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I really really wanted to get all the way thru the book, but I need a total week of no life/work, a notepad to jot down all the angles being worked, a white board to map out all these people and where they fit in. I knew as soon as I set it down I would never go back--it was just too much to keep track of for me. I got 2/3 way thru before life had to be tended to again.
Starting A Most Wanted Man this reminded me of seeing those beautiful rugs being made. Then I set it aside. Did you ever watch those people who make amazingly intricate woven rugs, and you wonder how it's done and how do all those little patterns get in there.
Then I decided to totally start over again, maybe I was just being lazy the first time around. Just can't dedicate that much effort to this book. Characters are complex, and there are quite a few to keep track of; the story is engrossing with several layers of intrigue; and then I kept wondering what else can be stuffed into one book (or how many more patterns can they jam into this rug before you get sick and dizzy looking at it).
I was totally hooked until about a third the way thru, then I had to flip back to see which lady this one was and how she fit in again.
Expect the unexpected. Surgical use of language. LeCarre makes characters visual to the reader.
He is also accomplished at writing about "wheels within wheels" intrigues. (The only BANG.-WHAM.
I think this was partially because I found some aspects of the plot far-fetched and credulity-straining (which might be the result of ignorance on my part, as my knowledge of international banking approximates closely to zero). comes in the last couple of pages, and, as other reviewers have noted, is decidedly odd).However, although I enjoyed the style and the characters, I found this one dragged a bit and frequently felt flat, such that, unlike other le Carrés, which I couldn't wait to pick up again, it took me a while to get through it.
I like John le Carré. If you like BANG.-WHAM.-style thrillers, le Carré is most definitely not for you.
I just couldn't buy into Tommy Brue and his bank at all. He is an outstanding stylist who writes with wit and flair.
This one addresses some very topical issues - terrorism and its financing, and the people who watch the terrorists and how far they are prepared to go in bending and even breaking the rules.
With what many would like to criticize as typical American cursing and judgementalism and bravado (which in truth is a charicature and misrepresentation of Americans) the really bad guy is swept to justice in the Mid East, and the Chechen is returned to Chechnya by order of Interpol. HOGWASH. The really bad guy in the plot is a sponsor of terrorists. The most wanted man is a young victim of misinformation and distortions done by non-Americans.
Beautifully written. Le Carre' ends a relatively decent plot, with great characters, by tossing in two pages of claptrap that destroy the novel. But Le Carre', for purely liberal establishment reasons, enters a couple of spies on horseback as the last act. until the Cowboy rides in.
The Swiss and Germans have no grace in their laws. DON'T BOTHER READING IT; but if you must, buy it used or check it out of a library. Suddenly, on the last couple of pages, the big bad mean nasty rambunctious zealous Americans show up and destroy everything good in the world. After a novel filled with reminders of the brutality of the Russians in Chechnya, the Germans in Warsaw, the Arabs with their brothers and lovers, and the assorted perversions of European and Mid Eastern culture, a group of American spies appear from outside the plot and overturn the namby pamby actions of half hearted Germans spying on their own country.
Only qualm is the continued use of the same boogeyman. Beautifully written as usual for Le Carre.
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