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A Perfect Spy was a bit of a marmite book some loved it and a few not much.
Sheila, whose choice it was has written an excellent review in the comment below.
I confess that I did not give myself enough time to read all 672 pages. Chapter One was fine, introducing the main character, Marcus Pym, The Perfect Spy, his wife and some dinner guests, and setting up the intrigue as Pym disappears. The main thread of the story concerns the search to discover his whereabouts. Has he defected and if so to which country? If not, then why has he gone and where to? So far, so good but then came Chapter Two and we are plunged into an account of Marcus Pym's life that he is writing for his son and beginning before he, Marcus, was born. The bulk of the book then took the reader on a long meandering journey through times past, but this reader was itching to get back to time present. Faced with over-long digressions I skip-read the history and concentrated on Marcus Pym's disappearance. However, since he staged his vanishing act to have opportunity to write his life-story, I missed out on the essence of the book. Having said that, I still think that the book over-long. Le Carré is an excellent writer but you can have too much of a good thing.
Sheila, whose choice it was has written an excellent review in the comment below.
I confess that I did not give myself enough time to read all 672 pages. Chapter One was fine, introducing the main character, Marcus Pym, The Perfect Spy, his wife and some dinner guests, and setting up the intrigue as Pym disappears. The main thread of the story concerns the search to discover his whereabouts. Has he defected and if so to which country? If not, then why has he gone and where to? So far, so good but then came Chapter Two and we are plunged into an account of Marcus Pym's life that he is writing for his son and beginning before he, Marcus, was born. The bulk of the book then took the reader on a long meandering journey through times past, but this reader was itching to get back to time present. Faced with over-long digressions I skip-read the history and concentrated on Marcus Pym's disappearance. However, since he staged his vanishing act to have opportunity to write his life-story, I missed out on the essence of the book. Having said that, I still think that the book over-long. Le Carré is an excellent writer but you can have too much of a good thing.