Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The spy who came in from the cold (original 1963; edition 1965)by John Le Carre
Work InformationThe Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré (1963)
Best Spy Fiction (3) » 41 more 501 Must-Read Books (132) Top Five Books of 2020 (156) Top Five Books of 2013 (525) 1,001 BYMRBYD Concensus (132) Books Read in 2017 (404) Books Read in 2018 (312) Books With a Twist (31) 20th Century Literature (429) Top Five Books of 2015 (372) Edgar Award (4) Books Read in 2015 (2,355) Books Read in 2011 (26) discontinued (6) Overdue Podcast (411) Fiction For Men (87) Biggest Disappointments (516) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. (or 4.5) very good. I'd heard Le Carré's spy books were almost the opposite of Fleming's bond books, not glamorous. And boy is it not glamorous. Depressing even, but very well written. ( ) Gritty, dirty, gray, grainy and foggy. These are what I felt as I listened to John le Carré's book 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'. I was not quite sure when this book takes place, but it feels like the 1970's, it is a story about espionage agents that worked in post WWII/Cold War world. Agents working for Great Brittan, East and West Germany, amongst others are all in play as we follow Alec Leamas, who is aging out and near retirement. Leamas is not ready to hang it up quite yet and is offered an opportunity to get back/take revenge on the East German agent who done him dirty. Does he? Did he? What happened? What really happened? Lots of politics and subterfuge, to the point that my head was spinning as to what was going on anymore, I was lost. The constant moving of parts and pieces, I couldn't get into the characters, believe what was going on was actually what was happening which led to a listlessness in regards to the characters and the story. Was it well done, as far as spy novels I have not read many, but it seems to have been. le Carré writes with a descriptive flair that make the reader/listener feel like you have gone back in time to that dark and dingy time. So many twists and turns, shadowy figures appearing and reappearing, moving all around Europe, switching sides and stories seem to be right up the spy novel alley. I just couldn't get into it, it was too much for me. I wouldn't recommend it, but also wouldn't turn anyone away from it either. Good, gritty, resolutely unglamorous espionage story. Anyone who enjoyed the British series Callan would love this. It was my first Le Carré - I'd be happy to read more in a similar vein. Interesting how totally the political and cultural landscape has changed in the 50 years since this was written. This world is still recognisable to me, but to anyone a bit younger it would probably would seem as alien as the Victorian era. The detailed depictions of spy rings, and how they do their jobs, also seems like something from a bygone age - complicated but at the same time strikingly basic. Maybe things have not changed so much - but I think there was something unique about the paranoia instilled by having two such powerful and evenly-matched sides, living on top of each other as in Berlin, where everyone is suspect and you assume that you are constantly watched. The plot itself is very well crafted. Le Carré carefully keeps you from knowing exactly what's going on, which is the exact situation that his compelling lead character, Alec Leamas, is in. It brings empathy with a difficult-to-like character, and leaves you wide open for the inevitable reverses and reveals.
En este clásico, el autor recrea un mundo jamás conocido antes en la novela de suspense. Con los conocimientos acumulados durante sus años en el servicio de inteligencia británica, le Carré saca a la luz los interiores un tanto turbios del espionaje internacional de la mano de Alec Leamas, un agente británico durante los primeros años de la guerra fría en Berlín. Leamas es responsable de mantener a sus agentes dobles protegidos y con vida, pero los alemanes del Este empiezan a matarlos, por lo que su superior, Control, le pide que vuelva a Londres no para echarle del cuerpo sino para encargarle una misión un tanto complicada. Con esta novela clásica de suspense, le Carré cambió las reglas del juego. Esta es la historia de un último encargo que recae sobre un agente que desea desesperadamente retirarse de su carrera de espionaje. The best spy story I have ever read," says Graham Greene, and I am not too far from agreeing with him. Whether "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" is better than Eric Ambler's "Epitaph for a Spy" or Somerset Maugham's "Ashenden" or Mr. Greene's own "The Confidential Agent" is inconsequential. What matters is that it belongs on the same shelf. Here is a book a light year removed from the sometimes entertaining trivia which have (in the guise of spy novels) cluttered the publishers' lists for the past year. Is contained inThree Complete Novels: Call for the Dead / A Murder of Quality / The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré John Le Carre Omnibus (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Call for the Dead, A Murder of Quality, The Looking-Glass War & A Small Town in Germany) by John le Carré Three Complete Novels: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold / A Small Town in Germany / The Looking Glass War by John le Carré The spy who came in from the cold; Nightmare '66; The looking-glass war; The growth of Marie-Louise; George Smiley goes home by John le Carré The Spy Who Came In from the Cold / The Looking Glass War / Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre Has the adaptationIs abridged inReader's Digest Best Sellers: Captain Newman, M.D. | When the Cheering Stopped | Spy Who Came in From the Cold | Song of Sixpence by Reader's Digest Has as a studyAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
A veteran spy wants to "come in from the cold" to retirement. He undertakes one last assignment in which he pretends defection and provides the enemy with sufficient evidence to label their leader a double agent. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |