Alan (The Lone Librarian) Teder’s Reviews > Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Other George Smiley Stories > Status Update

[The abridgement of "Smiley's People" read by the author came in at 2 hours & 45 minutes, about 25% of an unabridged reading. There were no audio artifacts from its 1980s recording period. This was severely cut as detailed in "The Secret Heart: John le Carré, an intimate memoir" by abridgement editor Suleika Dawson, but the highlights were still all there.]

"You’ve got your Karla look! Vladi had opened up the vein again, so Karla had him killed! That’s your banner, George. I can see you marching. ..."
“Why did Vladimir call him the Sandman?” Smiley asked, knowing the answer already.
“It was his joke. A German fairy tale Vladi picked up in Estonia from one of his Kraut forebears. ‘Karla is our Sandman. Anyone who comes too close to him has a way of falling asleep.’"

[The abridgement of 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' read by the author came in at 3 hours, about 33% of an unabridged edition. There were no audio artifacts from its 1980s recording period. The cuts were again well done and I did not even notice what was missing.]

[The abridgement of 'The Spy Who Came In From the Cold' read by the author came in at 2 hours & 54 minutes, about 50% of an unabridged edition. There were no audio artifacts from its 1980s recording period. I followed along with a print text and again the cuts were well done. Carré was excellent in all voices, incl. the German accents.]

[The abridgement of 'A Murder of Quality' read by the author came in at 2 hours & 7 minutes, about 50% of an unabridged edition. This time there were audio artifacts from its pre-digital 1980s recording era, dropouts, tape hiss & changes in ambiance, noticeable but not disruptive. I followed along with a print text and again the cuts were well done. Carré was great in all voices, especially with such as Mad Janey.]

A dog that had not bitten the postman; a devil that rode upon the wind; a woman who knew that she would die; a little, worried man in an overcoat standing in the snow outside his hotel, and the laborious chime of the Abbey clock telling him to go to bed.
Smiley hesitated, then with a shrug crossed the road to the hotel entrance. [A Murder of Quality]

[The abridgement of 'A Call for the Dead' read by the author came in at 2 hours & 18 minutes, so about 50% of an unabridged edition read by Michael Jayston of 4 hours & 44 minutes. This highlighted the interviews, actions and investigations and cut most of the descriptive and observational passages. Overall well done I thought. All I really missed was the introductory section about Ann & George Smiley's marriage.]