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: 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: Lord Jim recycled by an author in decline.
Review: Apocalypse Now seems to have shown up too often on the BBC,
and Le Carre has decided that in his old age, the memory and plot of his first book needs to appear once again. Its
the old story of Lawrence and a hundred other Englishmen who for some reason or another "go native". There's all
the adventure of any old copy of "Chum" or "Boy's Own" in
the covers, with an added soupcon of a nubile young woman
cheating on an old age pensioner who is her lover. Oh no!
A vapid tour through the antique shops of Bath, a few old
warstories - the dashed Hun are Chechins here! - and the
W.C. Fields of Russia - Boris Yeltsin -is charging in with
his dastardly Cossacks! And what an ending...if you can find
it!! Le Carre writes: "I was an idiot. I took a holiday from who I was". Right mate...the book is proof! Rumours are that George Lazenby has been signed to play the
lead in the film of this title.
C.K. Dexter Haven
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: Brilliant
Review: Excellent, both in how it reads and in its overall story; simultaneously a fine place to begin with LeCarre and a great vantage point to look back on the Cold War.
Rating:
Summary: Irresistible- Le Carre's latest may be his best
Review: Having read everything LeCarre has published, I found "Our Game" an absorbing, well written thriller, with a rich and complex plot, superb character development, and the pacing we have come to enjoy so much in this author's work. This is not the book to give someone who must complete an important project on time; - they may miss their deadline once they start reading this volume!
Rating:
Summary: Finally it's over, thank god!
Review: I almost skip every other line in the final 50 or so pages. And in the end, I really don't know what has happened. I give credit for the author to fully develop two characters. Emma remains the same woman who comes from the dark with no background, no family and past history from beginning to end.What is the book really about? I don't know. Maybe it's about quaint friendships between Tim and Larry or maybe it's about self-iscovery but the author never explain that clearly. Anyway, all that have little to do with spying and espionage. It is a book I regret having the privilage to read .
Rating:
Summary: great but not a masterpiece
Review: I can't agree with the negative reviews here -- this is a very powerful book, and relates to current political issues in a way few spy novels really do. One reviewer complains that much of the book is in flashback and that two main characters aren't really present except in that form: that "complaint" gets to the heart what this book is often dealing with -- memory, reevaluation, what the world meant during the cold war and what it means now, etc. Le Carre has better books (Smiley's People and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold may be the masterworks) but this is a very strong work too.
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