- Hardcover: 463 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; First Edition edition (1 Mar 1986)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 034038784X
- ISBN-13: 978-0340387849
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.4 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 616,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Perfect Spy
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Product Description
Review
'Without doubt his masterpiece . . . a perfect work of fiction'
(Sunday Times )'The best English novel since the war'
(Philip Roth ) --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.Review
'Without doubt his masterpiece ... a perfect work of fiction' -- Sunday Times 'The best English novel since the war' -- Philip Roth
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a whopper of a book! A great story - the piercingly honest account of a man both reacting to, and living in, the shadow of a powerful con-man father - with a vivid decription of betrayal and spycraft, and fantastic entertainment as well. But I am thoughly biased, as his prievious work, particlarly early in his writing career, has given me so many hours of pleasure. You can pick holes in it, but I'm not going to. Take it for what it is - a master of fiction treating us to the anatomy of deceit from the inside. He should know - he lived it. A jewel in the crown of Le Carre acheivement and a masterpiece of autobiography.
Dr Michael Rowlands
Dr Michael Rowlands
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Spying it seems, although an exciting occupation in some ways, is bad for the soul. If you're hoping to read a gripping, very plotty spy story you're likely to be disappointed with this book. This is a deeply personal but fascinating, philosophical book on the nature of identity, loylaty and love. For me this book is about belonging some where: to a country, to a class, to other people. Pym it seems has been searching all his life for somewhere to live where he feels he belongs. His father, a crook and professional liar is a constant disappointment but probably worst of all a deeply destablising influence in Pym's life so much so that Pym's desperation to please propels him into all sorts of trouble and betrayal.
Gripping, thought-provoking intelligent, semi-autobiographical but not for lightweights.
Gripping, thought-provoking intelligent, semi-autobiographical but not for lightweights.
36 of 39 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Love is whatever you can still betray... Betrayal is a repititious trade." (from: A Perfect Spy)
Concentrating on his signature themes of love and deceit, Le Carre gives us what is perhaps the definitive account of the psychology of betrayal. Following the death of his father, the disturbed and grieving spy Magnus Pym withdraws from the world and begins a series of reflections on his life while his wife and spymasters frantically try to find him. The 'public' action of this search, and the personalities of those conducting it not only provide an effective foil for the intensely personal and sometimes dark nature of Pym's inner search, it also amplifies the moral theme of the book--that there is no clear line between good and bad, and that our best intentions are no guarantee of goodness--especially when there are secrets involved.
Le Carre spent a long time honing his voice for this powerful novel. His writing in the decade or so before this book was published (in 1986) displays the trademark qualities of detail and subtlety that a cold war spy needed, and Le Carre's spare prose mirrors the Machiavellian cold war game his stories centre around. In this work--strongly influenced by the real-life death of his father--he reached the height of his powers. On top of his renowned ability to make highly technical plots gripping, Le Carre adds a new quality--the wistful--and it works as well as in anything by Graham Greene--another gimlet-eyed writer who had connections with the spying trade. Le Carre packs more feeling into this work than in all his other novels put together and the effect is both disturbing and intensely moving. Pym is sententious and elegant in his reveries, and his Hamlet-like angst stays with us, provoking difficult questions, long after the book is closed.
A perfect Spy is not a happy tale. The description of the young Pym and his father playing football along a Dorset beach "from one end of the world to the other" is a rare moment of joy that is nevertheless saturated in pathos--for we know that Pym's dissolute father will spoil the moment yet again soon.
Several of Le Carre's previous novels (Small Town in Germany, The Spy who Came in from the Cold, and especially the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy trilogy) are examples of fine literature that just happen to centre around the world of espionage, but since 1980 he has also dropped some Desmond Bagley-ish shoot-em-ups into the mix too, which, although well crafted, rather let his literary reputation down. A Perfect Spy is a first class novel (one reviewer described it as one of the best British novels since the war) and in my opinion remains his finest.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A perfect audiobook.
I admit, I didn't really know anything about Le Carre before ordering this audiobook, but having listened to it throughout a long and arduous coach journey, I found it engaging,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Guitar Heroine
Dull and self indulgent
I must state this is a joint review with my wife, who has more will power than me and slogged through to the bitter end of this massively disappointing novel, whereas I gave up on... Read more
Published 1 month ago by The Man With 21 Faces
Le Carre mmmmmm
It certainly seems that A Perfect Spy is about the perversion of personality brought on by love betrayed. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Guy T.
Another excellent BBC radio adaptation of le Carre
The majority of the BBC adaptations of John le Carre's works have been excellent, and this one is no exception. A Perfect Spy has been called le Carre's masterpiece. Read more
Published 2 months ago by S. Lindgren
Perfect for a journey
This is a review of the BBC Audio CDs of the 1993 BBC radio play adaptation of John Le Carre's novel. There are 4 CDs in this boxed collection. Read more
Published 3 months ago by purpleheart
An excellent reading
A lot has been said about this novel, which is my favourite le Carré: rich in atmosphere, characterisation and depiction of spycraft, and in its portrayal of a flawed... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mondoro
Step back to another era
I loved this partly because it's such a classic, partly because of the actors involved and because it takes me back to a simpler time of entertainment from the BBC back in the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Eve
Exciting thriller and excellent cast
A perfect spy is a well tested novel and one that has high critical acclaim. This dramatization really brings the story to life and the cast is superb. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Crazy Seahorse
Really good
I love Le Carres books and this is a well acted recreation. I actually listened to the whole lot on a long drive. Read more
Published 8 months ago by 70s
Canterbury tales
The audio tapes of The Perfect Spy,a BBC production,is a rich sound tapestry of the formation of Magnus Pym(James Fox) as a `perfect spy'. Read more
Published 9 months ago by technoguy
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