Reading List Completists discussion

Discuss Winner of the Back In Time Poll - August 2017

Okay, I've pulled out my yellowed, never-read paperback from the shelves and I am queued up!

C-shaw wrote: "Okay, I've pulled out my yellowed, never-read paperback from the shelves and I am queued up!"

Yes!

I've read it before, but might join in again (if I find the time).
Should you become big fans and if you like signed books as I do, perhaps you'd like this promotion I came across:

https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-le...

Starts today - I have my digital copy downloaded. The question is, will I get to it soon with all of my other books!

I'm 2/3 of the way through it and already considering abandoning it. I know Le Carre is considering the best-of-the-best spy novelist, but I don't like this book much!

I'm about 100 pages in and I'm loving it - maybe after being desensitized to spy stories from The Americans and Homeland -- I love the retro Cold War vibe - it's make a great mini series with Ryan Gosling lol

I don't have anything intelligent to add. I bought it when I was in Berlin from an English language book store. I can say that Berlin has lost about 99% of its creepy Cold War vibe, which I guess is a good thing.

So far, definitely not what I expected. It's like - what if James Bond suddenly just had to be a normal citizen.

Okay, I finished the book today and have raised my rating from "did not like" to "okay." The last few chapters were very exciting. There was twist after twist to this story, and half the time I was lost about what was going on; nevertheless, I am glad to have experienced this classic spy story. However, I can't like Le Carre's style. Matthew, there were no "normal citizens" that I could discern in this story!! Gimme James Bond any day. :-)

Great book - wow! Glad this group made me read this - didn't expect it to be so good - never read Lecarre and a discovery!. Powerful story - masterful writing, plot and characterization. Plus totally dig the retro Cold War, preGlasnost 1960s Euro gloom and existentialism. Ending was a wow too. Will need to read more now.

In the middle - the interrogation is interesting, but a bit slow and confusing. I am thinking that as it is wrapped up, some of it will become more clear.

Finished this over the weekend. I like it okay - I really think I would have appreciated it more if I had lived more of my life during the cold war (I think I was about 13 when the Berlin Wall came down). But, as a historical fiction representation of the Cold War at its height, it is perfect. It is also much darker than the usual espionage stories I am used to.

I did glean a great quotation from the book: "He met failure as one day he would probably meet death, with cynical resentment and the courage of a solitary."

Haha Yes, Matthew I also was young when the wall came down. I think the reason this book made such an impression on me was because I read it when I was living in Berlin for a couple of months... At the time was going through a stint of cold-war reading both fiction and nonfiction.

I contemplated re-reading it now, but when I picked it up and thumbed through it I remembered my growing frustration with it about 2/3rd through and that I never really recovered from that.

I was older than you guys when the wall came down. Before that, I had a pen pal in East Berlin, a man who wrote of the struggles his family had to survive. It was obvious that some of his letters had been opened and scrutinized; therefore, I feel sure he only glazed over the worst of his troubles. His entire family was working and saving to buy a cheap, second-hand car. I so much wish I had not lost touch with him, so I could see how Pete's family's lives improved after the wall came down. You "youngsters" have no idea just how bad things were then.