Not one of Le Carré’s best

This is a rather protracted novel. What would have been an excellent short story has been over extended with the result that rather a lot of nothing happens for much of the book. The narrative arc shares some similarities with The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, but I found it far less compelling.

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5 people found this helpful

Depressing but good

One of the more depressing of LC’s stories, very down on the British secret services, and replete with all his prejudices, but well-built.

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Classic

Great writing , great narration. Le Carre and Jayston - a perfect combination, each complimenting the work of the other.

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Very slow start but once it got going exciting.

Very slow to start. Highlights competition between government agencies I thought. Once things got going it was more interesting.

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Atmospheric

Excellent story in the style you expect from John Le Carre. A bit like the Spy who Came in from the Cold.

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le Carré goes Proust

Skinny plot stretched out....still well written. Feels like the author was out to prove a point...Michael Jayston saves the day.

Not on par with Absolute Friends.

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A lesson in how not to do espionage

‘The Looking Glass War’ is the detailed and interesting story of Leclerc, a “silly, vulgar man” who heads up a decaying military intelligence unit left over from the War. It is the story of his interdepartmental envy, and the bungled operation he mounts to “put a man in” behind the Iron Curtain, playing toy soldiers in order to compete with the Circus.

The story is rather a subtle one, which defies the obvious conclusion, and which leaves you at the end asking yourself, “What went wrong?” It’s all the more interesting for that. A word of warning to the hearer: Don’t expect George Smiley to have anything more than a peripheral rôle in the story.

Michael Jayston’s narration is, as usual, excellent. He has the characters’ voices off to a tee, well suited to their personalities in the story. Haldane, for instance, is harsh and efficient; Leclerc suitably avuncular. I did, however, struggle to differentiate between Smiley and Control in the passages where they are conversing.

All in all, well worth a listen.

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Espionage on a shoestring

The Brits think they have enough but one department, feeling under-valued, tries to run a job it has no business doing. The circus is involved but you'll need to make your own mind up as to what they did. Good story, good narration, just lacked a bit of tension at some points.

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Solid performance of a smaller Le Carre work

The Looking Glass War (LGW) is one of the smaller works in Le Carre's Smiley canon - it comes between the two better and bigger works, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. George Smiley himself appears often enough to be a character in his own right, but this is not a Smiley books. It was written (according to Le Carre himself) as mild rebuke to those readers of Spy Who Came In who over-read, or over-empathised, with his flawed characters as heroes of the Cold War. The main dramatis personae of LGW are most certainly not heroic: pompous old men, callow youths, the passed-over and the past-it, the narration (in the hands and voice of sterling Le Carre regular Michael Jayston) moves its characters from the military intelligence team 'The Department' (forever competing with their more competent rivals in The Circus) straight through a series of red flags into the arms of inevitable chaos. Michael Jayston is expert at his work, as always, and if the plot just occasionally sags in places, Jayston keeps up the pace and tension to make this a worthwhile and fulfilling read.

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Dull

I usually enjoy le Carré, but try as I might my mind wanders off.. giving up on this one.

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4 people found this helpful