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Spies [Paperback]

Michael Frayn (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 20 Jan 2003

In the quiet cul-de-sac where Keith and Stephen live the only immediate signs of the Second World War are the blackout at night and a single random bombsite. But the two boys suspect that the comfortably ordinary houses in the Close and their inhabitants are not what they seem. As Keith, the leader in all their enterprises, authoritatively informs the trusting Stephen, the whole district is riddled with secret passages and underground laboratories - hideaways for any number of murderers, unsung war heroes and secret agents.

Then one day Keith announces an even more disconcerting discovery: the Germans have infiltrated his own family. And when the secret underground world they have dreamed up emerges from the shadows they find themselves engulfed in mysteries far deeper and more painful than they had bargained for.

'Deeply satisfying . . . Frayn has written nothing better.' Independent

'Frayn has never written more seductively and surely than in this book.' Sunday Times

Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Faber and Faber; New edition edition (20 Jan 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0571212964
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571212965
  • Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 19.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Michael Frayn
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Product Description

Amazon Review

In Michael Frayn's novel Spies an old man returns to the scene of his seemingly ordinary suburban childhood. Stephen Wheatley is unsure of what he is seeking but, as he walks once-familiar streets he hasn't seen in 50 years, he unfolds a story of childish games colliding cruelly with adult realities. It is wartime and Stephen's friend Keith makes the momentous announcement that his mother is a German spy. The two boys begin to spy on the supposed spy, following her on her trips to the shops and to the post, and reading her diary. Keith's mother does have secrets to conceal but they are not the ones the boys suspect. Frayn skilfully manipulates his plot so that the reader's growing awareness of the truth remains just a few steps beyond Stephen's dawning realisation that he is trespassing on painful and dangerous territory. The only false notes occur in the final chapter when the central revelation (already cleverly signposted) is too swiftly followed by further disclosures about Stephen and his family that seem somehow unnecessary and make the denouement less satisfyingly conclusive. This is a much sparer and less expansive book than Headlong, Frayn's Booker Prize-shortlisted 1999 novel, more understated in its wit, but it is, in many ways, more compelling.--Nick Rennison --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

''Spies' is a cleverly conceived and intricately executed novel in which different layers of irony are nested like Russian dolls.' -- London Review of Books

''Spies' is too good for the Booker Prize - can there be higher praise?' -- Daily Express

'Beautifully accomplished, richly nostalgic novel about supposed Second World War espionage seen through the eyes of a young boy.' -- Sunday Times

'Frayn has never written more seductively and surely than in this book.' -- Peter Kemp, Sunday Times

'In a recent interview, Frayn, a former journalist, said it was very difficult to explain what a story is. 'Spies' is a near-perfect exemplar.' -- Glasgow Herald

'This is a deeply satisfying account of the everyday torments and confusions experienced by a not especially bright boy at a time of international madness. Frayn has written nothing better.' -- Independent

