A Legacy of Spies: A Novel (George Smiley Novels Book 9)

Le Carre was a prolific writer, for which I am grateful. Each writing is so masterfully phrased, thrilling, witty, suspenseful. Understand that his wife collaborated on his work to make it even better. Outstanding teamwork. Am in awe of his writing style.

In the midst of my own travails, casting aside the Circus of my life, I take quill in hand, having brushed off the literary dust of 25 years of accumulated, if feigned, indifference, to read John Le Carre's latest work. I will, for you fine watchers, eschew the tradecraft of ciphers, and write, and only for Le Carre, "en clair."Will you forgive the pun? Oh, but you must! For there is much to forgive in this memoir, the first case of such being its title: "A Legacy of Spies." Said four words possess a colon -- I am reminded of that word's other meaning -- at their tail end to proclaim the work to be "A Novel," in case one is tempted to assume otherwise.For a British spy, apparently, the only things one may assume are VERBS and the occasional redacted comma. That, and paragraphs as thick as a barrister's brief. One may also presuppose the total absence of anything like James Bond-style action. Perish the thought! And then there's the matter of the ending...The story resurrects Peter Gulliam (and you must never call him "Pete") -- disciple of the redoubtable and often doubted, George Smiley -- who is recalled to a dismal safehouse to be held accountable for his myriad indiscretions during the Cold War. The mission is "Windfall," which, one may be aware, resulted in the operative Alec Leamas being shot down at the Berlin Wall trying to save an innocent female pawn of the Great Game.There follows a middle book filled with reams of reams of field reports and meeting minutes from both the Crown and the Stasi, wherein all the characters of the past reside in their ghostly glory. The documents that exist, and there are many which do not, pin the blame for the "failure" of Windfall squarely on Peter, whose primary defense of all is silence, and an unspoken question: where is George?And yes, I forgive all. How could I not? I've grown up with the man, and I've shelled out 11.05-pound sterling for the privilege. And you will, too. The lure is too great, and, admit it, you'll never forgive yourself if you don't!

I know it wasn't his last, but this feels more like le Carré saying goodbye than Peter or George. George is ever present but barely here, and in his stead we get the confusion, confidence and emotions of the always somewhat hapless Peter. Nonetheless, it's quite amazing what he did with such an old story in this book. He turned it literally inside out and in the process showed how brilliant and dark the Cold War was for everyone, especially all of those poor Joes.

There are many good things in this intricate novel. But it's constructed from flashbacks and official reports,which gives it a certain lack of immediacy until almost the end. The complex plot creaks along, but thecharacters --while vividly and skillfully drawn-- are unappealing and unmemorable. George Smiley isconspicuous by his absence for much of the book.It's a first-person narrative by Peter Guillam. Guilliam the narrator prooves to be less likeable and lessinteresting than Guilliam the minor character in the other Smiley books. Like the author, Gilliam now lives inFrance: but the author's attempt to make his life there intersting comes off as exactly that: Thomas Hardycharacters transplanted to Brittany as "local color".In what apparently was intended to be a psychological novel, the thoughts of the characters are rather mundane.If there is an idea in this book, I missed it. Guilliam's thinking revolves around women, but he seems strangelyunlustful, and the women exist in the book only as the objects of his affection--not three-dimensional characters.Le Carre is better at writting about treffs than trists.Two stories are told at the same time, one in the 1960s -- revisting the events of *The Spy Who Came in fromthe Cold*, and one contemporary. Both seem a bit contrived. The earlier novel--a classic--does not needreintrepretation, and the additional plot twist which is imposed upon by this book deepens our cynicism but not ourundrestanding. The story in the story in the present hinges on threatened litigation -- never the best premisefor a novel. Imagine if Dicken had decided to tell the story of *Bleak House* -- which also is about a legacy, aliteral one--though official court documents: the result might have been like this "monument of chancery practice".Le Carre is the poet laureate of bureaucracy--but here he falters: the reports do not reflect the style of officialdomand all seem to be written by the same person. Worse, the contemrporary MI6 officials are caricatures: exaggerated "types": cartoonish and one-dimensional. We know he can do much better.Two characters -- the "legacy" of the title -- serve as the link the past and present stories, and the primemovers of the latter. One is never seen and the other makes a series of cameo appearances, ofincreasing incoherence. Mental illness is used to explain unlikely, unmotivated actions required bythe plot.Tradecraft and believability also suffer. The 1960s story turns on an extremely unlikely "windfall" --featuring a grusome appliance borrowed from a gothic novel (or the film *Straw Dogs*). Yet it fails toproduce either horror or suspense, because it is a mere plot device: he must be caught, so caught he is.The best part of the book is the description of the escape route though Eastern Europe. Apparentlythe author traveled this very route while doing research for the book. For a time, the book comes aliveand makes up believe the events are actually happening. Unfortunately, this is somewhat spoiled bythe odd and unconvincing love story.The contermporary narrative has a good description of a very special "safe house", and its very specialhousekeeper. The low point icomes when -- at the climax of the novel -- a gun is produced to heightenthe action, gratuitously. Previously, guns were used sparringly in Le Carre novels, and usually in the handsof professionals where they were believable.To sum up: unlikely plot elements and contrived characters covert what could have been *Rememberance of Spies Past*into *The Godfather: Part 3*. The readers is left wishing for more Smiley. One would do better to re-read *The Spy Who Came in from the Cold*. Let's hope there will be another Le Carre book, and that it will be entirely set during theCold War -- his best subject. If Patrick O'Brien could write books set during the Napoleonic Wars, why can't Le Carrewrite one set during the Cold War?

Loving the book

A suitable requiem for his best creation George Smiley.

A trip down memory lane not just for Peter Guillam but for the readers as well. Fantastic and highly recommended.

A wonderful read, fortunately I remembered the BBC production of Tinker Tailor which guided me through this typical complicated convoluted plot and enabled me to put faces to the characters.

Le Carrè, maestro della spy story, ci proietta con questo libro nel passato, nel passato di un periodo oscuro ma affascinante, la guerra fredda. Ritroviamo personaggi ormai mitici, personaggi che ci descrivono che cosa vuol dire a volte barattare la propria anima per un bene più grande. Davvero bellissimo.