The Honourable Schoolboy

A George Smiley Novel

By: John le Carré

Narrated by: Michael Jayston

Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

As the fall of Saigon looms, master spy George Smiley must outmaneuver his Soviet counterpart on a battlefield that neither can afford to lose.

The mole has been eliminated, but the damage wrought has brought the British Secret Service to its knees. Given charge of the gravely compromised Circus, George Smiley embarks on a campaign to uncover what Moscow Centre most wants to hide. When the trail goes cold at a Hong Kong gold seam, Smiley dispatches Gerald Westerby to shake the money tree.

A part-time operative with cover as a philandering journalist, Westerby insinuates himself into a war-torn world where allegiances - and lives - are bought and sold.

Brilliantly plotted and morally complex, The Honourable Schoolboy is the second installment of John le Carré's renowned Karla trilogy, and a riveting portrayal of post-colonial espionage.

©2011 John le Carre (P)2012 Penguin

Le Carré at his best

What a great 1970s spy novel. While Viet Nam rages in the background, Smiley’s crew teams up with the CIA to unravel the story of a possible key asset in the Far East, and ultimately bring him in, if possible. Narrator Jayston once again captures the characters - and especially George Smiley - perfectly. No one else could read a Smiley novel like he does.

Alright

Certainly not my favorite le Carre work, but entertaining enough. It's much more broad than his best works, and I think it suffers for it. nonetheless, its entertaining enough for a long car ride and is well read. I thought the motivations of some characters were pretty thin by the finale, but perhaps I would have felt differently if I were a brit living in the 1970s.

Top Five Spy Author

Very good espionage tale.John was in his prime here.
Wish there were more like this.

Much More Modern than I Expected

While this novel is ostensibly a sequel to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, it bears little resemblance to its predecessor (and here, that's a very good thing). While TTSS was a story about civil servants approaching middle age, this is almost a parody of love 'em and leave 'em James Bond novels.
George Smiley is a king constantly in check in this novel, and his operative, Westerby, is the one taking all the risks. Unfortunately, he has a journalist's zeal and lacks a diplomat's prudence, and he becomes ensnared in his own plot to control the opium trade in Asia. Like the James Bond novels, he is sent there to use his sexual prowess to ferret out information, but instead, he winds up falling in love with his mark.
Finally, when Smiley manages to wrangle Westerby back into the fold, the real heroes and villains of the story are revealed. Also, there is, of course, a twist at the end that I can't reveal, but much like TTSS someone previously thought harmless turns out to be the main thorn in the side of the British empire.
On the whole, the best parts of the novel are the commentaries on Southeast Asia in the 1970's. The region, itself, was a crumbling empire that was the bone over which dogs like the U.S, the U.S.S.R. and the U.K. fought, and Smiley and his arch-nemesis, Karla, are constantly at odds. They fight over ideology and control of their agents, but their main concern is the fate of countries that were once colonies and are now trying to govern themselves complete with rampant corruption, organized crime, etc. It is in Smiley's complete renunciation of control of the situation where he ultimately finds his greatest strength (though whether Smiley is still the main character at the end of the novel is open to debate).
Structurally, the novel meanders quite a bit, so if you're looking for a taught, fast-paced thriller, this is probably not your cup of Earl Grey, but if you go with the digressions, the journey is immensely satisfying. The novel is much more than the sum of its parts, and everyone's story winds up delivering more and more insight into the total picture of the East and West during that tumultuous period.

Pretty good

While the plot is really convoluted (like real life in the intelligence world i suppose) this novel is extremely unique in its handling of spies in the Vietnam War, particularly journalists who are also intelligence operatives. May frustrate some fans of the author's earlier work, but a worthy story if you give it a chance.

Deep, complex story!

The reader does an excellent job interpreting this great story. Read the sequel: Smiley's People.

nice

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.

Excellent performance

Excellent performance of a viscerally written and cinematically imagined story. Full characters and exotic locations.b

Wonderful narration and writing

Michael Jayston is wonderful and LeCarre is a first class writer. The story is complicated to the extreme and almost tedious. Recommended just got the writing and narration.

Unrivaled

Le Carre is the standard by which all other spy novelists are judged. George Smiley, who plays a major role, is a brilliant and conflicted hero.