Customer Reviews

Naive and Sentimental Lover

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a Le Carre fan I was a little confused when I first started this novel - this is not another spy novel. Sort of like when you order coffee and are presented with a cup of tea: but then if it's the best cup of tea you've ever had, you soon forgive the mistake. The author was exploring an entirely different side to himself when he wrote this. I first read this book many years ago and it has haunted me since, and still rates as one of my all-time top 5. It is an achingly beautiful and involving story about three people struggling with themselves while caught in a love triangle. The power relations between the characters are intense and engaging. Read this classic story about the "human condition" and be amazed, entertained and moved.

A historical setting might help to understand this book. John Le Carre (the pseudonym for David Cornwell) began his brilliant writing career with two not-so-impressive mystery books, which were not well received. His third book, "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" was his first "spy book", although his writing is too rich and multi-layered to be characterized so narrowly. However, "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" was very, very successful and his career was well and truly launched.

"Naïve and Sentimental Lover" was the fourth book and Le Carre seems to have been exploring different styles and genres. "Naïve and Sentimental Lover" is a wandering coming of age book in which the central character, Aldo Cassidy (the name should already have alerted you to a problem), tries to make sense of his life and calling as CEO for a baby pram company (yes, that is correct).

The book is redolent of bell-bottomed trousers, flowers in the hair, hippy culture, and concerned social questioning (over the vegetarian quiche) of the late 1960s and early 70s. Add to this the maniacal writer-in-being Shamus, his marginally nymphomaniac wife Helen, and total abandonment in Paris and you have a book that is quiet unlike anything Le Carre ever wrote again.

It is a difficult book and although I consider Le Carre perhaps the finest writer of our times, I could not finish it at a first reading. Recently, I revisited the book after a dozen or more years. I did complete it and am happy that I made the effort to pick it up again. Perhaps the distance helped?

It was, second time round, a very entertaining and quite hilarious read that was not, I suspect, ever meant to be read too seriously. It is quite funny, wickedly satirical in parts, and has an improbability that might be enjoyed for some readers. Serious social themes are not really developed and we remain in a colorful but depressingly self-absorbed world for most of the book.

"Naïve and Sentimental Lover" is a one-off, difficult to characterize book. After this Le Carre returned to developing his emigmatic George Smiley and engaging us in a world of deception, betrayal, and deceit. If you have read Le Carre's works, you will probably be astonished by the difference and ingenuity of this book: it is not a masterpiece but it will give you unexpected insights into the author. If you have not read Le Carre before, this is NOT the place to start: go for "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" or "The Honorable Schoolboy" - classic, vintage, and delectable Le Carre.

David S-G

Over the years, I had read all of Le Carre's books except for this one. I recently decided to give "Naive" a try, notwithstanding the departure from a "spy" theme. Subject matter aside, which is a two man, one woman love triangle, the book is painfully slow. While I usually find Le Carre's character development to be compelling, and his books hard to put down, I had great difficulty getting through the middle of this one. I'd never before read one of his books and found myself anxious to be finished. I'm an enormous Le Carre fan--I think of him as my favorate author. Nonetheless, my advice is to skip this book.

The only reason I give this book one star is because it cannot be rated any lower.

I have read every novel authored by Le Carre and I rate him as one of, if not THE best writers in the espionage/cold-war genre. He is one of my favorite writers and I am fascinated by his ability to introduce a the human side to his characters and make you have compassion for them

This book however, may very well win the title of "the worst book I have ever read". I was unable to relate or have any feeling for any of these characters except for one of distaste, and struggled to make it through this book. I constantly wanted to throw the book away, but read on in the hope tht I would discover some redeeming quality ... none was found.

For readers looking to discover the wonderful collection of LeCarre novels, I would recommend any of the Smiley books and would warn all readers away from this work.

