Reviews

The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré

nigellicus's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

5.0

This was my first LeCarre. I think I was sixteen. I loved the writing, the characters, the setting. I didn't have a fucking clue what was going on. The story was too complex, the real-world politics and conflicts utterly beyond me. And yet, I sat in the bus in freezing cold evening eating dry-roasted peanuts and immersed myself in world as alien to me as Middle Earth, more alien, because I knew it was really my world, to which I was an alien, and which completely defeated my comprehension. 

Now I think it's an amazing book, the second in a trilogy, about the crumbling of a dreadful old world order and the establishment of a newer, even nastier and darker one. Smiley chases one slender thread from the ruins left by the mole Gerald, seeking to redeem and reinvigorate the secret service to which he has devoted his life. Even as he does so, the vultures are circling to snatch it away, and surely he's too canny an operator to be as unaware as he appears. Jerry Westerby is dispatched to Hong Kong to follow the thread, to war-torn Cambodia and Thailand and back, and the moment of triumph is debased with the humanity of his quixotic despair and futility. A bitter, thrilling epic of espionage, that somehow knits together the first and third books depicting Smiley's battles with Karla. 

john_langley's review against another edition

4.0

I read this on audiobook narrated brilliantly by Michael Jayston who - amongst other vocal talents - has a very good George Smiley voice.

I found myself enjoying all the bits with the Circus and the Cousins but not so much the adventures of Jerry Westerby, which seemed too long for the book (the seediness and unpleasantness of these is, I’m sure, completely necessary!). I agree with other reviewers that the book is perhaps two books in one and that while the middle section seemed over-long the ending was telescoped and too rapid. So rapid that I think I missed some of the references and clues that I should have got.

wallenseses's review against another edition

Switched to audio book

valeatsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

leland_burns's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

arf88's review against another edition

2.0

I really, really wanted to like this book more than I did. I really enjoyed the first half, even when it was slow, the characters, destinations, spycraft, it was all wonderfully written and a joy to sink into. But by the second half I was done with the meandering and this was a full on slog to get through, with some truly bizarre character choices. Definitely a book that could loose 200+ pages and be the better for it.

jeremybmueller's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

jacobwolman's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.25

ethangrant's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.25

joshtenet's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5