Rating: 
Summary: Too slow for spy novel
Review: I find Le Carr's more recent post-soviet works slow read. "Our game" is a case in point. It took some effort to move through the book. If you want to pick up a Le Carr book, I recommend his earlier ones such as "the smiley's people" or "the little drummer girl."
Rating: 
Summary: Please someone wake me up.
Review: I happened to listen to the book tape in my car (unabridged--something like 12-15 hours). There should be a warning posted on it to keep people from emulating me and falling asleep at the wheel. If this is "as thrilling as Le Carre gets," then I'll take a pass from now on.My chief complaints: 1) Far too much of the book took place in flashback 2) The narrator has zero personality, vacillating from vague self-pity to vague longing to vague regret and back. 3) The one moment of electric thrill (I don't want to give away anything here, but it has to do with a sudden revelation by the narrator) is quickly revealed to be as false and anticlimatic as the rest of the book. 4) Try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to care about a single character. 5) Did I mention that too much was in flashback? Of the three pivotal characters, two are presented almost entirely in flashback. Their presence is felt, but they are distant, ghostlike, and not particularly appealing. Sorry to be so negative, but don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: le Carre adds ethnic authenticity to a good story
Review: I have read this book, twice, and have read the reviews posted on Amazon.com. Only one of them hinted at the substory involving the Ingushi nation of the former Soviet Union. Maybe most of the readers thought that such an ethnic group was fictitious, which it very much is not. Being married to an Ingush, I was most astonished to discover le Carre's accurate representation of the nation's history, something absolutely unattainable in the former Soviet Union where they are systematically maligned. Some of the Ingush warriors and mafia depicted were perhaps a bit seedier than in reality, but the level of authenticity in general was very gratifying, and lent an extra layer of meaning to the book. Yes, there is a love story, certainly, but the real story of the book is the transformation of a citizen of a superpower into a citizen of the world. There is a difference and it does matter.
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: One of the best spy books I've read
Review: I usually read spy thrillers for entertainment, not expecting to come away with a different perspective or...actually feeling something. Unlike The Night Manager, the only other LeCarre book I've read, this one surprised and affected me. I won't say why because that wouldn't be fair to people who haven't read it. But I will suggest that you tolerate some perplexing aspects of the book's narrative style...shifting from present time to a memory to a fantasized conversation and back again...and see where it all leads. Like Mailer's "Harlot's Ghost," this book transcends the spy genre. I can't wait to read more LeCarre.
Rating:
Summary: -
Review: I'm always impressed with the detail and accuracy that Le Carre infuses into his spy novels. Who would have known al this about the little country of Ingushetia? Even more apparent is the real, considering about six months after I read this, Ingushetia and Dagestan snagged some headlines that usually were held for the Chechen rebellion.
Rating:
Summary: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold: Post-USSR Version
Review: I've read all of Le Carre's books and OUR GAME, while not the best of the bunch, ranks near the top. Being the same age as Tim Cramner and having been "early retired" myself was a real attention grabber for me. It was extremely interesting to see how another "cold warrior" was handling his own post-cold war existence. I was about a third into the book when I thought to check this site for comments - BAD IDEA! The BOOKLIST review TELLS THE ENTIRE STORY - Shame on it, AND Amazon.com for putting it on the site. Luckily, I caught myself before seeing too much. Hope other readers do too. Le Carre's attention to detail is what MAKES his stories (for me at least) so gripping. So my only gripe abt OUR GAME is that he DOESN'T develop the EMMA character nearly enough to make me see why Cranmer is in love with her. Le Carre doesn't succeed much better with Larry. He too, remained relatively one-dimensional for me. Sure, spys are supposed to be "shadowy", but I still had a tough time trying to see what it was about him that so intrigued Emma. (I know, she's fm Venus and us Martians won't ever understand.) But as I said at the top, Tim C is the character I was MOST interested in, and Le Carre's "first person" narrative kept me reading way past my bedtime. I found myself specifically scheduling the final chapter for a time when I could read it line by line, covering what was coming with paper. For someone new to Le Carre, however, I'd recommend "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" first. It is STILL the best spy book ever written; and the movie with Richard Burton is also still the best of its genre.
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.
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