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Book Review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Nov. 5th, 2024 10:26 amMy Smiley readthrough has at last brought me to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which was in fact one of the roots of this readthrough, as I read this book in high school and did not get it even slightly. I could see that it was good! But as to what actually happened at any point in the narrative? Who knows.
I thought rereading it as an adult would help clarify, as would reading the other Smiley books first. But while the first definitely helped, the second helped less than you would think. In fact, it made some things even more inexplicable, like Smiley’s marriage to Ann, who is constantly, publicly cheating on him. The earlier books do give more context for this, but the context only makes it weirder, as in every single book Ann appears to have just left Smiley, usually in the company of a much younger and hotter man, in an extremely public fashion that everyone knows about. Smiley keeps going back to her.
This may be a metaphor for the Circus, since every book also involves the newly-retired and/or fired Smiley coming back for One More Mission.
When Smiley hears that Karla calls Anna “the last illusion of the illusionless man,” he wonders if Karla truly thinks that love is an illusion, but let’s face it, Karla doesn’t need to think that all love is an illusion to believe that what’s going on with Ann and Smiley is mostly smoke and mirrors. As is, of course, the Circus.
( Spoilers )
Le Carre suffering scale: perhaps three-quarters of a The Spy Who Came in from the Cold? Not quite as bleak, but ouch.
I thought rereading it as an adult would help clarify, as would reading the other Smiley books first. But while the first definitely helped, the second helped less than you would think. In fact, it made some things even more inexplicable, like Smiley’s marriage to Ann, who is constantly, publicly cheating on him. The earlier books do give more context for this, but the context only makes it weirder, as in every single book Ann appears to have just left Smiley, usually in the company of a much younger and hotter man, in an extremely public fashion that everyone knows about. Smiley keeps going back to her.
This may be a metaphor for the Circus, since every book also involves the newly-retired and/or fired Smiley coming back for One More Mission.
When Smiley hears that Karla calls Anna “the last illusion of the illusionless man,” he wonders if Karla truly thinks that love is an illusion, but let’s face it, Karla doesn’t need to think that all love is an illusion to believe that what’s going on with Ann and Smiley is mostly smoke and mirrors. As is, of course, the Circus.
( Spoilers )
Le Carre suffering scale: perhaps three-quarters of a The Spy Who Came in from the Cold? Not quite as bleak, but ouch.
