The Tailor of Panama

Rating:
Summary: Well observed if a little disjointed
Review: Seems to be written with the aim of being rather clever - and mostly succeeds. But it is a little disjointed and after a slow first nine tenths rather hurrys to a conclusion. Still well worth a read

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't pick it up
Review: Forget about putting the book down . . . this book was so tedious that I had trouble motivating myself to keep reading it. The plot and setting develop at a snail's pace, seem to go nowhere for a while, then suddenly wrap up clumsily. The only two characters worthy of our sympathy are inexplicably in love with the annoying protagonist. Greene's version IS better (although also a slow start).

Rating:
Summary: Valium-strength bore coupled with exquisite style
Review: I am not sure why the publisher refers to this book as a "thriller". It is one of the slowest reads I've ever had; no thrills whatsoever! The satire comes in incredibly funny (yet very rare) spurts followed by gaping voids of extreme boredom. The writing, however, is first rate! Mr. Le Carre is a master of the English language, and his elegance of style puts him up there with the best of them. Read this book for the content, and you will regret it; read it for style and you'll adore it

Rating:
Summary: another loser from the cold war guy
Review: Mr. Le Carre has clearly run out of things to write about now that the cold war has thankfully expired. Graham Greene certainly did a better job on the same theme in "Our Man In Havana". The descriptions of Panama are very tasty, but the story does not hang together very well and the characters are not well formed. This book is not worth stealing but will make a fair "poolside" read if there is absolutely nothing else to pick up

Rating:
Summary: Far from his best
Review: I buy everything Le Carre writes, so I don't feel embarrassed about calling one a clunker. This one is basically a re-make of Graham Greene's "Our Man in Havana," without the humor -- and without acknowledgement. Moreover, I got the audio version, which is read by the author. Large portions of it are incomprehensible; he swallows words, and drops often to a whisper for "dramatic effect" -- which doesn't work well when you can't understand what he is saying

Rating:
Summary: Guaranteed to replace sheep counting, warm milk and Nytol.
Review: "The Tailor of Panama" was so long-anticipated by Le Carre's fans that small flaws would likely have been overlooked or even attributed to the author's change in genre (or the ignorance of readers who could not make the genre shift with the author). But Le Carre did not make just small flaws; he misjudged his storyline and audience in the biggest of ways. Le Carre's past writings secured his place as one of the top spy novelists of all time because he always spun a thrilling, tightly-woven tale of espionage, politics, and good ol' fashioned spy games, and he never failed to develop strong characters that the reader either loved to spy with or hated enough to eliminate. In this effort, Le Carre miserably disappoints on both counts. His politics are tired, the plot unrealistic, and the supposed satire a joke that falls flat. Worse, the protagonists are anemic and downright unlikeable -- who could ever identify or want to identify with either Pendel or Osnard? It is the supporting cast of women -- fittingly the wife, a mistress, and forbidden fruit in the form of a co-worker -- whose characters are colorful, strong, and far better-developed than those of their leading men. Alas, the reader is left wanting for more about them and less about the necessary but tedious steps in the book's march to an anticlimatic end, which is actually a foregone conclusion by the time all of the key characters and their motives are introduced

Rating:
Summary: It's not what you say, but how you say it ...
Review: The beauty of le Carre is in the way he says what he has to say and not necessarily the content. The man is a master of the English language and no one surpasses him in the turn of his phrases, his nuances, his pictures painted from words. He has gone beyond the spy genre to new heights. For those wanting to prevent him from growing, that's a shame - but growing he is and more power to him. A good read!

Rating:
Summary: Not his best but a good read
Review: It is Le Carre's characters that draw me into his novels, the intrigue and adventure keep me there. This novel was short on both. Those looking for Pym in The Perfect Spy will not find him in Osnard, the novice spymaster. It is however, Le Carre and there are many wonderfull moments that will please his most demanding fan.

Rating:
Summary: A total flop , for a much awaited book.
Review: For years John Le Carré has been a good spy story teller. With a wonderful theme as is the forthcoming transfer of the Panama Canal to The Republic of Panama and its world wide implications, Le Carré has completely missed the boat. The novel is slow, contains no thrilling parts whatsoever and he has devoted a lot of time saying infamous things about Panama. The author seems to ignore that money laundering is a lot worse in Miami than in Panama, where new laws have made it very difficult to launder money. The fact is.. this small country happens to be , geographically, in the middle of the drug trade, Colombia and Bolivia being major producers, and who is the consumer .... USA !! It is high time a world class author stop stereotyping a small and young country , grossly exagerating facts about Latin life, highliting its faults and trying to somewhat appease the readers' reaction by talking bad about England also. The sad thing for Panama, is that everybody will believe the exagerated bad things expressed by Le Carré , with all its economic consequences, and nobody gives a damn about what he says about England, 'cause England will always be England period. This book is a total disappointment. Save your money and buy another one

Rating:
Summary: Groupthink: the Novel
Review: This is one of the more intriguing spy novels in recent memory, and a rather good satire in addition. John Le Carre is a very talented writer who has his weaknesses (more about them below) but also has his strengths, and they frankly are legion, and outweigh anything else. This isn't Le Carre's best novel (The Little Drummer Girl? Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy?) but it's not his worst either. It's a very interesting book.

At its heart is Harry Pendel, the Tailor of the title, who's half-blackmailed half-bribed into spying for Britain. Pendel's a voluntary exile from a rather sordid lower-class existence in Britain, who's remade himself (and promoted himself socially) in the exile and wanna-be Brit community of Panama. He lies to everyone about his background, so when he becomes a British spy, it should come as no surprise that he immediately begins to fabricate information there, too.

Pendel's controller is Andy Osnard, a shady character with hidden agendas of his own, and behind him there's a rogue's gallery of crooked embassy officials, government functionaries, American soldiers, espionage service supervisors, and even a Murdoch-like media baron who tries to create the news in order to better report it ala William Randolf Hearst. While most of the characters are well-drawn, Pendel's wife sounds suspiciously British for an American. In one scene she refers to the children eating "crisps" which I believe is Brit for potato chips...though I'm not sure. No American would talk like that.

This all leads to several very funny passages where the heads of two governments decide to invade a country on the basis of the fabrications of this silly tailor who's trying to recoup his wife's inheritance, which he lost in a bad investment. The book winds up reading like the book version of the movie It's a Mad Mad Mad World, with everyone trying to steal more than their fair share of the pie.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. John Le Carre doesn't do satire much, or comedy (though some of the Smiley stuff was fun) and so this was a welcome change of pace. It's an interesting book, and I would recommend it to most anyone.