I actually listened to this as an audiobook.

What surprised me on listening to this was the quality of the writing style and the characterisation. I was immediately captured by this description, early in the first chapter, of Jim Prideaux’s arrival as a temporary teacher at a boy’s boarding school (I imagine we’re talking about the 1960s, here):

"Jim Prideaux arrived on a Friday in a rainstorm. The rain rolled like gun-smoke down the brown combes of the Quantocks, then raced across the empty cricket fields into the sandstone of the crumbling facades. He arrived just after lunch, driving an old red Alvis and towing a second-hand caravan that had once been blue. Early afternoons at Thursgood’s are a tranquil time, a brief truce in the running fight of each school day. The boys are sent to rest in their dormitories, the staff sit in the common room over coffee reading newspapers or correcting boys’ work… Of the whole school therefore only little Bill Roach actually saw Jim arrive, saw the steam belching from the Alvis’ bonnet as it wheezed its way down the pitted drive, windscreen wipers going full pelt and the caravan shuddering through the puddles in pursuit… Roach decided later that [Jim] must have made a reconnaissance or studied maps. Even when he reached the yard he didn’t stop but drove straight on to the wet grass, travelling at speed to keep the momentum. Then over the hummock into the Dip, head first and out of sight. Roach half expected the caravan to jack-knife on the brink, Jim took it over so fast, but instead it just lifted its tail and disappeared like a giant rabbit into its hole."

This little scene tells us so much about Jim’s circumstances and character even though we haven’t met him yet, and so much about the young schoolboy Bill Roach, the watcher. It’s lovely writing, I think.

It’s a spy story, yes. But despite the intricacies of the Cold War plot it’s mostly a story about character. About Jim Prideaux, the ex-agent who has been terribly betrayed. About the quiet, unassuming George Smiley, with a razor sharp mind, patiently and secretly trying to identify who and what was behind that betrayal. About the cast of characters in charge of the Circus, London headquarters of the spy agency. ( )

cold war spy fiction (1974) set in UK, London. I guess this is supposed to be suspenseful (as in which of these spies is the mole? Trust no one!) but I feel like it's kind of pointless to keep talking to the rest of the spy network (who can't give straight answers anyway) when you could just talk to Jim Prideau.

lots of coded spy dialogue (which I found confusing, which I guess is the point?) and men being arrogant and acting superior, but otherwise interesting atmospheric prose descriptions of mood/place, whenever actual story is allowed to take place. This is not a plot-driven novel so much as a confusing whodunnit where you can't really trust anyone to tell the truth and every piece of the mystery takes pages of oblique dialogue to uncover. You'd have to be really into the genre to enjoy it, I think.

picked up from Little Free Library, author I've not read before, 2024 reading challenge: book to movie/adapted for screen. ( )

I've been meaning to read this for years and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. What great characters! I have to read the entire Karla trilogy now, I just can't face not having Smiley in my life for a little longer. ( )

I rated this book a "3" only because it is a little hard to follow since it is written by a British author and I am not as familiar with some of the colloquisms and spy jargon. It was a good story and I would like to see the movie. ( )

Too complicated; too many characters; good writing with a lot of British jargon. Bill Haydon was the mole. ( )