salvo. Outwardly a British citizen of great personal accomplishment and ability. He is a highly skilled interpreter, and master of both languages and their nuances. He is also a Zebra; that is a half cast African and European. His Father was a wayward Catholic priest and missionary. Consequently Salvo was raised according to his luck as a barely tolerated accident of the Catholic Mission to Africa.
Because of his advanced abilities in so many languages he has become a contract stringer with English Intelligence. As such he is sub-contracted to an un-named, legally non-existing consortium. The game is afoot. Salvo is asked to be both an active and only apparently neutral part of negotiations among participants in a possible coup to be made in his native Congo.
Le Carre’ does a masterful job of defining several possible points of view and competing interests. The coup has implications for and against the people of Congo, creates possible opportunities for the already engaged violent interests in Rhodesia. The Europeans masterminding the coup have openly stated economic interests in a success, but also what may be a legitimate desire to relieve the Congolese people from what had been an unending cycle of civil unrest and corrupt misgovernment.
The Congolese contingents include a representative of what may be a sincerely liberating and uniting candidate to lead a better Congo, and competing political, economic and revolutionary power brokers.
It is the purpose of this secret meeting to negotiate who will get what and perform what to insure that the coup succeeds, with minimum loss of life. In the end a share of the vast Congolese wealth in natural resources will include a “People’s Share”.
This is John Le Carre’. The devil is always in the details and particularly the vagaries of the human motivations. Le Carre’ is a master of such details. Controlling the gradual reveals and the turns in the path to the outcome is what he does best.
For too much of the book I felt I knew what was coming. The author almost trumpets these intermediate plot points.
In truth I only thought I knew the final outcome. And in the very end Le Carre’ manages to keep his secrets. My let down remains that too much of the tone and mood of the book is the same tone and mood of too many other Le Carre’ books. His craftsmanship remains superb, but points of view and major themes do not vary sufficiently to make this book that much different from others. For most readers, Mission Song will be more than worth their time. I may just need a break.
May 24, 2014
The world has changed and so has Le Carré.
He has moved from the subtle to the vulgar, from nuance to overt.
His hero in his novel The Mission Song, is a departure from the usual quiet civil servant/spy a product of the British public school system, a product of class conformity, a model of diplomacy, firmly routed and strengthened in idealogy.
Bruno Salvador is a young man born in the Congo to an Congolese woman and a Irish missionary, a by-product of post colonialism and part of the new, not so Great Britain.
Salvador is a gifted professional interpreter specializing in minority African languages. The story unfolds when he is dispatched by his employer, an arm of British Intelligence to interpret/eavesdrop on Congolese power brokers attending a secret conference.
As the negotiations proceed it becomes apparent that the outcome will be more exploitation of the people of this war-torn country.
Salavador takes exception to this and sets about to stop the military intervention that will give an international syndicate access to the regions coveted natural resources, and big pay-offs to the warlords.
Le Carré broadly draws both protagonists and antagonists leaving no doubt who are the bad guys and the good guys and what motivates them.
However, the political motivation is not so clear and I could never figure out if the British government was complicit or if the politicians and bureaucrats were doing a bit of freelancing for personal gain.
Neither was I convinced that a young man with a promising career would toss it all away for some misplaced nationalistic fervor for the homeland of his youth and the political convictions of a very new lover.
Though somewhat didactic at times what saved the novel for me was the insights and mindset of a high-level interpreter and the research into the misfortunes of this woebegone country in central Africa.
Was I enlightened, yes, entertained, not much.
November 19, 2018
Honestly, I sort of gave up on reading John le Carre books a few years ago because they all morphed into one another. Before I started this one - a book club pick, and not by me - I predicted the plot/ending to my fellow members. A good(ish) man will try to 'do the right thing' and be somehow thwarted, derailed, screwed or worse by 'the man/big business/a shadowy Government department'. If the good man is very unlucky, his nearest and dearest will be wiped out in the course of the book. due to his bravery/stupidity. At a minimum, they will suffer somewhat, as will he.
