TAPESTRY OF SPIES. [Paperback]

Stephen. Hunter (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Fontana/Collins (1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006174035
• ISBN-13: 978-0006174035
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Stephen Hunter won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism as well as the 1998 American Society of Newspaper Editors Award for Distinguished Writing in Criticism for his work as film critic at The Washington Post. He is the author of several bestselling novels, including Time to Hunt, Black Light, Point of Impact, and the New York Times bestsellers Havana, Pale Horse Coming, and Hot Springs. He lives in Baltimore.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A frustrated man deals with friendship, honor and duty., November 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tapestry of Spies (Paperback)

This excellent novel certainly covered a lot of bases.Against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, Florry, a former colonial policeman and once a promising scholar is recruited by British Intelligence to prove his university friend Raines is a Communist spy, and assisinate him. There is so much more to the story than that,I was very interested in the way Hunter "borrowed" plots and characters from other great works, Homagae to Catalonia, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Burmese Days, and of course the better than fiction story of Kim Philby. This portrayal of the British Empire dealing with both the Communist and Fascist rise to power, and the ultimate tragedy of the fall of the Spanish Republic, I've got to say,the man certainly did justice to a complex and difficult story.The influence of university and the friendships made there,the pride and obligations of the British,the ruthlessness of those in Intelligence, the hopes of Revolution. A good novel dealing with difficult subjects and a time people are still trying to understand.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was very good for what it was., October 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tapestry of Spies (Paperback)

I found this book by chance at a hotel when I was 14. Someone left it there, I never heard of Hunter before but I read it anyway. It was quite good. Juilan being gay was a nice suprise and I think the reason why people fail to like this book is becuse they say they don't like the story, or it's not up to par. Well this isnt a typical thriller, I normaly read fantasy, but even I can tell that this historical fiction is clearly NOT about the story. It's about Robert, Juilan and Sylvia, even Levitsky and Mink. It's a about hate and love and respect. Between people. It's a chartcter study. And it's very well writen. Good work Mr.Hunter I'll be sure to read more of your books in the future. Nice poetry, Im a poet myself and thats another reason I liked the book. And for the critics who are Hunter fans, mabey this just isnt your type of book. But it IS very good.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Companion Piece to 1984, March 11, 2011

By 

Mark D. Burgh "mburgh" (In Exile, AR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tapestry of Spies (Paperback)

Stephen Hunter's A Tapestry of Spies (original and better title Spanish Gambit) is good in its own right, but if you know anything of the life and works of George Orwell, you can see that Hunter's extensive knowledge of those materials, as well of various spy scandals that rocked England after WWII (Philby & Burgess), you can read this book as a response to Orwell's classic 1984. The main character, Robert Florry is clearly Orwell manque. He is Eton failure who end up in the tropics, where he participates in the judicial murder of a imbecile (A Hanging), returns to England, where the MI 6 forcibly recruits him to go to England and spy on Julian Raines, a brilliant poet and putative Bolshevik agent. Florry's arrival in Spain, via a torpedoed ship, introduces the character of Levitsky, the master spy, and Sylvia, a young woman seeking adventure in the Spanish Civil War. Other books appear in this one besides 1984 and A Homage to Catalonia, which seem to be Hunter's main influences. There is also a retelling of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, including smelly partisans and bridge than must be destroyed.

I suppose if you've come to this book having read Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger novels, you'll be confused and maybe disappointed. But I suggest you read Orwell and Hemingway, and then you'll really understand the final scenes in the book between Florry and Sylvia, and an American Bolshevik.