Dan
asked:
I found this so exasperating. I wish someone would lay out the plot very simply, so a child could understand. I know the husband is involved in anti-Israel work. I know the wife is on the other side. But does the wife know what the husband is doing all along? If so, why does she wait to turn him in? What does the daughter know, and when? I was also puzzled by the blue and white china. A detailed synopsis please!
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Michael Smith
Le Carre has NEVER bothered with simple plots. The intelligence world is complicated and so are his stories. I've heard people complain before (mostly younger readers born since the Soviet Union ceased to exist) that his books are "too hard," but -- in my opinion -- you could say that about almost any author worth reading. No, as I noted in my own review, you can't scan Le Carre. I'm a fast reader, but I have always allowed twice as much time for his books as for any other author's work of the same length. You just have to pay attention to what you're reading and you'll get there.
Woman Reading (is away exploring)
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Melanie
Yes, exasperating is a good word. I found the whole thing disjointed and confusing. Not his usual standard, which I guess is why he did not publish it and hoped his son would fix it. I don't think his son did.
Jill Stirling
Classic Le Carre. You either persevere or you don't. This one was worth persevering with. He never writes simply but you have to pay attention and just persevere. Better to start at the beginning with his first ones-"Looking Glass War" , better still, "The Spy that Came in from the Cold". That is how I started when I was teenager and have read and re read his book a few times. The only one I do not like is, "The Naive and Sentimental Lover". But I read it anyway.
Afterwards
Perhaps something less intellectually challenging for you then. Plenty of those kinds of shallow, trite reads about. But not very many of the calibre of Le Carre.
Jean-françois Baillon
Well that's the whole point isn't it? Le Carré was never the kind of writer who spelled out everything, was he? He usually leaves us with the task to connect the dots - as in the Karla trilogy.
Cyd
Oh, thank God! It's not just me ;-)
Judith
Specifically, the husband (Edward) was once a valuable intelligence agent, but went rogue after meeting Salma while on assignment in Bosnia. He later started spying on his wife (Deborah) to get info about the Middle East, using the fake blue china orders & other people's computers to send encoded messages to Salma. Deborah does turn him in when she finds out, but the Service doesn't listen to her. The daughter (Lily) doesn't know anything until Edward fills her in at the end.
Ian Spatz
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Voice_of_Reason
Interesting. I think I have read most, if not all of his works and I found this one the least complicated among them. Two reasons, I suspect: it is only 224 pages long and, at home & diagnosed with Covid, I read one half one afternoon and the second half the next morning.
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