Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in Espionage Aficionados

Jun 20, 2016 Scott rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, classic-spy

Like all of you I'm sure, I have a large unread book pile. however, at least once a year I'm drawn to re-reading my absolute favorites. not sure why, it's like an old pair of jeans that are worn in and fit just right. I'm drawn to this book. I vacillate between this and "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" as to which is more perfect. right now I choose this one (and reserve the right to flip-flop again) this book is hauntingly, achingly the most subtlety perfect reflection of the spy genre. JLC ...more

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Aug 08, 2019 Marcella Wigg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: overall-favorites, spy, novels, classics, detective, continents-europe, cold-war, countries-united-kingdom, cities-london, east-of-the-iron-curtain

God, I love this book. It’s my all-time favorite spy novel and easily in my top 5 books ever.

Is it a problematic fave? Maybe; it has the typical vicious le Carré misogyny, where women are either sexless, aged espionage nuns or sexpot adulteresses. That misogyny and the undertone of bitterness I get from it is always a valid critique of le Carré, and somehow I find it more jarring in his novels than in Greene or even Fleming, maybe because their characters take themselves less seriously, so the s God, I love this book. It’s my all-time favorite spy novel and easily in my top 5 books ever.

Is it a problematic fave? Maybe; it has the typical vicious le Carré misogyny, where women are either sexless, aged espionage nuns or sexpot adulteresses. That misogyny and the undertone of bitterness I get from it is always a valid critique of le Carré, and somehow I find it more jarring in his novels than in Greene or even Fleming, maybe because their characters take themselves less seriously, so the sexism seems more cartoonish and less pointed.

Yet there is much redemptive here that allows me every time to overcome my perennial disgust with le Carré’s angry characterization of women. The novel itself is spellbinding, all the more so because it mostly takes place in George Smiley’s head and because it is based on my longtime obsession, the Cambridge Five spy ring and its arguably most fascinating member, Kim Philby. It scratches an itch for me that is incredibly difficult to find elsewhere, but that I crave.

Smiley is a supremely unsexy character, everything counter to the suave spy archetype: middle-aged, fat, nondescript, frequently morally ambiguous throughout the series (even sinister at times), a cuckold with a love-hate relationship with his beautiful estranged wife Ann and a resentment-appreciation relationship with Karla, his equivalent in Moscow, a leader of his retinue drummed out of higher leadership of the Circus before his time because his mentor Control could not identify the high-level mole who keeps ruining British spy missions against the Soviet Union. Yet when asked to reignite the mole hunt, Smiley shows the personality and psyche that makes him such a competent spymaster: he’s methodical, has an excellent memory, cultivates relationships that give him extensive access to Circus history, and loves the cloak and dagger element of espionage.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is in my opinion a perfectly paced whodunit, with extensive legwork required by Smiley’s protégé Pete Guillam comprising much of the action and continuous pondering by Smiley. It’s very cerebral, with the most interesting action in Smiley’s head, which is a common complaint among readers but I love. Everything unfolds with the le Carré equivalent of a Tarantino-style counterfactual ending. ...more

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Jun 13, 2016 Bradley West rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, thrillers

I first read "Tinker, Tailor" almost thirty years ago when it first came out, and twice subsequently. As a reader, I was captivated by le Carre's mastery of setting, character and plot. I still recall one reviewer's blurb declaring that le Carre wasn't just the best mystery writer around, he was the best novelist of our time. So I knew I wasn't the only one in the JlC fan club.

Two years back I reread the book as I started writing my first novel. Why not study the best, right? This experiment did ...more

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Jul 03, 2014 Michael Martz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Reading le Carre' is always a challenge, but it's one I gladly accept. The reward is usually a complex, tightly-plotted, beautifully written spy novel with great characters and multiple layers. 'Tinker, Tailor...' is a great example of such work. It's one of his best, but it demands your attention and, word of warning, you shouldn't expect to plow through it in a sitting unless you have world-class concentration.

At its highest level, Tinker, Tailor... is the classic "mole at the top of the secr Reading le Carre' is always a challenge, but it's one I gladly accept. The reward is usually a complex, tightly-plotted, beautifully written spy novel with great characters and multiple layers. 'Tinker, Tailor...' is a great example of such work. It's one of his best, but it demands your attention and, word of warning, you shouldn't expect to plow through it in a sitting unless you have world-class concentration.

At its highest level, Tinker, Tailor... is the classic "mole at the top of the secret service that needs to be identified" novel of the cold war era. In this case, it's the British secret service and the guy charged with doing the identification is the ousted spy master, George Smiley. The head of the service, Control, had been pushed out during an internal power struggle over a Russian asset, taking George with him, but credible information surfaces that the Russians had long ago succeeded in 'turning' a Brit who is now at the highest level of the service. Smiley is brought out of retirement, assigned a couple helpers he requested and later gets invaluable help from an English spy who'd been severely injured in a previous effort to identify the traitor in their midst, and the hunt is on. Prior to his death, Control had named his 'suspects' Tinker, Tailor, etc. , all of whom were long-time big shooters in the British secret service, so Smiley's challenge is a formidable one.

Tinker, Tailor.... is jam packed with sophisticated dialogue, intrigue, back-stabbing, clandestine activity, and few surprises. It's not a novel that has a huge 'reveal' at the end. The conclusion is more of a satisfying result of meticulous planning, tough-minded interviewing, and the brilliant mind of George Smiley. There's certainly enough action to keep you engaged throughout, but when you get down to it the accumulation of information from disparate sources and the ability of Smiley to analyze it and identify the traitor is the gist of the story.

Smiley is one of the great characters of spy fiction. le Carre created this schlub of a guy who's unfailingly polite (in the English way), sort of uninteresting, cuckolded, and positively brilliant in an unassuming way. I'd read this novel probably 35 years ago, loved it (as I recall), and decided to give it another go to see how it's aged. It's a classic and re-ignited my interest in working my way back through this author's excellent catalog once again. ...more

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