Something went wrong. W. Philip Roth, himself, claims on the book's cover that it is "the best English novel since the war". The storytelling was a bit disjointed at times, but I think it was deliberate, as it suited the theme of the book and the rather disjointed personality of its protagonist. I could not help comparing it with the book before last that I read and reviewed, how thin how incompetent that was in comparison. Platz International (1987). December 31st 2002 ), Meet the Authors of Spring's Biggest Mysteries. We’d love your help. Epic boring. This specific ISBN edition is currently not available. It did have a lot to live up to: not only is it often considered his best work, it's sometimes considered, I picked up this book since it was on a list of most influential novels according to one of my issues of Mental Floss magazine, but I just couldn't force myself to get through it. Interesting that penguin books updated/re-released his back catalogue roughly at the same time. I read about 100 pages of some of the most impenetrable prose, full of confusing switches in point of view, setting, and time period before I set it aside. From chance meetings with people will be important to him in the future to a life in Czechoslovakia, Washington and finally on the run in England Pym weaves his way through the complicated world of … To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. I found this novel formidable. I would have felt guilty if I didn't at least try and read it, so, as not to interfere with my regular reading I pigeoned it in for the weekends only. It doesn't surprise me as a result of things like the 2011 film of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the recent mini-series of The Little Drummer Girl and The Night Manager mini-series from 2016 that his work has been given a new lease of life. I got through half-way in this book and had to drop it. Future reads from Rahively; Fiction I want to read … It took a good hundred pages or so to truly get into it, and what I thoug. Try again. 綾野剛さんと星野源さんダブル主演の連続ドラマ「miu404（ミュウ ヨンマルヨン）」（tbs系、金曜午後10時）の第9話が、8月21日に放送された。 Sorry, there was a problem saving your cookie preferences. As time passed and I kept reading I began to forget about the expectation and enjoyed it for what it was a very good novel and decent by the very high standards set by this fantastic writer. The army of characters that dropped in like paratroopers made it hard to keep the names straight and at some point, I stopped trying. This story unravels slowly, split between the past and the present and as much as I liked the back story it didn't have that profound quality that Le Carre's best writing has. This isn't the type of book I would have normally bought or borrowed (although I did like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold read a few years ago) but it came to me as a birthday present last November from a relative who didn't have the foggiest idea as to my literary tastes. The Perfect Spy is a masterpiece of its genre, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 November 2015. Please try your request again later. A Perfect Spy (BBC Radio Collection) Abridged Ed edition This edition was published in September 12, 1988 by BBC Audiobooks. That it is semi-autobiographical made it that much more poignant. A Perfect Spy is widely regarded as one of John Le Carré’s greatest novels. “Sometimes we have to do a thing in order to find out the reason for it. Le Carre treats all his characters with utmost respect and love; downright criminals are allowed their own justification, everyone is permitted a degree of mixed thought and dissembling, their private and their public persona need not accord. 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