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Summary: Single & Single
Review: I'm 60 pages into this book & one word seems to fit: OBTUSE. Perhaps if someone has the patience to sit down & blast past the jumbled first chapters in one sitting it will make more sense. I haven't read anything by LeCarre before & got this as a Christmas present. I also have a speed reading course I want to take & think I will use this book as fodder for the course.
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Summary: One-Trick Pony
Review: John le Carre is a master of language, mood, and character. His subtlety is well-established, and I'm sure he feels the pressure to push the envelope, to better his last attempts. Usually, he succeeds, or at least satisfies.Here, le Carre's subtlety is exchanged for a sock-it-to-'em opening. Gripping, captivating...all that jazz. From there, however, he slips deeper into his renowned subtlety than I've ever seen him do. In "The Night Manager," the innuendos and atmospheric textures were initially bewildering and finally mesmerizing. In "Single & Single," these attempts fall flat. The threads of the first few chapters weave together, revealing the tapestry of Tiger Single's high-finace world--a world of shady dealings and shadier characters. Oliver, Tiger's son, becomes our eyes into this world. His sometimes childlike innocence is contrasted with his legal knowledge, and his conscience soon becomes weighted by the workings of Single & Single. This culminates in his betrayal of his own father. The rest of the book pursues the redemption of father and son relations, the justice due a murderer, and the maturation of a boy grown up in his father's shadow. Yes, le Carre carries out his task competently. No scene or character rings untrue. On the other hand, few of them are able to breathe life into this tired horse of a thriller. Aside from Oliver, it's the minor characters--his mother, his father's janitorial guardian, etc--that stick in the memory. Oliver's relationships with women seem two dimensional and lacking in depth or motivation, on the womens' parts anyway. When we first meet Oliver Single, we meet him in his role of magician. As he steps out of his shell, as he pulls his own identity out of the hat, everything else in the book seems to pale. This novel, measured by le Carre's own standards, is a one-trick pony. A well-groomed creature, but short on magic.
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Summary: Not Quite What I Expected, But Still Interesting
Review: I'd give this 3.5 stars, but the only choices are 3 or 4. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain, Le Carre lost some of his traditional material but gained others with the Russian Mafias, Chechen rebels, etc., etc. He has done an excellent job leveraging this subject matter in other books, but only a "fair-to-middling" job with Single & Single. The father-and-son conflict is a new spin on Le Carre's morality plays--however, the other characters are much flatter than his usual style. The end was interesting but fairly predictable as well.
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Summary: An audio tour de force
Review: I would advise anyone thinking of reading this book, not to buy the paper version, but to get the audio version instead. There is simply noone who can read his own work better than Le Carre. His voice is wonderfully expressive, his accents are flawless, his personas 3-dimensional. He conjures up a movie in the listener's head. My daily commute went by in a blur listening to this, and it was so gripping that towards the end I ended up sitting in the car park morning and night desparate to listen to just a little bit more. It's perhaps not his greatest book -- The Perfect Spy probably gets my vote -- but it is superb nonetheless.
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Summary: A fascinating tour of the world of international corruption
Review: I hadn't picked up a Le Carre novel in years, but decided, after being urged on by my wife, to give this one a shot. I enjoyed it. Le Carre does an excellent job of delving into the schemes of the international lawyers, and bakers who support mafia operations worldwide. In doing so, he demonstrates that he is more than simply a spy novelist. Some readers may find the chronological shifts of the story to be jarring--especially if you tend to skim as I do when reading anything whatsoever. However, the story will make itself clear by the end of the book. I eagerly look forward to Mr. Le Carre's next literary venture.
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Summary: Virgil would have been proud ...
Review: ! Yes, the ancient Roman poet and propagandist would have approved of this novel. One of the other reviewers of this book on this site asks if it is necessary to trudge through a morass of introspective self-analyisis in this novel ... the answer is: if you think not, then you are missing the point (of literature generally, probably). Virgil, too, started one of his "more famous works" by telling his readers he was writing of "Arms and the man"; and it was left unfinished - at the point where the hero kills an enemy who has stolen his armour - having first been through a metaphoric journey to the 'underworld'. Full stop/Period. Let's hope that we get more from Mr. Cornwell soon ...
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Summary: where is this going
Review: A teacher at school recommended this book to me. I started on my flight home from Istanbul. I began the book over Europe and was ready to flush it down the toilet after the first chapter. The first chapter was full of useless flashbacks and empty words. I, however, continued with the book. The second chapter started better, but by the end of it, I was still confused. I, however, continued with the book. Are you seeing a trend? I read a lot of books and do not consider myself to usually be a tough critic. I also think I am a polished reader. I just didn't see where this book was going. I have stopped reading at page 130 and have started a different book. I will try to finish this one for my teacher's sake, but for no other reason. Mario Puzo is a much better author.
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Summary: You are going to have to pay attention.
Review: If you take this book to the beach you are going to have to sacrifice something. You can't have it both ways. There are several flashbacks that force the reader to keep on top of the story line. The introduction of numerous characters also require the dedicated attention of the reader. A peak into the "mafia of tommorrow" and their efforts to establish in the west while retaining their ties to their homeland. The main character was likeable. The romance caught me buy surprise and worked well in the story. A good read.
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Summary: NOW, HOW ABOUT THIS REVIEW?
Review: A lawyer of Single & Single, a legal firm dedicated to financial activities, is killed on a Turkish hill. A magician for kiddies is called in by his bank, in the middle of the night, in order to explain a monumental money transfer. A Russian mercantile ship is stopped in the Black Sea. A renowned London financier disappears. To understand how and why these facts are connected, represents one of the many challenges contained in this novel by John Le Carré: in a highly skilled writing, he mixes love, treachery, family affairs and some extraordinary characters. Tiger Single, founder of Single & Single, is a charismatic, arrogant man, a genius of money laundering. His best client is Evgenij Orlov, a legendary Muscovite mafioso who buys and sells everything. Tiger's son, Oliver, grew up adoring his father.... This novel is a semi-tight thriller, concentrating on betrayal, on father-son relationships, on the contemporary notion of business and morality, and introduces us to a hero - Oliver - who will linger in the mind for his humane struggle between the love for his father and the shame for his actions.
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Summary: Badly needs an editor
Review: This book is a jumble, much longer than it had to be, filled with extraneous (and useless) detail. It simply does not grab your attention and carry you forward like Le Carre's earlier books did. You get sidetracked by the detail, which does not add anything to the story line. I wound up attempting to skim the most egregious parts because they were so boring. This book could have used a strong editor to force Le Carre to re-write and focus the story line. If you loved Le Carre's spy stories, you're going to be very disappointed with this attempt. I sure hope his next book is better.
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