Waiting for Sunrise in Espionage Aficionados

Oct 27, 2013 Mark rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: english-writer, 2013, spies, war, romance, wo1

Truly, to tell lies is not honourable; but when the truth entails tremendous ruin, to speak dishonourably is pardonable - SOPHOCLES

While I am not in awe of mr. Boyds attempt in the continuation world of Ian Flemings world of a certain British secret agent, I did notice his skill that made reading his prose very easy, even if it is at times very detailed (especially the food & clothes). So hence my go at a book and idea by his own hand.

This novel about matters of the heart, Vienna and the spycra ...more

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Dec 15, 2018 Sam Reaves rated it really liked it

The Economist called this novel an "espionage thriller", which I suppose it is, but that hardly does it justice. It's a historical novel set mainly in Vienna and London just before and during the First World War. In an afterword, Boyd cites pre-war Vienna as a city that "haunts the imagination", the capital of a sprawling empire on the brink of ruin and a major modern cultural incubator at the apogee of its influence.
The story opens in Vienna with a young British actor, Lysander Rief, in town t The Economist called this novel an "espionage thriller", which I suppose it is, but that hardly does it justice. It's a historical novel set mainly in Vienna and London just before and during the First World War. In an afterword, Boyd cites pre-war Vienna as a city that "haunts the imagination", the capital of a sprawling empire on the brink of ruin and a major modern cultural incubator at the apogee of its influence.
The story opens in Vienna with a young British actor, Lysander Rief, in town to consult a practitioner of the new science of psychiatry about his embarrassing problem of "anorgasmia". In the shrink's waiting room he meets a young Englishwoman of a rather extroverted and passionate nature and in fairly short order finds his problem cured, with her generous help. Set up to think this is just another drama of Victorian sexual repression, we are startled when the police show up at our hero's rooming house; the young lady has accused him of rape.
Enter two slightly mysterious figures from the British embassy, who help Rief evade Austrian justice and make his way back to England; it soon becomes clear that there will be a quid pro quo. And then we are off to the races, because war breaks out, the quid turns out to be a spy mission to Geneva via the trenches of the Western Front, the passionate young lady reappears in London, and Rief is tasked with finding the mole in the War Office who is sending the Boche all the dope on supply movements, tipping off the big offensive. It becomes quite a yarn, with a large cast of colorful characters including Rief's Austrian mother and his eccentric uncle, who returns from his African explorations with a comely African youth in tow.
It all hangs together (I think); the unmasking of the traitor involves a certain amount of intricate deduction that will have you scratching your head and turning back pages to check things. It's full of twists and turns, and if at times it's a bit of a grab bag of Boyd's enthusiasms, it looks to me like he had a lot of fun writing it, which makes for an entertaining read. ...more

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Aug 23, 2024 Bertbarber rated it it was ok

Waiting for Sunrise
By William Boyd
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I picked this book up while browsing a charity shop because I have heard Boyd is capable of writing with a style and sophistication that places many writers in the shade; think of the literary qualities of Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, and the like. So it’s odd that in this particular book, these characteristics are undermined somewhat.
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His choice of an arrogant and rather cold protagonist is unlikely to attract the reader’s sympathy, while other characters are als ...more

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Oct 04, 2020 Hans Ostrom rated it really liked it

A bit slow-- the first 150 pages are smart and entertaining enough-- but just enough. Then the book takes off. It becomes an exploration of acting and spying and of acting vs spying. Freud makes a cameo appearance. Early 20th century Vienna is nicely evoked.

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