Having just finished "The Naive and Sentimental Lover", I must say that I am exhausted. As has already been pointed out - this novel is very different from John le Carre's other work. The story centers around a middle aged man, Aldo, who is going through a midlife crisis. While on a journey to see an estate that is for sale he meets a couple a squatters, Shamus and Helen, and they go on an all night drinking adventure. Shamus is an anarchist writer whose behavior is that of a five year old. Aldo finds he cannot live without their companionship, and the rest of the novel considers these adventures, his home life, and his interactions at his business and with his friends. The novel is often confusing, boring, disgusting, and any other bad feeling you can have. The central character, Aldo, is hardly a hero as the summary of the book states. He is a scumbag who is lying to his wife and children nearly at every turn. Does he learn anything in the end? Make any great leaps? I will leave you to find out, but don't expect much. I finished the novel tired and feeling angry at my wasted time. The only highlight I found was when Aldo is imagining speaking to his lover about his erectile disfunction as a board meeting at his company.

Perhaps I'm lucky - NASL was one of the first Le Carre's I read - at the age of about 14. I hadn't thought much of A Small Town in Germany, and I wasn't expecting much from Naive.

In the event, The Naive & Sentimental Lover far exceeded my hopes. Le Carre plays the emotions of his characters and his readers like a Stradivarius, he attacked social taboos, and gave me much food for thought.

I've gone on and enjoyed thousands of books; and every other Le Carre I've read. But Naive has a special place for me, and I recall it with affection. I still can't get on with A Small Town in Germany. though!!

John le Carre has often been derided as a limited, genre author - good at espionage novels, but not great. I never quite agreed with this, though I think his female characters are usually quite poor, he excels in dialogue, in mood and in the methods of bureaucracy.
Its possible that something of the `limited' view of le Carre originates from this novel, an early one, written before the breakthrough of `Spy who came in from the Cold'.

Its set in last sixties, early seventies London - mention of capital controls, Vietnam abound. Indeed the effete, genteel decline of a great power is a backround to this novel, Cassidy, its protagonist, is a successful businessman, ill at ease with himself and his life.
Reflecting Le Carre's own life, Cassidy is haunted by his fly-by-night father, a theme which recurs. Cassidy falls under the influence of a couple, one of whom is an author, who have renounced materialism. The story moves from London to Paris to Switzerland.
Cassidy eventually removes himself from their influence and resumes his cold, controlled life. The multiple betrayals engaged in by Cassidy through the plot, culminate in his betrayal of his real desires to resume his externally-comfortable lifestyle.

I found the story over-long, somewhat amusing in spots - especially the Swiss episode- but basically too self-reflective and ponderous. There are not enough elements - dialogue, interaction with organisations, tension - which make Le Carre worth reading, and there are too many elements - self-reflection, couples relationships - in which he is weak. Oh dear.

The only reason I give this book one star is because it cannot be rated any lower.

I have read every novel authored by Le Carre and I rate him as one of, if not THE best writers in the espionage/cold-war genre. He is one of my favorite writers and I am fascinated by his ability to introduce a the human side to his characters and make you have compassion for them

This book however, may very well win the title of "the worst book I have ever read". I was unable to relate or have any feeling for any of these characters except for one of distaste, and struggled to make it through this book. I constantly wanted to throw the book away, but read on in the hope tht I would discover some redeeming quality ... none was found.

For readers looking to discover the wonderful collection of LeCarre novels, I would recommend any of the Smiley books and would warn all readers away from this work.

I was surprised to see such negative reviews; I have read this novel at least three times over the past decades and it has engrossed me each time. Perhaps that is because, like Aldo, I come from a culture which emphasizes self-control and circumspection and have known others who have struggled with breaking free in all the wrong ways. It is indeed a "sixties" novel, and may not speak to those who didn't come of age in the button-down fifties, but bear in mind that those personal struggles of the sixties produced the much free-er culture we enjoy today. Try the book, if only as cultural history.

Over the years, I had read all of Le Carre's books except for this one. I recently decided to give "Naive" a try, notwithstanding the departure from a "spy" theme. Subject matter aside, which is a two man, one woman love triangle, the book is painfully slow. While I usually find Le Carre's character development to be compelling, and his books hard to put down, I had great difficulty getting through the middle of this one. I'd never before read one of his books and found myself anxious to be finished. I'm an enormous Le Carre fan--I think of him as my favorate author. Nonetheless, my advice is to skip this book.