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Absolute Friends [Paperback]

John Le Carr� (Author)

3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 21 Sep 2006

ABSOLUTE FRIENDS is a superbly paced novel spanning fifty-six years, a theatrical masterstroke of tragi-comic writing, and a savage fable of our times, almost of our hours.

The friends of the title are Ted Mundy, British soldier's son born 1947 in a shining new independent Pakistan, and Sasha, refugee son of an East German Lutheran pastor and his wife who have sought sanctuary in the West.

The two men meet first as students in riot-torn West Berlin of the late Sixties, again in the grimy looking-glass of Cold War espionage and, most terribly, in today's unipolar world of terror, counter-terror and the war of lies.

Deriving its scale from A PERFECT SPY and its passion from THE CONSTANT GARDENER, le Carré's new novel presents us with magical writing, characters to delight, and a spellbinding story that enchants even as it challenges.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } ABSOLUTE FRIENDS is a superbly paced novel spanning fifty-six years, a theatrical masterstroke of tragi-comic writing, and a savage fable of our times, almost of our hours.

The friends of the title are Ted Mundy, British soldier's son born 1947 in a shining new independent Pakistan, and Sasha, refugee son of an East German Lutheran pastor and his wife who have sought sanctuary in the West.

The two men meet first as students in riot-torn West Berlin of the late Sixties, again in the grimy looking-glass of Cold War espionage and, most terribly, in today's unipolar world of terror, counter-terror and the war of lies.

Deriving its scale from A PERFECT SPY and its passion from THE CONSTANT GARDENER, le Carré's new novel presents us with magical writing, characters to delight, and a spellbinding story that enchants even as it challenges.

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Product details

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Sceptre; New Ed edition (21 Sep 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0340923695
ISBN-13: 978-0340923696
Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 3.3 x 19.7 cm

Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 140,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon Review

John le Carré's Absolute Friends is his best in years, capturing the verve and mastery of the magnificent early work. In fact, as a prelude to the book, you could do worse than reread The Spy Who Came in from the Cold again, and be forcibly reminded how le Carré transformed the spy thriller 40 or so years ago. And the consolidation of his achievement came with the George Smiley sequence (inaugurated with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy). As the Cold War came to an end, le Carré seemed to be in need of a new focus for his literary universe, but this was soon to come as the author explored newer social threats, with The Constant Gardener utilising the power of the pharmaceutical companies as nemesis, and producing yet another critical and popular success.

Absolute Friends, even before publication, had some of the best word of mouth any le Carré novel had enjoyed, and every word of it was justified. As a penetrating character study, it's nonpareil, with the (very different) friends of the title brilliantly realised.

Ted Mundy is the son of a British Infantry officer who left India under a cloud after partition, while Sasha is the crippled son of a religious German family who became a star of Far Left politics in the 1960s, at which point he encounters the ungainly Ted, taught by his father--and a committed girlfriend--to loathe British imperialism and all its current offshoots. In the present, Ted finds himself acting as an eccentric tour guide at Ludwig's palaces in Bavaria. When the two men meet again, they once more become involved in clandestine activities--with lethal results. If the author's own anti-Blair/Bush feelings are sometimes foregrounded, this is still le Carré at his considerable best, and a reminder of what a great talent the UK has in this writer. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'This is le Carré with a twist, the Old Master developing new techniques for a new age' (Raymond Seitz, The Times )

'Thoroughly gripping' (Sunday Times )

'Absolute Friends is vintage John le Carré: complex, often sardonically funny, always galvanically written.' (Daily Express )

'[Le Carré] has found a worthy enemy, a target for his moral indignation. Moreover he has hit a contemporary tune again. This is an anti-war novel and, very fiercely, an anti-American one. It's written with passion.' (Allan Massie, Scotsman )

'Truly thrilling' (Financial Times )

'The master has not lost his touch . . . one of his most enthralling creations.'

(A.N. Wilson, Telegraph )

'A literary master for a generation'

(Observer )

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

3.9 out of 5 stars

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars He's still got it 24 Nov 2006

By Donaldo

Format:Paperback

As with any author you read frequently, you do often get the sense that the same type of book is just being written over and over again. Whilst I don't think this one is a world away from what Le Carre has written before, it is certainly different in that it is the bravest novel he has written to date. Whilst in other books he was content to snipe the odd remark at our leaders, or to puncture the western world's self-satisfaction at being less evil than the Soviet Union, in this book, it's an all-out political attack on the American Neo-cons, and the unquestioning, uncritical helpfulness of Blair and his chums towards our American friends. At the time it was published, this book had some pretty mixed reviews. A few were probably because the political climate of the time polarised people into for or against the war, and such a passionate, angry anti-war book was hardly going to find favour in the pro-war camp. But perhaps now we can look at it more dispassionately, as nearly everyone agrees the whole war was a total disaster anyway.

I think this is a strong work by Le Carre - not his best, but better than average. Post Cold War, Le Carre has been sniffing out issues that have been overlooked by the popular media, be it the struggle of the ethnic minorities in the Caucasus (Our Game), gangsterism being exported from the former Soviet Union, with the connivance of western financiers (Single and Single), or cynical pharmaceutical companies `testing' products on poor Africans who no-one cares about in the west anyway (The Constant Gardener). Absolute Friends feels slightly apart - more like Our Game or The Perfect Spy in its flashback structure. Some of it creaks a little, as other reviewers have pointed out - it feels a little bit artificial and inauthentic at points.... Read more ›

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars I Spy a Damn Good Book 7 Jan 2004

By J. G. Newbold

Format:Hardcover

From the inside cover's blurb, plus the pre-release press it had received, I was expecting a rather dour diatribe against the UK and USA governments' taste in international relations. Whilst Le Carre does indeed mount his soapbox occasionally, he nevertheless builds a highly successful relationship between two opposing, yet essentially congruous spies - Mundy and Sasha.

