Customer Reviews

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

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2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" has been called the best espionage novel ever written. John Le Carre's cynical and spellbinding spy thrillers are so unique because they are based on a wide knowledge of international espionage. Le Carre, (pen name for David John Moore Cornwell), acquired this knowledge firsthand during his years as an operations agent for the British M15. Kim Philby, the infamous mole, actually gave Le Carre's name to the Soviets long before he defected. The author's professional experience and his tremendous talent as a master storyteller and superb writer make this book one of the best novels I have read in the genre.

"Tinker, Tailor..." is the first in what has come to be called LeCarré's "Karla (or Smiley) Trilogy", in which English spy George Smiley is pitted against the Soviet spymaster Karla. Written during the Cold War, it is a portrait of that time, with its paranoid and morally ambiguous view of global politics.

A botched espionage operation in Czechoslovakia causes "Control," (Head of British Intelligence), and his associates to be discredited. "Control," already ill and aging quickly, dies soon after this debacle. George Smiley, his able lieutenant, is retired in disgrace. The two are succeeded by four "young turks," all highly ambitious men from Intelligence who had been trained by "Control" and Smiley. Months later, a maverick Far Eastern agent turns up in London with a story suggesting there is a mole (a deeply concealed double agent) in the Circus (Intelligence HQ). Smiley is called out of retirement to investigate the possibility that a Soviet mole has penetrated the very top levels of the British Secret Service. The "Tinker, Tailor..." nursery rhyme of the title refers to the codewords for the four prime suspects - the four men now running the Service. Smiley's job is to find the double agent. However the entire Intelligence network is so suspect that he must operate entirely without its resources, for fear of alerting the mole. Therefore he must operate undercover from his own people. This novel has more in common with the guessing-game puzzle of a great whodunit than with the typical action-packed spy thriller. Smiley gradually pieces together the story by analyzing files, interrogating witnesses and scouring his own memory and those of other retired Intelligence personnel, until he finally unmasks the traitor at the heart of the Circus.

This is not a simple, easy to read book. There is personal and public betrayal along with the treason of an unknown colleague. Smiley's beautiful, upperclass wife has been unfaithful with at least one of his associates, adding stress to his urgent, high-pressured assignment. Although Le Carre's novels are well-written and convincing, they can be very complicated - and this book is an example of one of his more complex endeavors. The storyline is not linear, and contains many subplots. Much is left for the reader to puzzle out, at least until the end. Just like the spies, themselves, the reader only observes the outward actions of the characters, and must piece together the facts without the assistance of an omniscient narrator. Some may find that it is difficult to get started with this novel, and once started, even harder to see where one is going. The effort to stay with Le Carre is well worth it though. A big part of the fun is working out the puzzle along with George Smiley.

An FYI: The other two books in the series are "The Honourable Schoolboy," and "Smiley's People." ENJOY!!
JANA

Here's one attempt at a book review of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which I consider is a classic in its own way.

The arrival of a schoolmaster at a remote English boarding school is the unlikely beginning of a master spy-story. If the reader has perused the dust jacket, he is left wondering where the connection is. A bit boring in the beginning, the start of the novel is far from spectacular. Characters unfold almost as an aside. Connections are not evident. When the hero of the novel, George Smiley makes his entrance it is almost as an afterthought.

Far unlike Ian Flemming with his techno-laden James Bond licensed to kill, Le Carre's George Smiley is a prosaic, pedantic, lugubrious, painstaking, ordinary mortal with an orderly mind. He is a hero like no other. Not for him the flashy glamour of the spy world popularized by Alistair McLean, Ian Flemming, and others of their ilk. Smiley's heroism lies in this mediocre methodic brilliance. And in his prodigious memory.

Cast away from the "circus", he is called in from retirement to trap a mole high up in the secret service. His fall from grace is more a reflection of the times than his inherent worth. As the bureaucratic battles yield new order in the ranks of service, Smiley, of the old order, is viewed with suspicion and forced into retirement. But much as the irrepressible James Bond could not be done away by his numerous enemies, Smiley's brilliance cannot be dispensed with by the Service. At a time when no one in the service can be trusted, when it is painfully obvious that one amongst the trusted four is a mole, Smiley is called in for his analysis. Nowhere is it stated that Smiley is brilliant. Nor does he appear to have any special skills. It is almost as an apology that he is called in to clean up the mess in the circus. He is given no special powers to search and detain. His character is an epitome of the British understatement.