The Mission Song is well written (there is a baseline here, evidently) but it fails to convince me of anything much. There is some fairly basic plot-lining around the murderous regimes along the Eastern DRC border with Rwanda and Uganda, but it does not demonstrate to me any deep insights beyond what the informed reader can glean from WIkipedia or a few good books that explain the Rwanda Genocide, it's aftermath, and the troubled history of the lawless Eastern DRC.
So all in all, while it passed a few hours, there are books I think I'd have preferred to use the time reading.
The Mission Song is well written (there is a baseline here, evidently) but it fails to convince me of anything much. There is some fairly basic plot-lining around the murderous regimes along the Eastern DRC border with Rwanda and Uganda, but it does not demonstrate to me any deep insights beyond what the informed reader can glean from WIkipedia or a few good books that explain the Rwanda Genocide, it's aftermath, and the troubled history of the lawless Eastern DRC.
So all in all, while it passed a few hours, there are books I think I'd have preferred to use the time reading.
August 20, 2017
Le narrateur, bavard à l'extrême, sans doute à cause de la vivacité d'expression de son métier d'interprète, raconte ses tribulations d'espion amateur dans un monde hautement habile à déjouer les tractations inattendues et contraires aux enjeux.
May 13, 2021
I have finished this for a while now and i enjoyed it.
3 Star
3 Star
October 25, 2008
The beginning and the end of this novel are superb. Le Carre at his best, mixing a thriller plot with humor and biting social criticism. The middle is a confusing mess of African characters, causes, and conspiracies—it’s hard to follow and sometimes tedious.
Le Carre creates a marvelous character, Bruno Salvador (“Salvo”) who’s the son of an bog Irish priest who served his whole life in the Congo and a Congolese woman who was sent back to her village after the birth. After his father’s death, by a fluke Salvo is declared a British citizen and sent to a Catholic school in Surrey were he was raised by Brother Michael, who uses him sexually but sees to his education using funds from his own rich Catholic family. His dying gift, Aunt Imelda’s watch, plays a significant role in the novel.
As the book begins, the naïve but likable Salvo (who narrates his own story) is a top notch translator, speaking not only English, French and Swahili, but most of the dialects of the Congo as well. He’s much in demand in London where he’s married to socialite Penelope, rising newspaper star who married him to peak her father. It’s clear she’s regretting her decision and Salvo doesn’t seem too heart broken though he moves heaven and earth to be on time to a do at the paper honoring an award she’s received. He has to leave the Congolese nurse, Hannah, he’s just met and fallen in love with, though, on a job to translate for a dying man in a North London hospital. Arriving at the party, he’s whisked off by his British government employer with an extra special job for him—one for which he has to sign the Official Secrets Act.
Le Carre creates a marvelous character, Bruno Salvador (“Salvo”) who’s the son of an bog Irish priest who served his whole life in the Congo and a Congolese woman who was sent back to her village after the birth. After his father’s death, by a fluke Salvo is declared a British citizen and sent to a Catholic school in Surrey were he was raised by Brother Michael, who uses him sexually but sees to his education using funds from his own rich Catholic family. His dying gift, Aunt Imelda’s watch, plays a significant role in the novel.
As the book begins, the naïve but likable Salvo (who narrates his own story) is a top notch translator, speaking not only English, French and Swahili, but most of the dialects of the Congo as well. He’s much in demand in London where he’s married to socialite Penelope, rising newspaper star who married him to peak her father. It’s clear she’s regretting her decision and Salvo doesn’t seem too heart broken though he moves heaven and earth to be on time to a do at the paper honoring an award she’s received. He has to leave the Congolese nurse, Hannah, he’s just met and fallen in love with, though, on a job to translate for a dying man in a North London hospital. Arriving at the party, he’s whisked off by his British government employer with an extra special job for him—one for which he has to sign the Official Secrets Act.
May 27, 2008
Aun no descubro cómo es para poner los libros en el Shelf porque este aun lo estoy LEYENDO.
