Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in Espionage Aficionados

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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Sep 24, 2015 Ravi Raj rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is my third attempt at this book. I was introduced to this book way back in college. Back then when I started, I couldn’t get how could a spy novel, a espionage story start like this. Would be worthwhile if I admit I was used to James Bond and few of Frederick Forsyth’s works. The second time again when I started, I got a DVD of the BBC TV series.

Last week, with nothing much, I picked the book from my library. Glad that I did. Unlike the TV series where the meaning of the Title was revealed ...more

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Feb 05, 2016 David Vanderpool rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: spy

Excellent storytelling that inspires empathy and revulsion for the same characters. George Smiley is truly lovable and entirely believable. Great spy thriller for the ages.

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