Yet, as the story unfolds, it is evident that Smiley is far from ordinary. Even more extraordinary than his subtly demonstrated analytical skills, is his reluctant human skills. He reaches out into his past. He cajoles his colleagues to share information. Without overt official sanction, his interrogative style is almost an apology. This queries are excruciatingly painstaking and pedantic. His tone is lugubrious and half-sleepy. His attention to detail is phenomenal. His inferences from interrogation is unexplained.

The character of Smiley is an exquisite painting. Smiley appears to be more of an academic than a spy - more at home in the musty libraries than trysting with elite's from the Whitehall. His demeanor suggests a frumpy civil-servant rather than a spy-master. He can be readily pictured as a short, cherubic, owlish, diffident man with a marked disdain for the finer things in life. As he shuffles along the morose London streets, there is nothing to distinguish him from the multitude of middle-aged men beaten by Life. His elegant and beautiful wife, disenchanted by his prosaic existence, and has abandoned him. His chief occupation is in forgetting the time he spent in the Service. Not quite bitter about his ouster, he appears a bit confused. In this, the very ordinariness of the one-time head of the Secret Service is his greatest asset.

Le Carre, in his own way, is probably one of the greatest of story-tellers of our time. He binds his readers in a loose sort of spell. Quite unlike the modern authors who seek to rush their stories along at a great speed, seeking to upstage their own previous chapter with something more breathtaking in the next, Le Carre lets the plot of his novels mature by itself. He lets the reader dwell on the plot. He lets them think and ponder over it. He does not insult the readers intelligence by presuming to give too many details. Some of it, he seems to say, they have to work out themselves. There are no fast-paced change in directions yanking the readers from excitement to excitement. The continuity of the story is seamless. Rather like Alfred Hitchcock, he sometimes seeks to bring the reader to the brink of understanding and leaves him empty-handed. A suspense built in this slow, measured and deliberate manner leaves the reader a bit unfulfilled on one hand, but gives some chaff for thoughtful replay of the plot on the other.

And yet, Le Carre is rich in his portrayals. The details he seeks to give are more to build up clarity than to confuse. Where the details of Tom Clancy's novels drag his readers through a myriad of technical issues obscuring the plot, most of which are ultimately useless, Le Carre's details are like eye-glasses that bring the novel's environment into sharper focus.

Towards the end when Smiley catches up to the mole, we are left wondering how he did it. Trying to make the connections between various incidents and leaps of logic in inferences, we are left with a feeling of trying to catch wisps of smoke. There is presence without substance. It is always so in the shadowy settings of the "circus". Shadowy as it, we merely brush against the even more shadowy figure of "Karla" Smiley's arch-enemy at the Moscow Center - against whom he pits his wits time and again in this and other Le Carre novels. Karla's presence is more felt than seen, less realized than experienced.

Some books are evidently put together hastily. Some are well written. Some are poorly written and asks the plot to make up for the writing talent. A few books are not just well written but well crafted. Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy is one such. In the manner of a well-rendered painting, where subtle attention to details lend elegance without attracting attention to itself, so does Le Carre's attention to exquisite details portray a complete picture in the readers mind. The characters are three dimensional, and one can feel them. Like any good book with plethora of details, this novel transports the reader to the physical presence of the plot.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - the title adapted from a nursery rhyme - is a serious read. It is not an easy read, not a fun read, but a read for the discriminating mind seeking serious fiction. The cold war is now past. But the shadowy workings of the tradecraft is still current. This novel captures it in all its realism without sensationalism. It is a simple novel with a complex plot.

For a good positive summary of the book, see the review by Jana Perskie.

Now here's my thoughts: LeCarre's book isn't "bad" per se, but it is definitely a different style from most other spy genre novels. Remember, it was written in the 1970s - so forget the 'techno-thriller' books that Clancey made famous in the late 80s. LeCarre's books - this one included - were however an intellectual step up from the earlier spy/action thrillers...
The problem most readers will have is that there is almost NO action. Roughly speaking, its about Geo.Smiley trying to solve a problem (a mole) in the "Circus" using clues from the past. So a lot of it is contemplative and revolves around the "old boys" of the organization talking in circles at times about their experiences (reminds me of Kerouac and "On the Road"). The writing is very circumspect - and introspective - in that regard.
There are no Jack Ryans here, no cowboy heroes. The characters are all upper class (or have the pretensions, if not the birthright), understated Englishmen, and working in a decidedly bleak period. In fact, LeCarre's style seems to reflect the malaise of England and the west in general of the early 70s. That is due mostly to LeCarre's focus on the mental maze Smiley must navigate which leaves little room for descriptive settings or surroundings. Colors, seasons, etc (or rather, the lack) all seem to suggest a perpetually gray, damp late autumn day at 5 PM...

