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Summary: A sad, cold, and yet somehow very touching tale
Review: I picked up this book after seeing a copy of The Constant Gardener, simply because it is supposed to be Le Carre's greatest work. Having read my fair share of Clancy, I started reading expecting gunfights, chases, and high level assassinations. What I discovered was a book that relies on much more subtle tactics for its suspence. But that is what makes it such a masterpiece. Le Carre expertly demonstrates how betrayal and deception can entangle a person's emotions and destroy who they are. He depicts the world in a harsh light, where there is no moral certainty, only a vast array of pieces on a fog covered chess board.
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Summary: One of the greatest books
Review: The Spy who came in from the cold provides an exciting introduction to the finest level of spy novel. Le Carre introduces the burnt out agent, the pragmatic Control, and the all too human George Smiley. The plot provokes, mystifies, and then draws you into the mind of Leamas, who now wants out of his espionage career. The novel contains taut suspense, and a cast of riveting characters. I read the book, I watched the movie, and then I continued reading Le Carre's other novels. The Spy who came in from the Cold, like many other of his novels, probes deep into the mortality of what spy craft is, and the sacrifice of innocence by two opposing forces that are perhaps amoral, and seek only for one small triumph at a time.
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Summary: Machiavelli Writ Cold
Review: If the power of a book can be judged, in part, by its ability to sink hearts, than this book for me should get six stars. I thought about it off and on all day after finishing it. le Carre's characters, for me, are timeless in spite of the dated contexts of his stories. In this treatment, we follow the self-proclaimed believer-of-nothing, washed out spy Alec Leamas on his last, greatest, most perilous mission in ostensible service of freedom and the Western way against the Red Plague of eastern communism. The reality for Alec, though, is much more personal and shallow. This story is fleshed out with complex sympathetic and contemptible characters (some of them are both). For some people, this story is an exercize in the fruits of nihilism. For others, it is about a man who works through his own stubbornness and finds a type of faith. This book avoids the question "Does the end justify the means?" and simply observes that sometimes whether or not we like it that we justify what we do by whether or not "our side" benefits. The terribly frightening thing is that for most people, "our side" is an accident of birth. One of the great theses in this book is that often we are, truly, the same as our enemies. The great socio-institutional weapons we build to destroy each other kill both the thistles and the gentle flowers, and sometimes we become slaves of our own creations. What is the value of societies vs. the value of persons? And who gets to decide? Man has invented deadly games that he, to the exclusion of morality and even reason, pursues with only the goal of winning, despite cost. This is also simply one of the saddest stories ever told, anytime.
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Summary: Great cold war era spy novel
Review: John Le Carre's best! This is the book that started my love for this genre.
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Summary: Not quite as advertised
Review: This is the first John Le Carre book that I've read, and given The Spy Who's renowned status, I came to it with high expectations. This was especially so, as I had previously enjoyed a number of articles by, and interviews with, David Cornwell/John Le Carre. His insight and turn of phrase was something that I already held in great respect, and I expected this book to be no different. However, whilst his central thesis - "a plague on both your houses" is compelling and beautifully drawn, I found that overall, it was somewhat bloodless. I wasn't expecting a "shaken, not stirred" take on Cold War espionage, but, for a book that is essentially character driven, the depictions often seemed more than a little antiseptic. This surprised me, and was completely at odds with the author's ability to convey the essence of his characters, using just a few strokes of the pen. It was just that there seemed to be no follow through. Indeed I often felt that the story was unfolding on a black and white telly, whilst I viewed it through the wrong end of a telescope. So, whilst I would recommend it, I did find it a little dry, and had to push myself a bit to complete it. However, I will go through it again, and will be interested to see how it reads a second time.
