Absolute Friends (original 2003; edition 2004)

Just great! Le Carre is such a great storyteller, such a great creator of characters. Mundy is fantastic, Sasha is better. Also, Le Carre narrates this himself, and does a wonderful job. He does voices, but doesn't over-do them. ( )

"Leaving the envelope to mature for a week or two, therefore, he waits until the right number of tequilas has brought him to the right level of insouciance, and rips it open."

Ted Mundy, Pakistan-born English major's son, Germanophile and student rebel, has just about settled into mediocrity at the British Council when a trip in his guise as head of Overseas Drama and Arts (particular responsibility: Youth) becomes an exercise in secret police evasion. A figure from his past appears and he is recruited into double agency.

I got to page 260 out of 400 of this. The first 200 pages were really promising - fascinating character development, a cold open that leaves us desperate to get back to it, great student riot atmosphere... and then we get into the spying proper and it bored me to anger. Seriously, I got so angry with the dull plot, dire characters and chronically self-indulgent writing ("redux" 4 times in 2 pages??) that I decided I would rather play Bubble Shooter on my phone than continue reading it. Scathing criticism indeed.

The writing is exceptional and so consistent that I struggled to find a quote for the top of this review and shan't waste more time trying to find any more - rather than good writing with exceptional one-liners, this is excellent writing with an unfortunate dollop of smug. The page that finally made me lose my temper was one in which Ted was named "Mundy redux" 5 times over a double page. I don't know what redux was supposed to mean, given that we are already so hopelessly entrenched in Ted's multiple personalities, but it struck me as so pompous, so "I require my readers to have advanced degrees, otherwise they're not good enough", that I was genuinely angry.

The characters are impossible to relate to - Ted is dull, mediocre, apathetic; no wonder his wife finds someone else. Sasha is fiery and contrary, but implausibly so. And no one else gets much of a look-in, as this is about the two absolute friends and not anyone else. So character development for the support cast is woeful.

And as for the plot - Ted's childhood: fascinating. Student days: engrossing. Berlin riot participation: page-turning. Settling into middle-class mediocrity in Britain/spying: urgh. Bubble Shooter was more exciting. ( )

I don't believe that leCarre' is in the great form since the days of "The Search for Karla". He is still a great writer and I enjoyed the story. ( )

To be conveyed.
To take no decisions.
To sit back and be a spectator to your own life. That's spying too, apparently.

I've been meaning to read some Le Carré for a while now, and this happened to be the first novel of his I found in a used book store. It was first and foremost entirely different from what I was expecting. For the first 150 pages, you don't even know that you're reading a "spy novel" - it's just a book about a lost man trying to find his way, and the strange friend he makes along the way. Despite this, the writing is enthralling, and you quickly become invested in the characters and what happens to them.

Ted Mundy is the son of a washed up British ex-pat who travels to Berlin to study German language and literature during the height of the Cold War, where he quickly becomes embroiled in the politics of protest and liberation. Years later, Mundy believes he has left his extremist days behind him, only to discover that old friends have different plans for him.

Although it didn't blow me away, Absolute Friends was engrossing as it spiraled to its rather disturbing (but in retrospect unavoidable) conclusion. Le Carré clearly wanted to make a point in this novel, and I'd say he did as much and more. More than anything, the novel will infuriate you when you realize just how reflective it is of the true state of international relations in the current day. Overall, an enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading more of Le Carré's stuff. ( )

First novel I have read by Le Carré and what strikes foremost is his beautiful use of the English language. I only wonder whether Sasha and Mundy really are true friends - to me they have more of a love/hate relationship. Then again, maybe that is the definition of friendship ( )