PDF A Legacy of Spies A Novel Audible Audio Edition John le Carré Tom Hollander Penguin Audio Books
Download As PDF : A Legacy of Spies A Novel Audible Audio Edition John le Carré Tom Hollander Penguin Audio Books
Number-one New York Times best-seller.
The undisputed master returns with his first Smiley novel in more than 25 years - a number-one New York Times best-seller and ideal holiday gift.
Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London, and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley, and Peter Guillam himself, are to be scrutinized by a generation with no memory of the Cold War and no patience with its justifications.Â
Interweaving past with present so that each may tell its own intense story, John le Carré has spun a single plot as ingenious and thrilling as the two predecessors on which it looks back The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. In a story resonating with tension, humor, and moral ambivalence, le Carré and his narrator, Peter Guillam, present the listener with a legacy of unforgettable characters old and new.Â
PDF A Legacy of Spies A Novel Audible Audio Edition John le Carré Tom Hollander Penguin Audio Books
"What Le Carre fan would not want to return to the world of the Circus, Control, Smiley, Bill Haydon and Leamas, the spy who never came in from the cold? Tempered with the knowledge that recent Le Carre novels have struggled with endings (Didn't A Most Wanted Man and Absolute Friends end the same way as The Hounorable Schoolboy?) I looked forward to this like no other recent book. While much of it was fascinating reading about what Guillam had been up to and the current setting seemed very modern and realistic, to me it depended all on the ending which featured barely a smidgen of Smiley and left off with a whimper instead of a bang. Overall disappointing as is most of Le Carre's recent work. The conclusion the author seems to have about the Cold War was that it was barely worth fighting and if it was, the cost was too high. He must be reading different history books than me. Sure there was cost and yes, the Russians are still bad boys but can we ask what Poland thinks? How about East Germany?"
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A Legacy of Spies A Novel Audible Audio Edition John le Carré Tom Hollander Penguin Audio Books Reviews :
A Legacy of Spies A Novel Audible Audio Edition John le Carré Tom Hollander Penguin Audio Books Reviews
- I loved this. It was everything I hoped for in a new Smiley novel, except maybe not enough of Smiley himself. This is really Peter Guillam's story and a remembrance of the events of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. For fans of le Carre, there's a strong sense of nostalgia in this too-short novel. If you haven't read TSWCIFTC - you need to read that first. It's short, too, and an incredible work of literature in itself. You should probably read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy first, too, if you haven't already. It's not critical, but there are spoilers for that book in this one, so consider yourself warned.
This has left me with a book hangover that I fear only another le Carre novel can cure. Maybe it's time I reread the Smiley novels. - What Le Carre fan would not want to return to the world of the Circus, Control, Smiley, Bill Haydon and Leamas, the spy who never came in from the cold? Tempered with the knowledge that recent Le Carre novels have struggled with endings (Didn't A Most Wanted Man and Absolute Friends end the same way as The Hounorable Schoolboy?) I looked forward to this like no other recent book. While much of it was fascinating reading about what Guillam had been up to and the current setting seemed very modern and realistic, to me it depended all on the ending which featured barely a smidgen of Smiley and left off with a whimper instead of a bang. Overall disappointing as is most of Le Carre's recent work. The conclusion the author seems to have about the Cold War was that it was barely worth fighting and if it was, the cost was too high. He must be reading different history books than me. Sure there was cost and yes, the Russians are still bad boys but can we ask what Poland thinks? How about East Germany?
- Reading this book was like meeting up with a long lost friend after years of separation. Immediately you remember what made you friends in the first place and full of regrets about the time you were apart. Sure, le Carre wrote numerous books after the collapse of the East Bloc, but they were never as surefooted or interesting as the books George Smiley commanded, and some were clunkers ("Little Drummer Girl," anyone?). This one picks up where the Smiley-series left off, and written as it was after a long absence, has an added wistfulness absent from the rest of the series. Not only do the characters feel and reflect on this wistfulness, the reader does as well, knowing that this is probably the last installment in the le Carre/Smiley oeuvre. True, le Carre still can't do romance (or, I would suppose, Americans, who don't really appear in this book but with whom le Carre always wrote in cliches), but besides one cringe-inducing romantic encounter (are we to believe a hardened spy would not only blurt out "I love you" to a woman he just bedded but actually fall in love after a single night of passion?), le Carre is in top form.
- John Le Carre is back with a new book and it is hard to put down once open for reading. The crossing from the past to the present connects his memorable characters to a modern day bureaucracy. The author masterfully shows that yesterday's spies are not well remembered for the sacrifice that is a part of their fighting in the Cold War years. Peter Guillam returns in this story and not of his own volition he must find his former boss, George Smiley, to head off a civil suit that could ruin him and his legacy as of those whom he had worked with. The plot keeps the reader interested as much as previous novels, such as the much-heralded, "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold". This is a great read for all ages through the ages.
- Too bad! I thought it was too disjointed and an effort to read so I gave it to my husband. Ditto! And, we are both loooooong time le Carre fans so we were pulling for this book! It is a lot to ask to attempt to reinstate an icon-sleuth into a new surrounding and then try to reconcile changes. Not easy and not good. Still, for all the wonderful reading of the past I had to give two stars...
- Huge disappointment. John le Carré is likely my favorite author. This novel, however, made no sense to me. The narrative was hard to follow. It was disjointed to the point of incomprehensibility and was basically boring.
I have read some to the positive reviews of 'A Legacy of Spies' and could not understand how they could be so effusive.
Some of the reviews that did not like the novel point to a weak ending. That may be true, but the ending was the only part of the writing that I enjoyed even if it did not make up for the first couple of hundred pages.
