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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond Genre, August 30, 2004
As Le Carre has matured as an author, his books have had less and less to do with with satisfying genre requirements and more to do with exquisite character portraits and the authors own concerns. This is not to say that his story telling abilities have suffered, but Le Carre has always been subtle, and in "Our Game" his subtlety reaches new levels.
The protagonist, Tim Cranmer comes late to the important things in his life. All the "action" has already happened in this novel - many of the important events in this novel are past memories, either remembered in flashback (or revealed through interrogation). Other main events are discovered by Cranmer as already happened as he picks his cautious way through crime scenes or recent battlefields. Even love, or his recognition of it, has come to him late.
So Cranmer's quest is his attempt to discover his real past so as to provide him with a future, or at least a present. Le Carre's writing is at the peak of its form. Sometimes drol, often witty, always poetic and wonderfully intelligent, his writing captures the humanity of its character and the inhumanity of the uncaring world in deft strokes.
This is not a novel of gunplay, hi-tech espionage, car chases and narrow escapes. Neither is this a George Smiley novel. They were written almost 30 years ago and the author has moved on. This novel sits outside the genre of the spy novel, whose vague trappings the author hijacks for his own uses. The ending, which some people may not like as it is not "neat" and "final" is wonderfully unresolved, just like life.
I read this book when it was first released and have just reread it. In 10 years time, I will probably read it again. And probably enjoy it even more.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The bill for stability, January 17, 2005
In Britain, retired civil servants are typified by life in rural cottages, pottering about in a rose garden and Sundays with The Times. Tim Cranmer doesn't quite fulfill the picture. His "rural cottage" is an inherited spot of land containing a chapel. His rose garden is a struggling vineyard. And Sundays are occupied by visits from his former protege. Instead of a demure wife to complete the picture, Tim's resident lady is half his age and a composer. Hardly the picture of a staid bureaucrat out to pasture. Perhaps all these variations are due to Cranmer being other than a "retired civil servant" - he's a retired spook.
Spies never truly retire. They may distance themselves somewhat from the sharp end, but there are always loose ends left over and old cases that resurrect themselves. The dissolution of the Soviet Union was supposed to put ranks of spies from the West [and John Le Carre] out of work. They were considered poorly adapted to the new conditions. Le Carre and his literary creations have refuted that notion. His "retired" spy becomes enmeshed in a conspiracy of stupendous scope. It seems his protege, who was a double pretending to spy for the Soviets, is involved in an embezzlement - 37 billion BP, to be exact. The money is to finance a war of "national liberation" - a little item of ethnic minorities having faith in their identity. Their location is in the ramparts of the Caucasus Mountains, where loyalties are fierce, but the population scattered. Lacking resources, they seem to have convinced Cranmer's double to help finance weapons' purchases.
Larry Pettifer, Cranmer's long-term protege, is an intellectual. He changes ideologies like his socks. A consummate wheeler-dealer, he duped his Soviet minders for many years. What effect did his most recent case officer have to change him? And where does Tim's resident consort, who disappears mysteriously, fit in to the picture? Emma finds Larry charming, but his flighty personality and behaviour seem inconsistent for a woman yearning for stability. Has she fled from security to embrace adventure? What price will Tim pay to recover her?
The Western powers seek stability as well. Le Carre imparts the view that once the Soviet Empire dissolved, capitalism sought but fresh opportunities for investment. Justice and enterprise are often at odds, the more so when resources like oil or minerals are involved. Le Carre has taken up the cause of justice in all his writings, but his more recent ones speak with a more strident voice. Cranmer is portrayed as a voice of an older generation, quietly pleased that the Soviet Union is moribund. The issues of the post-Soviet East seem remote. Le Carre, with his usual skill, portrays a man drawn in by events beyond his control or his ken. It is easy to sympathise with him. But it is Pettifer's idealism that speaks for Le Carre. Never an ideologue, Le Carre's finely wrought narrative confronts us with our own uncaring self-interest. Capitalism may have triumphed, but the victory isn't without flaws. An excellent read and a tribute to Le Carre's skills in plot and characterisation. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Proof in the Pudding, October 16, 2006
This sleeper is one of Le Carre's best efforts. For years he struggled with the theme of the romantic triangle, in the early and only partially successful non-spy book, The Naive and Sentimental Lover, and as deep background in the Smiley trilogy. But here he finally masters the subject, the end of the cold war giving the writer freedom to first stretch out to cruising speed, then take off full speed to parts unknown. It is still, loosely, a spy book, giving the story narrative tension and interest. But it really is obviously something from the heart, just a fine novel for those who love the novel. Sentence for sentence, paragraph for paragraph, the proof is in the pudding. It's one of Le Carre's best.
Tim, the "retired" spy is one of Le Carre's best characters ever -- cuckholded by his own Joe, the happy sappy college professor Larry. The wit and bite flow between every line as the evidence dawns on our protaganist, against where his imagination wants to go, where his ditzy but beloved girlfriend has gone. No one has written more clearly about pure mad infatuation. The rural background allows fun and games with Le Carre's grab bag of spycraft, which loyal readers will be happy to find is hardly exhausted. The hero's search for Larry and his girl defies genre -- comic, tragic, noir, surrealistic, gritty realism -- all at once. The destination: unchartered territory, fueled by both human curiosity and passion.
This book will not satisfy all readers, particularly those who want genre or more obvious lessons. The puzzle only grows but this website wisely counsels against giving away the ending in these reviews. It would not give you the bigger answers anyway: if there are indeed any. All in all, the total effect is Zenlike, a courageous shot at expanding the possibilities of the novel. And it is an especial reward to those who just love writers and writing, especially the English speaking variety. The sounds and cadences, if read aloud, are all over the map but organically centered, rich and resonant as if Le Carre first recited it like a bardic epic heard whole deep within his own soul.
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