Rating: 
Summary: Not his best, but ...
Review: ...But well worth the read. This book represents LeCarre back on form after some stumbles with things like THE RUSSIA HOUSE, or excessive drifts into fiction-with-a-happy-ending -THE NIGHT MANAGER. Here LeCarre is remarkably prescient as (in 1995, mind you) he draws our attention to an area of the world that the West sees doomed to forget (The trans-Caucasus) and a group of ethnicities (Chechens, Ossetians, Ingush...) that we seem doomed to doom. Unlike many of the reviewers here, I LIKE it that much of the book is written in "flashback" as the central figure trys to work out what on Earth is going on, and again, unlike some of the reviewers, I found it easy to empathize with LeCarre's characters. Essentially the author is asking us to make a moral choice between two epic myths -the "Person of action" who must be engaged in teh world no matter the cost, and the "On-looker" who can document what happens but refuses to be drawn in. The triumph of the book is when the two become one, as the chief protagonist is forced to literally become his quarry and the whole circle of narrative is completed. No end? Fie! This book has as much and as little "ending" as life itself, and I am left both puzzled and educated, with the hope that LeCarre will eventually return to these mountains for another window into what promises to be the bane of at least the first part of the 21st Century.
Rating: 
Summary: The Author's Most Interesting Post Cold-War Tale..
Review: ..and most relevent. I admit that I often find this great writer too dense and slow moving,and at times have put down a couple (eg.THE PERFECT SPY) before finishing them, even though the language is always wondrous...Maybe just too hard for me! So I can say I've read this one twice with nary a stumble. It's a first person narrative about a retired Brit spy(Tim) whose old pal(Larry) seems to have stolen his girl,and ended up in the Caucasus region between Russia and Iran. The book consists of LeCarre's usual assortment of eccentrics, revolutionaries, burnt out cases (as Tim himself is), political refugees, subversives,manipulators, and so on in a region of dissent and upheaval, sometimes in the news, but usually perhaps ignored even now. Which is what makes this book even more interesting today. The ruggedness of the terrain produces some tough people(s), and Mr. LeCarre does an expert job at interweaving all these straying elements into a fine,readable,and contemporary yarn. Worth the effort!
Rating: 
Summary: Le Carre's laurels don't rescue this book
Review: A wasted effort from one on the most perceptive minds alive. He dropped his past standards on this book. Only the gems of wisdom about human nature gives it value. An unknown author would have had this book rejected, or at least criticized.
I agree with the following observations taken from other reviewers:
"The story was all over the place and the ending far from satisfying."
"The first hundred or so pages move at a glacial pace, and the author's disjointed manner of storytelling soon becomes confusing and annoying."
"Far too much of the book took place in flashback... vacillating from vague self-pity to vague longing to vague regret and back... Of the three pivotal characters, two are presented almost entirely in flashback."
"Too dense and slow moving... even though the language is always wondrous."
"...novel seems dark and pointless."
"numbing dive into the depths of one man's self-absorption left me gasping for air."
If you are new to Le Carre, read his earlier works first or you may never read them after this work.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond Genre
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: He has done much better...
Review: I must have been out of sorts when I read this because I usually adore a Le Carre read and this time, I didn't. I just didn't give a darn about the main character, who was so completely unsympathetic that I kept wishing that something really dire would happen to him so we could get to someone more interesting. And I really didn't like the whining about the lost girlfriend who left with the braver, more charismatic friend. I just didn't care... For Le Carre at his recent best, better try "The Constant Gardener".
Rating:
Summary: He has done much better...
Review: I must have been out of sorts when I read this because I usually adore a Le Carre read and this time, I didn't. I just didn't give a darn about the main character, who was so completely unsympathetic that I kept wishing that something really dire would happen to him so we could get to someone more interesting. And I really didn't like the whining about the lost girlfriend who left with the braver, more charismatic friend. I just didn't care... For Le Carre at his recent best, better try "The Constant Gardener".