This is NOT an easy read - one must concentrate, just like Smiley. Don't expect to be able to put it down and pick back up repeatedly without losing the plot. This is a wintertime book, one to read when its rainy and you have nothing pressing to do (and nothing on your mind).

Its worth reading as an example of a more mature spy (or even drama) genre. But it is easy to see how the modern spy novel (techno-thriller) has supplanted the Karla-trilogy style for most readers...

I'm a longtime Le Carré fan, but I realized recently that it had been nearly two decades since I read what is undoubtedly his best work -- the Smiley trilogy. Based loosely on the Kim Philby debacle, this one is about the realization that a Soviet mole has been busy for many years in the Circus -- the headquarters of the British espionage service -- and the recently sacked George Smiley, a victim himself of the mole's machinations, is secretly brought in by a reluctant Whitehall to identify the culprit and clean house. It's the old problem: Who will spy on the spies? Le Carré is a master of the telling detail, even with minor supporting characters, and all the inhabitants of this novel are vividly realized. This isn't a James Bond yarn, either, as the "action" is mostly in the form of reading files, interviewing agents, and hard thinking. And Smiley, fat, middleaged, and in secret agonies over his wife's habitual infidelity, turns out to possess unexpectedly heroic stature. This novel, and the two that follow, make up the best spy story ever written in English.

Upon publication in April, 1974, John Le Carre's "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" was acclaimed a masterpiece of the cold war spy genre, and short listed -- along with several other Le Carre works-- for greatest spy story of them all. Firstly, there was Le Carre's immense, first-hand, front-line spying experience. His lean, mean writing. The plot, dealing with Britain's MI5 international spy agency; it's a marvel of clarity and complexity. The irresistible narrative force. Another of the author's great set piece openings, plus a few more.

As to the characters, there's the long-suffering George Smiley, his beautiful offstage wife Lady Ann. The inscrutable Bill Haydon: at one point, late in the narrative, Smiley does actually think of him as that Russian doll: one doll within another, within another. The implacable opponent, Russia's Karla, head of KGB, MI5's opposite number. Smiley's confrontation with him, in a 1950's Indian prison, sears itself into the brain. The whole MI5 gang: control, Percy Alleline, Ricky Tarr, Roy Bland, Peter Guillam, Inspector Mendel, Oliver Lacon, Toby Esterhase, Connie Sachs, Jerry Westerby, and, most importantly, Jim Prideaux, the loyal man most severely injured by a Czechoslovakian cock-up. Finally, Bill Roach, richest boy at the school where Prideaux now teaches, emotionally resonant,fat, miserable, and devoted to Prideaux.

A dying control (head of organization) believes there's a mole-- that is, a long-term counterspy placed within a spying organization-- it's a term Le Carre actually invented, and the world now uses-- in MI5. In control's effort to smoke out the mole, so-called Gerald, the chief sets in motion an ill-advised Czechoslovak operation, with disastrous results. So at control's death, Percy Alleline, one of the boys, benefiting from an all-around wizard source, takes over the organization and gets his knighthood. But the mole's still flashing his presence. So who is it: in control's immortal words, taken from a British children's rhyme-- tinker, tailor, soldier, spy, or Smiley, whom we learn is beggarman? (Oddly enough, this famous formulation, the book's title, is not introduced until late.) The minister in charge sets Smiley to find out.

Coming back to this book after many years, thing I find most striking is that there's a dimension beyond tight writing, knowing spycraft, masterful plot and characters: feeling. Smiley, close to finally unraveling the betrayal, confronts Esterhase, chief of the lamplighters: the tradecraft men. "It is the perfect fix; you see that, don't you Toby, really? Assuming it is a fix. It makes everyone wrong who's right: Connie Sachs, Jerry Westerby...Jim Prideaux...even control. Silences the doubters before they've even spoken out...The permutations are infinite, once you've brought off the basic lie....Take it to its logical conclusion, and Gerald would have us strangling our own children in their beds."

Smiley is angry, as is his creator, and that will influence the outcome of the final great set-piece, the book's conclusion. It earns its perch on the short list.