The plot itself is quite basic, though it succinctly spans six decades in less than 400 pages: the lives and times of two spies. All the while intertwining their lives, the story charts their respective careers through the day-to-day double-dealing and clandestine chinwags of the spying fraternity. However, the descriptive power, richness of character, all-round knowledge and the insightful wit Le Carre brings to the book is huge. Whilst a book probably not for those averse to international politics, it is still a book well worth reading simply for the artistic talent on display.

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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A splendid return to form. 29 Dec 2003

By Peter Fenelon

Format:Hardcover

Smiley and Karla, Magnus and Rick Pym, now Ted and Sasha - Le Carre is at his best when he creates pairs of characters who lead each other to their fates, and in Absolute Friends he comes up with two true immortals.

Ted, in earlier Le Carre books, would've been a perfectly normal member of the espiocracy, the kind of dependable, solid agent who would've discharged his Circus duties without conscience or controversy. But contemporary le Carre characters have even more tangled depths - Ted's concern for justice and equality is rooted in a loathing of the mess that Britain left behind in India and Pakistan; this obviously leads him into anti-imperialism and the shadowy world of espionage. It is in Germany that he encounters the brilliant, disabled Sasha - firebrand politician and also committed to his own brand of liberty.

Absolute Friends shows two figures bound up into their systems striving to find their own individual justice, their own places in the world. States, systems, organisations are not to be trusted in the new Le Carre - loyalty is individual, morality is absolute. There are probably more overt attacks on Western liberalism and capitalism in this book than in the rest of his work put together; what was formerly presented as the "right" way is now merely the less repulsive of a set of fairly unpleasant alternatives.

Yet how can men like Sasha and Ted build a better world?

This is possibly Le Carre's finest book yet. It lacks the immediacy and some of the intimacy of "A Perfect Spy", although rivals it in scope. It lacks the intense intrigue and 'tradecraft' of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" though matches it for density and depth of tone.

It is a fine, mature and humane novel by a superb writer with an clear yet idiosyncratic view of honour, morality and duty.... Wonderfully readable. Read more ›

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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A prophetic novel 27 Jun 2005

By I. D. Miller

Format:Paperback

For some reason, I'd left this book on the shelf for around a year before I got around to reading it, but in some ways actually improves its reading. There are parallels here with some of Le Carre's other novels (The spy who came in from the cold; The perfect spy; Our game) and is a fine thriller by any standards. However what differentiates it from these and makes it a very important work is the obvious anger running throughout the book that the author feels regarding the current politics of fear eminating from the US and UK administrations.
Le Carre emphasises the climate of propaganda, lies and illegality of governmental decisions throughout the book. It was finished shortly after the Iraq war; a time in which one by one, the reasons given for the war in the first place have crumbled and its bloody aftermath lingers on and on.
A prophetic and very important book.

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› See all 40 customer reviews (newest first) on Amazon.co.uk

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars John le Carre

Good book, I've not got it yet as I have just ordered it 2 ticks ago. I'm just ordering it to replace the copy I had out from the library. Read more

Published 11 months ago by LA

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyably different and very readable indeed

Am reading this, stuck at home with flu, but inbetween sleeping I'm having difficulty putting it down and can't wait to see how it ends. Read more

Published 17 months ago by G. Roberts

4.0 out of 5 stars Told with verve, humour, irony and anger

One of the two friends of the title is Ted Munday, son of a hilariously portrayed major in the ex-Indian, ex-Pakistani army. Read more

Published on 3 May 2011 by Ralph Blumenau

3.0 out of 5 stars Shows Strong Influence of His Mentor Graham Greene

"Absolute Friends," a 2003 publication by renowned British spy author John LeCarre, is considered by many reviewers to be one of his greatest works. Read more

Published on 13 May 2010 by Stephanie DePue

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, if sad

This is a really good story, I found it hard to get into, but it was great once I got into it. It is well worth a read. Le Carre is really good at this.Absolute Friends

Published on 30 Aug 2009 by Sa King

5.0 out of 5 stars Slow burn, but fantastic read

This is just a fantastic story, incredibly detailed and well researched (where it follows the historical/factual stuff). Read more

Published on 22 May 2009 by J. Kemp

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read with silly characters

Le Carre is a great writer but his characters here are such stupid, silly dupes it kind of spoils the fun even before the polemic kicks in. Read more

Published on 16 Jan 2009 by expatina

2.0 out of 5 stars Struggles to gain momentum, and only does so within the last breath

Based on the reviews on the back cover of this book, I expected a fast paced and intelligently written spy novel. Read more

Published on 29 July 2008 by D. J. Burton

5.0 out of 5 stars Absent friend

John Le Carre's an angry man. Years of working at intelligence and writing of the spy's world, you'd think he'd earned a rest. Read more

Published on 7 Feb 2008 by Stephen A. Haines

5.0 out of 5 stars Spies, Lies, Politics and Tragedy in John le Carre's Best

Ted Mundy was born in India, in what later became Pakistan. His father was a British soldier who drank too much. His mother died in childbirth. Read more

Published on 7 Jan 2008 by Laurel Whitehead

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