The Honourable Schoolboy: A George Smiley Novel

Well sport, this was a messy, sometimes uneven AND occasionally even a plodding novel but I absolutely loved every single word of it. Le Carré is often compared to Graham Greene, but the only real literary comparison for this novel is Joseph Conrad. I was wondering why I kept thinking of Victory and Nostromo, and why I was overcome with this desire to read The Secret Agent? Conrad's ghost floats and haunts almost every page of this wonderful, beautiful, and an ultimately sad spy novel.

If you want a super hero and action that defies belief turn to the Reacher, Gray Man, John Rain or Mitch Rapp series. I've enjoyed all of those and more. But I find Le Carre's Smiley series more than clever and even challenging.

I know reading this seems more like plodding at times, but in the end I found every moment, each conversation and every event has a purpose in this series. Indeed, even the remotest characters are used masterfully.

Take your time and let Le Carre introduce you to real spycraft!

Two. Smart. Dickensian.

I have always loved the beginning, the Typhoon Saturday in the Hong Kong Press Lounge.

Smiley and Guillam. Of course, Jayston played Guilliam in the original BBC series of Tinker Tailor, and has an advantage.

Sure, but that would be a tall order.

In the same way that Alec Guinness was probably the greatest casting choice in history as George Smiley, Michael Jayston's reading of Le Carre's works is nothing short of brilliant.

Yes. No. I don't know. Mr. Jayston does a great job reading a book that isn't my favorite JLC book.

Anything to do with George Smiley was interesting and engaging. Jerry Westerby is a great character but his part of the story just doesn't grab me. I may need to give it another go someday, but it won't be soon.

He's got a great handle on the characters and his Smiley is a great impersonation of Alec Guiness.

When I realized Smiley has the ability to be an uber-jerk. I didn't get it from reading the book.

The Honourable Schoolboy a byzantine and (maybe) overly long novel that takes almost a full day to listen to. It doesn't move like a bat out of anything but it does have lots of character development and a lot to say about how the world works, not all of it complimentary. It's a story that hasn't been translated into a dramatic form, except for the recent radio version with Simon Russel Beale (I've heard rumors that there was a version in the early 80s, but I haven't tracked it down), probably because of the complex nature of the story. Some folks think it's the best JLC book out there. I don't, and I think the novels on either side of this one are much better. JLC at his worst is better than many authors at their best. His command of the English language is immense and his stories are always thought provoking.

This applies to all the Jayston readings...excellent in general, but he gets a bit tripped up on accents in this one, although admittedly a challenge to manage Chinese, American and other accents. But his rendering of Ricardo's Mexican accent was more of a bland eastern European sound. At times I just wish he didn't bother. The story is vintage Le Carre, verging on less believable at times as he goes international.

aside from the mystery/thriller aspects of the series I'm very much enjoying the writing style as I've mentioned previously. I don't normally do series as they tend toward diminishing returns as you go along and in general the 1st is usually the best as it is usually something new. But thus far I've liked all the books and though they get a bit convoluted at times and the politics get a bit confusing keeping track of, I like many of the characters and each novel is basically a stand alone though Tinker does in a sense lead into this one. But what i again find myself mentioning is the writing, though it may not be Nabokovian or Melvillian in its use of language, there is some nice writing and lines stand out with a beautiful metaphor that reveals itself in a nice picture; and there have been a sentence and a chapter that I thought were laugh out loud funny. Very colorful speech and attitude. British and European authors have hidden depth in nearly every sentence.

Very interesting book.

Plot was very interesting and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Smiley

Post World War II spy mystery...

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