After publishing three books with George Smiley (GS) in a major or minor role, and one spy novel without him ("A Small Town in Germany"), John Le Carré (JLC) produced the monumental "Karla"-trilogy with GS as the undisputed hero.
This volume, first published in 1974, is Part One of the trilogy and in this reviewer's opinion JLC's very best creation among many other masterpieces. The principal theme in the book is the search for a "mole", an inside man turned traitor, within the higher echelons of the Circus, which runs some 600 agents worldwide. There have been inexplicable failures and disappointments. Control, the nameless head of the Circus is becoming suspicious of all of his staff, at a time when his health is also declining rapidly. He becomes an increasingly marginalised person, poring over piles and piles of files, when a new source managed by a man keen to take Control's place, begins to enthral Whitehall with high quality reports...
Suddenly brought out of retirement, GS attends the debriefing of a blown field agent and is requested to pursue the outcome of the interview. In utter secrecy, GS starts his campaign to find the mole, aided by the trusted Peter Guillam and Retired Inspector (Special Branch) Mendel, who appeared first in JLC's debut "Call for the Dead".
What makes this book exceptional is its plot, its dialogues, its atmosphere and more than ever, its characters. Chapter One about unhappy public schoolboy Bill "Jumbo" Roach meeting ex-betrayed spy, shot in the back, Jim "Rhino" Prideaux, ranks among the best first chapters in spy novels, on par with Trevanian's opening of "The Loo Sanction". Totally brilliant.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a novel about the "Circus," an invented nickname for MI6, in the 70s. A mole has dug his way into the Circus over forty years, blowing agents, destroying spy networks, and generally making a mess of things for Control and his 2nd in command George Smiley. Just when Control was getting close to discovering the traitor, a disastrous operation in Czechoslovakia causes a changing of the guard - Control soon dies, and Smiley is fired. Now, the new leadership, an inner circle of four men, seems to be putting the Circus back in business (and keeping themselves on top). But one of them is still the mole, and is as yet unidentified. Smiley must come out of retirement and begin a long quest through the past to uncover the mole - and his nemesis Karla's calculated operation, that has perhaps damaged the Circus irreperably.

George Smiley is a recurring character in John LeCarre's works, beginning with LeCarre's first novel Call for the Dead, through his brilliant first big success The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, to Tinker, Tailor... and the Smiley/Karla trilogy. He has been called the greatest protagonist in spy fiction, sometimes even one of the best characters in contemporary literature. He is the anti-Bond, an aging, plump little man who probably never won a fight in his life and doesn't wear hats for fear that they make him look even more ridiculous. LeCarre casts him as a failed husband and cuckold to further emphasize his ridiculousness on the surface, but this is only seen as a weakness or something laughable by those who don't know him. In reality, Smiley tries hard not to let anything get to him. Indeed it is this calm and rationality, and his ability to meticulously analyze those things that would cause pain or panic in other men, that make him good at his work.

But one person can penetrate this defensive barrier of cold logic: his devious nemesis, Karla. This conflict is the one area of Smiley's life that cannot remain purely business, that has to be personal. At times, particularly in the sweltering heat of their first meeting in India, Smiley's emotion gets the better of him, so much so that the rivalry seems more human and personal even than Smiley's marriage; this idea is symbolized in the novel by Smiley's lighter, a gift from his wife that Smiley allows Karla to take.

But how can this very human conflict truly be expressed when Smiley and Karla have never even spoken? Throughout the interview the Russian does not say a word. Just like the Cold War, their conflict is never "spoken" or overt, only indirect and implied, yet each knows the other's character intimately. This makes their conflict more than pure business, and more than merely one of ideology. That seems one of LeCarre's major points in this work (and in Smiley's People) - that while one can explain away the Cold War by framing it as an ideological conflict, it was not fought by two populations with set ideologies - it was fought by individuals, people with failing marriages, people with sick daughters, people who are all ultimately human.

LeCarre is undoubtedly the master of the genre, and this, as well as the other two of the trilogy (Honourable Schoolboy, Smiley's People) are his finest.

The best aspect of this book is that it is realistic and thrilling at the same time. If you read nonfiction cold war espionage stories, you find that stuff like this actually did happen. Le Carre gives you a look at the actual workings of spycraft and the techniques that were used during the cold war.

The book is written from the perspective of several different people in turns, but never from the perspective of the antagonists, so the author doesn't give away what the other side is doing until the protagonists themselves find out. Even though it is a third-person narrative approach, it mainly sticks with a couple characters (Guillam and Smiley), and the author doesn't actually reveal the thoughts of any characters except Guillam and Smiley.

Even though I also gave Absolute Friends 5 stars, this book is a little bit better, mainly because in Tinker Tailor the solutions to all the puzzles (or most of them anyway) are satisfactorily revealed in the end, and the ending is not excessivley clever, which is a weakness of many thriller novels (including Absolute Friends and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold).

