The Russia House (Penguin Modern Classics)
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Product Description
Review
Classic le Carré (Sunday Times )
Product Description
Barley Blair is not a Service man: he is a small-time publisher, a self-destructive soul whose only loves are whisky and jazz. But it was Barley who, one drunken night at a dacha in Peredelkino during the Moscow Book Fair, was befriended by a high-ranking Soviet scientist who could be the greatest asset to the West since perestroika began, and made a promise. Nearly a year later, his drunken promise returns to haunt him. A reluctant Barley is quickly trained by British Intelligence and sent to Moscow to liaise with a go-between, the beautiful Katya. Both are lonely and disillusioned. Each is increasingly certain that if the human race is to have any future, all must betray their countries ...
In his first post-glasnost spy novel, le Carré captures the effect of a slow and uncertain thaw on ordinary people and on the shadowy puppet-masters who command them.
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First Sentence
In a broad Moscow street not two hundred yards from the Leningrad station, on the upper floor of an ornate and hideous hotel built by Stalin in the style known to Muscovites as Empire During the Plague, the British Council's first ever audio fair for the teaching of the English language and the spread of British culture was grinding to its excruciating end. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
In a broad Moscow street not two hundred yards from the Leningrad station, on the upper floor of an ornate and hideous hotel built by Stalin in the style known to Muscovites as Empire During the Plague, the British Council's first ever audio fair for the teaching of the English language and the spread of British culture was grinding to its excruciating end. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'Spying is waiting'. So believable. Unlike the breakneck speed of events of popular espionage fiction, John Le Carre takes us into the REAL world of spying where you do your bit and wait for reactions. Things don't happen at the speed at which we wish them to.
His characters don't speak from high moral grounds, so typical to Tom Clancy's characters. Nor they are reluctant heroes of Robert Ludlum. They are real people, afraid, greedy, selfish, people who you can relate with, people who don't have the power to eliminate the evils of the world single-handedly. These are the people who know that the evil is here to stay, and in some sense they are also part of it. Elimination of evil will mean self-destruction. They just play the part in the manner they are told to and wait to get out of the evil-machine of espionage. 'Spying IS waiting'
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I don't normally feel I have time to write reviews but for this I'm making an exception. Once I got over the fact that this was not a Smiley novel (this took about a decade) I was able to accept it for what it is. Which is a beautifully crafted book about manners, like a modern Jane Austen, with a backdrop of cold war tension. Here is an author who seems to see more than most and is able to articulate it economically. Despite a slightly world-weary tone, or perhaps because of it, it is a ripping good read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Vine™ Review
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I always enjoyed leCarre's espionage books. The plot and suspense was carefully cultivated, the characters were believable for their strengths and flaws, the endings usually understated in terms of reality, but the major principals usually bearing a heavy price. Unfortunately with the end of the Cold War, le Carre seemed to suffer, leading to dabblings in other areas- usually with poor returns. (The strong exception of course is "The Constant Gardener")
So I held high hopes for this spy thriller set against the background years of glastnost and perestroika. The smooth anti-hero is Barley Blair, a British publisher who gets caught up with a manuscript detailing flaws in the Soviet military industry, MI5 and CIA; and a strikingly attractive Soviet female publisher with an idealistic streak.
I wanted to like my first audiobook from this author. The scenes are all the more immersive for the reading, with Barley and Katya being played very well. There is a terseness to most of the set scenes, very impressive because it is only dialogue and scene-setting sound effects. I found Barley's MI5 interrogation and induction as well as his spycraft efforts in the field in the Soviet Union gripping to the point of claustrophobia.
Yet there is a bit of flakiness to nearly all the characters. Barley Blair, a man who almost has no ethics, develops them by the start of CD2. He has multiple female conquests and comes across as a middle aged Rover, suddenly falls completely for Katya who he has never met but only has heard being decribed as striking.
And not to give the ending away, but the subsequent arrangement that Barley effects with the "Sovs" is completely unbelievable in the context of the story presented by the audiobook (Soviet authorities allow Barley to dictate terms)
I am not certain if this is the fault of the original text or the adaptation. I was willingly swept away by the excellent performances until the lightweight ending.
However, I would recommend this set for the strong efforts of the cast and the perfect capture of the relevant mood in all its scenes.
So I held high hopes for this spy thriller set against the background years of glastnost and perestroika. The smooth anti-hero is Barley Blair, a British publisher who gets caught up with a manuscript detailing flaws in the Soviet military industry, MI5 and CIA; and a strikingly attractive Soviet female publisher with an idealistic streak.
I wanted to like my first audiobook from this author. The scenes are all the more immersive for the reading, with Barley and Katya being played very well. There is a terseness to most of the set scenes, very impressive because it is only dialogue and scene-setting sound effects. I found Barley's MI5 interrogation and induction as well as his spycraft efforts in the field in the Soviet Union gripping to the point of claustrophobia.
Yet there is a bit of flakiness to nearly all the characters. Barley Blair, a man who almost has no ethics, develops them by the start of CD2. He has multiple female conquests and comes across as a middle aged Rover, suddenly falls completely for Katya who he has never met but only has heard being decribed as striking.
And not to give the ending away, but the subsequent arrangement that Barley effects with the "Sovs" is completely unbelievable in the context of the story presented by the audiobook (Soviet authorities allow Barley to dictate terms)
I am not certain if this is the fault of the original text or the adaptation. I was willingly swept away by the excellent performances until the lightweight ending.
However, I would recommend this set for the strong efforts of the cast and the perfect capture of the relevant mood in all its scenes.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
It's John le Carre' - of course it's good
To say this is a very good novel is an understatement - John Le Carre' hasn't written many clunkers in his time. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Grev
Excellent production, Tom Baker is perfect
Tom Baker reads this book in his normal deadpan manner which is perfect for this John LeCarre book. I did not recognize any of the other 'actors' but they were all good. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. P. Stewart
Engaging audiobook
For some reason Amazon persist in mixing up reviews of printed books and audiobooks, which seems odd to me since it really isn't the same as combining reviews of paperback and... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Melanie Pratt
atmospheric
This is a great cd. Atmospheric without being too abstract. A great spy thriller with a love interest to give the story another dimension. Read more
Published 4 months ago by T
An entertaining listen - more quality from the BBC
John le Carre's The Russia House is a quartet of audio CDs totalling 190 minutes of original BBC drama first broadcast in 1994 on BBC Radio 4. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. P. HAIGH
An exciting story.
I really enjoyed this CD, it's just the kind of story that grabs me, spies, suspense and mystery.
The essence of the plot is, and I won't give too much away, in the... Read more
The essence of the plot is, and I won't give too much away, in the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mike J
Great to hear this instead of reading
It's marvellous to be able to hear this. I got it to take with us in our motorhome, because my husband doesn't like to read for long periods (unlike me!). Read more
Published 6 months ago by GM Harlow
Old-Time Excitement
What a wonderful way to pass away a long distance drive - only problem I can see is that the listener might want to close their eyes and concentrate on the play rather than the... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Richard M. Seel
If you like Tom Baker, buy this. If you like John le Carre, buy this....
Having seen the film version (with Sean Connery) of this some years ago I was not entirely sure this was going to be worth listening to as I remembered the essence of the story so... Read more
Published 6 months ago by G. Wake
Red in the Bed
This BBC play is set in the time of perestroika. USSR has become more open so a Book fare is able to be held. Read more
Published 7 months ago by James I. Wilson
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