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Title: The Looking Glass War by John Le Carre, Michael Jayston, John Le Carre ISBN: 0-7540-0105-9 Publisher: Chivers Audio Books Pub. Date: March, 1998 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 8 List Price(USD): $69.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.43 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Infighting and tragedy in a Cold War espionage setting.
Comment: I read "Looking Glass War" several years ago and was jolted at how realistic the people and the departments seemed. The tragedy of the story stayed with me for a long time.
Human ambition, the senselessness of bureaucracy and the infighting among goverment departments --- these are some aspects explored here in a 'spy-story' setting. The interactions seemed very real; the bizarreness of the events very much like real life.
Of course this is more of a serious novel than a thriller, as expected of John le Carre. The mood is gray and cluody, and the ending is distressing. The story follows a young employee of an almost-defunct intelligence department. He flies to Scandinavia and finds the local police more savvy than himself. The characters deceive others and themselves in daily-life ways. They prepare to send a poorly-trained man of forty into East Germany as a spy. At the final betrayal, our protagonist cries in anger and shame.
Those reading this book for getting kicks out of following the heroic adventures of a glamorous spy, sent to do the right thing by the right side, will be disappointed. There's no clear distinction between good and bad sides. The enemy people (east germans) are all too human. As in life, much is ambivalent.
This is not an action-packed thriller to make a feel-good hollywood movie from. Rather, it's an excellent addition to human literature, a testament to the tragedies of individuals caught between government institutions of the twentieth century.
Rating: 4
Summary: Depressing, but on the mark
Comment: This book deals with conflicts without and within: how does British intelligence deal with the communist threat, and how do the different departments in the British government vie for supremecy. I thought it a good study on how oftentimes the outside threat is forgotten. In this book, governments are ruthless, and men are driven by ambition and then are shocked by where that ambition leads them. Characters are very human, each working for different reasons, and in the end very believable. Le Carre is the best at examining the psychology of control and lying: what are the consequences of a life of deceit? No, it is not an action thiller. Don't read it if that is what you are looking for. But if you want a realistic portrayal of what goes on behind the government scenes in the spy game, this is definitely for you.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Hard, Cold Truth
Comment: A marvelous, bitter novel of ad hoc espionage and bureaucratic intrigue--though it dates from the Cold War, its ethical concerns are as timely as ever. The quality of writing throughout far surpasses the requirements of genre and the spine-chilling conclusion is not likely to be forgotten.
A previous review here demands refutation. A so-called "Constant Reader" insists that "Le Carre knows nothing about espionage, foreign affairs, international relations, spy technology etc." "Constant Reader"'s argument? "In the 1960's Czechoslovakia was surrounded by the world's most sophisticated security perimeter.... To Western espionage, however, this iron curtain was easily permeable; high-tech espionage aircraft and satellites routinely overflew Soviet [sic] territory, mapping government installations with a precision far greater than any earth-bound surveyor.... [I]n [Le Carre's] world the Czech border has a chicken-wire fence guarded by local boys with rusty Mannlichers. Aerial spying is carried out by airline pilots, presumably leaning out of their jets to snap a few candids with concealed polaroids!"
A few comments in response:
A) The U-2 spy plane and Corona spy satellite were U.S. programs--Britain's aerial espionage technology lagged well behind in the mid-60's. "Constant Reader" imagines a "Western espionage" monolith that did not exist. While the U.S. and Great Britain were, of course, close allies, their interests were by no means identical and their intelligence agencies were not joined at the hip. "The Looking Glass War"--which, of course, concerns (fictional!) operations by British intelligence--includes passages offering explicit rationale for not immediately involving the U.S., thus necessitating the use of relatively primitive information-gathering techniques.
B) Aside from the political issues "Constant Reader" seems unconscious of, the technology referred to would have been completely irrelevant to the mission described in the latter half of the book--the identification and detailed description of a well-cloaked arsenal of tactical, medium-range rockets (not the large ballistic weapons the U-2 and Corona excelled at sighting)--"what they look like, where they are, and above all who mans them"...that is, precisely the sort of job for which only an "earth-bound surveyor" would do.
C) The suspected rocket site, and thus the critical, climactic action in the book, is located in East Germany. The entire book is concerned with gathering information on and infiltrating East Germany. There is not a single mention of Czechoslovakia in all of "The Looking Glass War." Not one. Did "Constant Reader" even read it?
Don't be dissuaded from reading it yourself.
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Title: Call for the Dead by John le Carre ISBN: 0743431677 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: A Murder of Quality by John le Carre ISBN: 0743431685 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carre ISBN: 0743442539 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Small Town in Germany by John Le Carre ISBN: 0743431715 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Smiley's People by John le Carre ISBN: 0671042769 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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