Be warned, however: the story is complicated, and Le Carre does not explain everything for you. You are expected to make a lot of inferences. It can be fun to have to work at understanding what is going on, but if you are the type of person who doesn't like to have to turn back the pages frequently to try to make sense of the story, this may not be for you. It is the kind of book you have to read slowly. There are so many characters to keep track of that you might even need to take some notes, especially if you are going to put the book down for a while before coming back to it. Never fear, however: your hard work will not be in vain. The puzzles are actually worth the effort.

One thing that was sometimes unnecessarily frustrating was Le Carre's use of terminology that would be familiar to spies (and to devoted fans of espionage literature) but which is not known to most lay-people--especially those who are not British. For the most part, you can figure out what these terms mean from the context, but it would have been nice to have a glossary of British spy jargon or something.

Suggestions for other books:
If you want a more modern espionage/mystery novel, try The Prisoner of Guantanamo by Fesperman, which has the same high quality and realism as le Carre's books.
Barry Eisler is good if you are looking for an author who leans slightly more towards action and thrills, but not so much that it is unbelievable. (although they may be slightly less realistic, his books are still quite plausible).

Le Carre is the best spy novelist ever and truly a modern master of literature. Tinker Tailor takes the reader on a journey through the murky labyrinths of british intelligence as the antihero Smiley, a plump, confused, betrayed, but deceptively steely and intelligent spy, ferrets out a mole burrowed into the highest levels of British Intelligence by his Soviet nemesis, Karla. The themes of betrayal, downfall, and the inescapable immorality of spying permeate this finely written book, while the challenge of discovering, with Smiley, who the mole is, captures the reader from the start. Le Carre's character developement is superior to almost any writer, living or dead, and the complexity of the mole, Smiley, Connie Sachs, and a host of other characters adds another superior facet. Finally, Le Carre's use of wonderfully quaint terminology, with "moles", "legmen", "burrowers", "the circus", and others making frequent appearances, spices up the book. The best spy book I have ever read, and I have read every book by Forsyth, Higgings, Clancy, and Craig, and almost every Ludlum. This may be a great spy book, but it is also an outstanding work of literature, like its two successors, and is a classic in every respect. Everyone should read it who has a mind and appreciation for a nobly done turn of phrase. However, this book isn't for the James Bond Boom Boom kiss the girl and fly off sort- requires thought!

Following in the tradition of Graham Greene, who wrote spy novels contemporaneous with his own, John LeCarre uses his experience in the foreign service and MI6 to add realism to his tales of espionage. Green, however, remained a friend of traitor Kim Philby and continued to send his novels to Philby after Philby defected to Russia. LeCarre was betrayed by Philby to Russian agents, and his career was ended. This betrayal gives added realism to his novels, which show real disillusionment with the system and, sometimes, with its agents and officials.

Written in 1974, this novel draws on the real life of "LeCarre" (real name David Cornwell) and many of his associates who were unmasked by Philby and the "Cambridge Five." Here LeCarre creates a vivid and morally probing story in which his hero, George Smiley, is called out of his enforced retirement to unmask a Soviet "mole" high in the British secret service, referred to as "the circus." Five men (as in the real betrayal) have been suspected of aiding the Soviets. Drawing on his friendships with some of the agents who were dismissed when he was, Smiley investigates the security leaks which have led to humiliation for British intelligence and real danger for some of its agents. As he tries to identify the mole, he receives peripheral help from Sir Oliver Lacon of the British Foreign Office.

Written in formal and polished prose, the novel is full of Cold War complexities. Karla, the legendary head of Soviet intelligence, continues to control a small group of Soviet "defectors" and "disillusioned" Communists, whom the British mistakenly regard as double agents providing them with secret information. At the same time, British Control (who is never identified by name) is trying to uncover the Soviet mole (nicknamed "Gerald") within their own agency. Jim Prideaux, who appears in several Smiley novels, is working on this operation in Czechoslovakia when he is betrayed and almost killed, his entire operation shut down, and many of his agents executed by the Russians.

Smiley's investigations are decidedly prosaic, not the exciting shoot-'em-ups of James Bond novels. Slogging through mountains of paperwork, interviewing reluctant former agents, and doing his own legwork, Smiley works at unmasking Gerald the hard way. The complexity of his character (and of the other characters here) make up for the relative lack of dramatic action and highlight LeCarre's skill at creating intriguing characters who see the "grays" in an otherwise black-and-white world. His dialogue is quick-paced, often witty, and revelatory of subtle character traits, adding to the depth of the portraits and to the intricacies of the world of spy/counterspy. Mary Whipple

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
John Lecarre: A New Collection of Three Complete Novels
John Le Carre's A Murder of Quality, DVD, with Denholm Elliot
Smiley's People, DVD, with Alec Guinness
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, DVD, with Alec Guinness