Rating:
Summary: The bill for stability
Review: 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]
Rating:
Summary: A Game That Is Worth The Candle
Review: John le Carré's "Our Game" is a sport for everyone. Novel after novel, le Carré proves to be the best writer when it comes to spy stories mixed with political thrillers. And this novel is no exception in his work.With the end of the USSR, a great lack of political ideology dominates Europe. The new countries created from the breaking of the potence started their own politics and their own rules against the rest of the world. This is the set of `Our Game', when we meet Mr. Cranmer, a retired spy, who is trying to locate a friend, Larry, who happens to be very ideological, even fanatic for politics. We are invited to go with Tim Cranmer in this dangerous journey, where everyting is risky. To make things worse, Larry and Tim, who has been friends for many time, have shared a woman, Emma, who is now playing some dangerous political games either. This bizarre love triangle is the main motivation of the novel most of the time -- but, of course, with many political and spy backgrounds. The best character in the novel is Tim, who is also the narrator. So we see everyting through his eyes, what makes the clues we have very dubious, once is a spy and is trainned to deceive. Is he deceving us? Nothing is free from his peculiar point of view. All his actions and thoughts have a meaning and are important in the novel. Larry is also very well developed, but we learn little by little how he became who he is. This is something that really grabs the reader's attention, because it is very well written and always lets us wanting more. I agree with a reviewer who says we should know a bit more about Emma. She is not shallow at all, but she is such an interesting character that I was left with the feeling that I wish I knew more about her and her past. Anyway, she makes sense in the narrative, and she is a main piece in this game. Le Carré has a very nice style. His writing is not difficult, but it requires the reader's total attention to the details. There are many flash backs that come out of the blue sometimes, but they aren't boring, nor break the rhythm of the narrative. I highly recommend this novel to eveyone who likes a very interesting spy book.
Rating:
Summary: It is Le Carre, but the novel wobbles a bit (3.5 *s)
Review: Le Carre, author of numerous intriguing novels concerning the spy-world of the Cold War, is concerned with both spies no longer needed by the British Foreign Office and the resurgent nationalism in the Caucasian Mountain region amidst the breakup of the Soviet Union in this novel, "Our Game." The story is told from the perspective of the ultimate, unflappable bureaucrat, Tim Cranmer, a controller of spies in the field, who has been forced to retire. "Timbo's" idyllic country-estate life, with his vineyards and young exotic, artistic live-in girlfriend, Emma, is blown sky-high with the disappearance of both Emma and Larry, his former star double-agent, now turned college lecturer and indulger of radical causes. But Tim is sharply questioned by the police and his old office and realizes that he has been implicated in some clandestine scheme concocted by Larry and his old Russian contacts. The book follows Tim's thoughts as he is constantly examining the past, questioning his remembrances and his understandings in his dealings with Emma and mostly Larry. He is both wary and envious of Larry's capacity for action and his ability to capture others, in this case, Emma. At times the introspections and doubts bring the pace of the book to a slow crawl. Tim is forced into a game of investigation and evasion. The trail leads to support for the cause of the oppressed Ingushetians of the Caucasians. However, the resolution of the entire affair may leave many readers grasping for a more definitive conclusion. As usual Le Carre is unsurpassed in capturing the subtleties and tone of the spy world and its uncertainties. But that may not be enough to rescue this book.
Rating:
Summary: This Game is Missing Something
Review: The title of "Our Game" plays on a version of Winchester football (English football), a version so arcane that even the players don't always know the rules. Le Carre follows his title with strict adherence, refusing to let his characters--or even his readers--understand the goal of this "game." What purports to be an espionage thriller is much more a whodunit set against the drab backdrop of post-Cold War England and the haunted memories of one of Her Majesty's secret servants, Tim Cranmer. Cranmer's girlfriend and top agent have disappeared and the authorities are demanding answers from him. Even Cranmer begins to doubt his innocence--although this interesting sidestep was quickly righted. As is to be expected, le Carre develops Cranmer's personality with depth and sincerity, but this numbing dive into the depths of one man's self-absorption left me gasping for air. Even compared to the typically dreary atmosphere of le Carre's other books, this novel seems dark and pointless. Aside from his protagonist, he never truly allows us to become familiar with the other people involved. Through the use of first person, le Carre cheats us from experiencing much of the story. If this was intentional, to set us up for future surprises, for example, I would understand. Instead, I knew the basic ending long before our hero seemed to, and I found myself waiting impatiently for him to catch up. I held out hope for a worthwhile revelation...but it never came. I'm a dedicated le Carre fan, but this novel was much simpler and less satisfying than I've come to expect from him. Even his shorter works had more actually story to them. Le Carre will always be the master of the Cold War angst and zeitgeist, but this expose of a tired former agent left me mostly tired. For better post-Cold War works, try the same author's "The Night Manager" or "The Constant Gardner."
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