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Summary: The Best of the Best
Review: Arguably the best spy novel ever written. It was out of print for years. I envy the readers who can now buy this newly printed copy. I had to make due with a decades old moldy copy that fell apart as I read it. Not that I'm complaining--I loved the book! Le Carre knows his spy stuff. This is not some techno-filled, action-packed, lets-throw-in-a-plot-twist-for-the-h@ll-of-it book. This is a tightly-packed page turner that will lead you by the hand in the beginning and then drop a piano on you at the end. Le Carre's heroes are not Bond, they are overworked, overweight, underpaid, highly intelligent characters who love their country. This book was one of Le Carre's first books, and I feel his very best. The "winners" and "losers" are blurred in the spy game, and this book clearly illustrates that point. If you want to get a feel for what real Cold War spy work was all about, read this book. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Stunning work of art
Review: Meet Alec Leamas, aged British spy who lives for revenge. For him, it's a clear thing - he wants to whack East German agent Mundt who destroyed his career even if that means he will end up six feet under ground too. Leamas is man-gotta-do school, and he doesn't realize that he is just a pawn in a chess game that hasn't nothing to do with killing Mundt.
Masterpiece of characterization and suspense, this book has my deepest recomandation.
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Summary: A true classic
Review: To treat his classic novel purely as a spy novel is to miss the point. It is classic book in the true sense of the word. A book that will endure for a very long time indeed. The work may be rooted in the Cold War and reflective of Le Carre's own experiences but it does not due justice to read the work at such a superficial level. As Leamas states, 'I do not deal in black and whites'. This theme gives the book greater depth than any spurious comparison to James Bond. I thoroughly recommend this book. Read it as a thriller if you must - better to appreciate it as the idea that at some time all of us need at some time to 'come in from the cold'. Even if it is to ask for redemption on our deathbeds. If you find it a little confusing bear with it and I recommend that your next read should be CS Lewis's The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
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Summary: has this classic spy novel stood the test of time? well,...
Review: 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' is my first John Le Carre novel, and one of only a few Soviet-USA spy novels I've read. I decided to give it a try because I remember as a boy (in the 1960s) that this was THE spy novel to end all spy novels. My thoughts? I was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed. Firstly, the story is about a burned-out British spy coming home after a rough (and somewhat failed) assignment from Berlin (..right after the days of when the wall was built). At least a third of the book is devoted to his subsequent breakdown; the reader now understands that the life of a spy is somewhat less glamourous than that of Mr. 007. Whilst weak and vulnerable, he is approached by East German intelligence officials to see if money can persuade him to divulge information. And then ... the story takes off, with many bumps and twists. I was very impressed with the overall 'cold', depressing feel of this novel. The first half of the novel is very believable, especially our burned out 'hero/spy'. But then Le Carre gets too clever for his own good and spins a story with too many plot twists; it is blown completely out of the realm of realty, and it makes for a confusing read. Other reviewers have called this novel one of Le Carre's easiest to understand. On that note I will not give him a second chance. Bottom line: a moody, brooding cold war novel with an authentic feel. Just don't let Le Carre's over-enthusiastic imagination deter you from enjoying the book.
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Summary: Leamas with one "s"
Review: Alec Leamas in one of the most fascinating characters I've ever encountered in my reading. His brutal, uncompromising, frankness in his personal interactions with people makes him an enigma in a profession that requires him to lie for a living. Does he excuse the lies he tells for the government by reminding himself of their practical value? After all, he is a man who respects utilitarian motives. He could forgive a nessesary lie more than her could a cowardly lie, such as the ones that the repugnant Ashe tells. Or, does he excuse the lies by pretending for himself that he's indifferent to the information being lied about? Again and again, throughout the story, he displays contempt for ideology and politics. This is the tale of a man trying to cope with a task that his conscience rebels against. By the end, when he finds that he's been betrayed and lied to himself, these devices begin to fall apart. In one the final passages, he finally opens up and all the excuses that he's been telling himself over the years coming flooding out of him, providing an excellent commentary on the countless rationalizations made during the cold war. Liz, who is present to hear this confession, shakes her head to each of Leamas's excuses. There is no washing his hands of his guilt over the foul mess he's found himself involved in.
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