A review by softstarrynights
Absolute Friends by John le Carré

3.0

John le Carré is known for his spy novels. On reflection, this probably was not the book to pick up in order to satisfy my craving, because it does not read like a traditional spy thriller. As the title would suggest we follow the relationship between Ted Mundy and his friend Sasha who meet as young revolutionaries. The book begins with the promise of a mystery as Mundy sees a man from his past, during his shift as a tour guide in Germany. However, the book then goes back to chart Mundy's life in quite a bit of detail. As a result, it takes a very long time until we return to the main plot. While I enjoyed the previous book I read from this author I was close to abandoning this one. Thankfully I did stick with it at the plot returned to that initial mystery to Mundy and Sasha's reunion, where the intrigue builds. Overall I still was not loving the book. I appreciated the author's repeated references to the theatre because it reminded me of The Little Drummer Girl. However, what really rescued this book for me was the relationship between Mundy and Sasha, and the homoerotic undertones. The penultimate chapter was gorgeous in the way that the ending of Hamlet is gorgeous. Frustratingly the author couldn't just leave it at that and had to have one more chapter, which detracted from the emotion of the penultimate chapter. Absolute Friends was a mixed bag for me, but the relationship was the saving grace of the book and I am looking forward to reading more from this author.