Absolute Friends (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

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. I think this would be the only criticism. Otherwise, it's fast paced, and unpredicatable.

The denouement is as excellent a one I have read, and not as unbelievable as other posters have stated. The more the political and intelligence failures and shenanigans following the war come into the light of day, the less and less unlikely the ending seems. When this book was published, it was a pretty risky ending to throw in. Now, it just pretty much falls into line with what we already know about the lead-up to Iraq.

I think the problem Le Carre has is that he has written another good book, but once you've read his greatest works - The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, Tinker Tailer, Secret Pilgrim - it doesn't really compare. But think for a moment about how many other authors are writing intelligent political thrillers today, and I think you will agree there is very few. And even these few would probably be delighted to have this novel against their name. Five stars.

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.

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.