Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in Around the World in 80 Books

Nov 28, 2012 Peg rated it liked it

Shelves: europe, espionage, united-kingdom, russia, read-in-2013, fiction

Most people love this book, and if I had read it under different circumstances, I might have too. Unfortunately, I think I let other people's praise inflate my expectations unrealistically, and when I didn't take to it as viscerally as other readers, I was especially disappointed. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the story of a British clandestine service agent attempting to unravel the mystery of which of four powerful figures in his organization is working for the enemy. Le Carre dubbed it a "m Most people love this book, and if I had read it under different circumstances, I might have too. Unfortunately, I think I let other people's praise inflate my expectations unrealistically, and when I didn't take to it as viscerally as other readers, I was especially disappointed. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is the story of a British clandestine service agent attempting to unravel the mystery of which of four powerful figures in his organization is working for the enemy. Le Carre dubbed it a "mole hunt" and wrote later that his book marked the first time that anyone had used that term (excluding an obscure work of literature from over a century before), and now it's widely used in fiction, non-fiction, and even among intelligence professionals themselves. So in a way, this was the original spy story about rooting out a disloyal character--a storyline that has been replicated and mutated in countless ways since. I've read other stories of this kind, written hence, and I think a common problem arose. Sometimes the mutations and retellings of an original story end up being better reads than the originals. For example, people still read The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins--what is generally regarded to be the first detective story. But just because it was first doesn't mean that it's necessarily going to be the best.

A spy hunt is an interesting story, but because I had read that theme before in other books, I didn't necessarily give it due credit for its novelty. I thought that the book was awkwardly paced, and even though I'm usually a careful reader, there were so many characters with similar attributes that I had a terrible time keeping them straight. For the first time I can remember, I actually had to read the first 100 pages of the book twice because I found the characters so confusing. If it hadn't been for all the praise heaped on the book, I wouldn't have bothered. And even with the backtracking and completing the book in a four-day period (so it wasn't stretched out over a long time, which sometimes makes it harder to remember who's who), it still wasn't easy to keep all the names clear.

By the time I reached the end of the book, I wasn't itching to find out who did it, or why, I just wanted it to be over. I give the book credit for innovation and a complex plot, but I didn't find it enjoyable. ...more

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Jul 07, 2013 Astrid Lim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: twist, bbi, thriller-mystery, classic, british, politics, 1001-books

OK so... this book is pretty difficult. Not only because of the language/choice of words, and the narrative style that made it a little bit boring sometime, but also because of the plot! All this conspiracy, spy play, politics, cold war, etc etc. If you don't really know about the world politics in 1970s including the Cold War, you will be as confused as I did when reading this book XD But considering this is one of the very first books talking about "mole" and "double agent" and because the wri ...more

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Sep 02, 2012 mstan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american, src-fall-2012

This book made me feel like a total idiot. Seriously, if you want to empathise with people who don't seem to enjoy reading, just pick up a book outside of your usual genre - preferably one of some quality and complexity. You'll feel completely out of your depth.

Spy thrillers are my kryptonite when it comes to reading, it seems. Nothing wrong with John le Carre himself, I think - my total incomprehension of what on earth was going on is all on me. I don't even know if I would understand the film ...more

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