Bueno, descubrí este libro en el aeropuerto de Nairobi en noviembre de 2006 y fue realmente una sensación fuerte. Venía de estar trabajando en la ciudad donde se narra parte de este libro, Bukavu, en la provincia de Sud Kivu en la República Democrática del Congo.
Leandro me había enviado un link cuando estaba allí, porque había descubierto que este señor había estado poco tiempo antes en el mismo hotel donde yo estaba viviendo...
Me entusiasmó leer algo sobre una ciudad tan alucinante como Bukavu, a la que llamaban en época colonial "la suiza del Congo" y era la base de los belgas con dinero. AUn quedan destruidas varias casas de esa època con diseños art nouveau en su herrería. Hoy re habitadas o abandonadas...
EL libro está bien documentado. John Le Carré tiene algo que me cae bien, y es que cuando escribe sobre estos temas como fue "El jardinero fiel", refleja un amplio conocimiento del lugar, de las relaciones sociales, del entorno. Y me gusta mucho que pongo tanto en cuestión a los "occidentales" cuando están en Africa como en el libro anterior y en este también.
Aun no lo terminé, pero me gusta leerlo de a poco porque lo siento muy cercano.
Bueno, descubrí este libro en el aeropuerto de Nairobi en noviembre de 2006 y fue realmente una sensación fuerte. Venía de estar trabajando en la ciudad donde se narra parte de este libro, Bukavu, en la provincia de Sud Kivu en la República Democrática del Congo.
Leandro me había enviado un link cuando estaba allí, porque había descubierto que este señor había estado poco tiempo antes en el mismo hotel donde yo estaba viviendo...
Me entusiasmó leer algo sobre una ciudad tan alucinante como Bukavu, a la que llamaban en época colonial "la suiza del Congo" y era la base de los belgas con dinero. AUn quedan destruidas varias casas de esa època con diseños art nouveau en su herrería. Hoy re habitadas o abandonadas...
EL libro está bien documentado. John Le Carré tiene algo que me cae bien, y es que cuando escribe sobre estos temas como fue "El jardinero fiel", refleja un amplio conocimiento del lugar, de las relaciones sociales, del entorno. Y me gusta mucho que pongo tanto en cuestión a los "occidentales" cuando están en Africa como en el libro anterior y en este también.
Aun no lo terminé, pero me gusta leerlo de a poco porque lo siento muy cercano.
April 30, 2016
I stole this one off of my husband's shelves. When I finished reading it and told him about the issues I had with the book, he laughed and said, "I guess you haven't read much John le Carré then." So that doesn't bode well for me and any future le Carré reads...
The story started off well for me, but it quickly went south. For one thing, I know next to nothing about the Congo and its various political issues, so I probably missed a lot of the subtleties of the plot. But the biggest issue for me was how Salvo reacts after returning to London! I get that this isn't a spy novel in the strict sense, since Salvo is an interpreter and a fairly new one at that, but GODDAMMIT WHYYYYYY would you turn to precisely the same people who offered you the job/were involved in the job and expect them to help you when it turns out the job is shady as fuck?! And then when it fails once, why try it TWO MORE TIMES?!
Then there's the whole Hannah thing. talk about a needless love story...and Salvo is just so naive and trusting, the whole thing just drove me nuts!
It had potential plot-wise, but really Salvo and his stupid actions ruined it for me.
The story started off well for me, but it quickly went south. For one thing, I know next to nothing about the Congo and its various political issues, so I probably missed a lot of the subtleties of the plot. But the biggest issue for me was how Salvo reacts after returning to London! I get that this isn't a spy novel in the strict sense, since Salvo is an interpreter and a fairly new one at that, but GODDAMMIT WHYYYYYY would you turn to precisely the same people who offered you the job/were involved in the job and expect them to help you when it turns out the job is shady as fuck?! And then when it fails once, why try it TWO MORE TIMES?!
Then there's the whole Hannah thing. talk about a needless love story...and Salvo is just so naive and trusting, the whole thing just drove me nuts!
It had potential plot-wise, but really Salvo and his stupid actions ruined it for me.
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