Typically excellent spy novel from Le Carre ( )

Kalter Krieg ganz nah: Europa in den 80er Jahren: Dem britischen Verleger Barley soll ein Paket mit geheimen brisanten Schriften aus Rußland übergeben werden, aber der Kurier kann ihn nicht finden. Das Material landet beim Geheimdienst, der Blair sucht, in einer portugiesischen Kneipe betrunken findet und einen Deal aushandelt. Blair soll die Kontaktperson Katja in Rußland aufsuchen und über sie einen Termin mit dem Verfasser der schriften, Goethe genannt, vereinbaren. Blair wird an die Menschlichkeit und Brüderlichkeit erinnert und soll als Verleger aus dem Westen das Material über den technischen Stand der russischen Rüstung veröffentlichen.
Nach seiner Rückkehr in den Westen interessiert sich auch der amerikanische Geheimdienst für den Fall, die Situation wird brisant. Blair soll ein weiteres Mal nach Rußland reisen. Da er Katja nicht vergessen kann, faßt er einen Entschluß, und es kommt zu einer unerwarteten Wende.Unbedingt lesen! Wer den Kalten Krieg und die Achtziger Jahre politisch gesehen noch auf dem Schirm hat, wird seine Freude finden!

Here we have "Barley" Blair, head of a British publishing house, a man given to drinking and disappearing. A beautiful Russian woman gives one of his colleagues a manuscript for delivery to Blair; it turns out to contain military secrets. British and (ugly) American intelligence forces become involved, and Blair is sent back to Russia to pursue the relationship with the author, and of course with the beautiful woman.

LeCarre clearly intends that we like Barley but not take him too seriously. The narration by a lawyer working for British intelligence is an interesting choice, giving us an insider with a limited POV. I think I would have enjoyed the book more had it been tightened up. The style is competent, limited by the narrator and the situation, and is a good fit for the plot.

Earlier this year I said of LeCarre's The Constant Gardener, " A good book but too long and slow for me to recommend it with any enthusiasm." My verdict on The Russia House is much the same. ( )

The hero seems largely a second serving of Jerry Westerby from "The Honourable Schoolboy". The plot of "The Russia House" is not as intricate as that earlier novel, so readers might find it more or less satisfying depending on how they like their mysteries. Le Carre's anti-Americanism becomes more pronounced here, which flattens out the moral ambiguity that some have seen as a hallmark of Le Carre's writing. That said, stereotypes are nowhere so common as in genre fiction, helping the novelist get down to business by serving as a kind of shorthand. ( )

I have read LeCarré before and have like his work. I even saw the movie made from this book, starring two of my favorites - Michelle Pfieffer and Sean Connery. I didn't like the book at all. In fact, I didn't even finish it. It moved too slowly and just couldn't catch my interest. The style he used, switching from first to third person without warning, really left me flat. For the longest time, I couldn't figure out who the first person was. His shift to and from was so swift, it was hard to keep up. See the movie. Skip the book. ( )