'This is a lovingly conceived, handsomely detailed novel . . . never less than witty, ingenious and a pleasure to read.' -- Guardian
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
52 of 58 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Always fresh and inventive, Frayn breaks new ground 3 Feb 2002
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I have been comprehensively bowled over by Spies. I have never seen the dilemmas, confusions, excitements, insights, and incomprehensions of childhood better, more truthfully, done; and its balance of comedy and anguish - indeed the blend of comedy and anguish - is handled with exceptional delicacy. The fun is real fun, but it isn't allowed to cheapen or lessen Stephen's anxieties, fears, sense of his own unworthiness. (As an old man, he may have lost two of those, but not the third, I think.) All that would be enough to make this an exceptionally fine and unusual novel.
But Frayn also presents an adult story, imperceptibly humming in the background almost at the start, then thrumming more and more audibly as he brings it to the fore. When finally it declares itself openly, fortissimo and on centre-stage, one realizes that it has (and how it has) been at the centre of the story from the outset, though always - even at the climax - we get it through the consciousness of the boy.
The presentation of the adult story is an astonishing technical feat. Frayn shows superlative skill in the way he paces it - not just the rate at which the story comes forward, but the steps it takes to get there: the thriller-like excitement as it is gradually revealed, the discipline with which the revelation comes entirely through the experience of the boy Stephen, with nothing leaking around the edges, the growing revelation (starting long before we know what the story really is) of its sadness. It is an astonishing achievement.
The central adult story is heart-breaking. One is also sad for others, including the boy Keith and his poor limited frightened frightening father.
Frayn is never sentimental. He allows Stephen to be better in some ways than he thinks he is, and to have some significant decencies. But he also allows him to fail pretty seriously, letting down each of the two adult protagonists. The failures are shown as growing organically out of the condition of being a child, but they are failures nonetheless.
The long list of Frayn's novels has contained nothing else remotely like this. He continues to extend his range, taking new risks, exploring new territory.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Too much of a good thing 20 Feb 2006
By Samuel Cooke
Format:Hardcover
“Spies” is an incredibly mysterious and thought-provoking piece, written in the increasingly popular ‘unreliable narrator’ style. Using war-time Britain as a subtle backdrop and plot catalyst, Frayn explores the patchy, incoherent childhood memories of an old man stopping to discover the truth behind a major turning point in his life. Touching on many aspects of childhood life, we are shown only the memories that are given to us, whist occasionally being teased by tiny clues as to the story’s eventual conclusion. By the means of foreshadowing, tension and a complicated narrating technique, the reader always feels one step ahead of the author, and yet – at the same time – acutely aware that you are totally at Frayn’s mercy.
For me there was only one major problem, and this was the story’s length, which leaves the reader tired and frustrated, let alone desperate for an increase in tempo. This is mercifully supplied, and one is suddenly conscious of the spiraling plot twists and thrilling peaks that eventually lead to a rich and emotive resolution.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Profound denouement is a adaquate compensation 13 Feb 2006
By "willsen99"
Format:Paperback
'Spies' is described as 'beautifully crafted' and I have to agree. Even when I wasn't enjoying what I was reading, which for a large part of this novella I was not, it is stil impossible to deny that it has been formed with a glorious technique.

Until the last 60 pages of Spies I found the overt simplicity of the childhood Stephen's narative rather grating. However, from this point onwards the adult Stephen plays an almost unbroken lead role in narrating the story and once he does, the beauty of the ideas really begins to show.

It is astonishing to anyone who has grown up that Frayn manages to remind us of aspects of childhood that we had forgotton despite his vastly superior age.

It is only in considering the role of the narrator in a story that we can really understand why Frayn was justified in winning the Whitbread prize. The realisation that characters themselves have not changed, merely the Stephen's (the narrator) perspective (and therefore our perspective) is a remarkable transition from the regular narrative method of the omnipotent narrator, one who is unaffected by the narrative, despite playing an integeral role in it. Frayn's perspective on narrative here, and equally his attention to detail is what saves this novel from what might have been a disapointment to what is ultimately, a masterpiece.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Who dun it with a difference
An intriguing tale with an unexpected ending. A good mixture of suspense and humour. Spoilt if you read the end first.
Published 1 day ago by Sandie Wood
3.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic but viewpoint switches confuse
Stephen, now an old man, reminisces about his childhood, and there is an infectious nostalgia as the reader shares the recollection of how as a boy he searched after the truth... Read more
Published 2 days ago by Susanna Deakin
5.0 out of 5 stars spies by Michael Frayn
I enjoyed reading the book a while ago and recommended to our small book group. I related to story as I grew up as a small child in an industrial city during WW2.
Published 7 days ago by June Besley
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!
In 'Spies', Frayn has given us so many layers ~ and such beautiful writing.

'Spies' is clever, intriguing, entertaining ~ indeed it's everything that anyone could wish... Read more
Published 19 days ago by Tricia Mason
4.0 out of 5 stars Evocative and thoughtful
I've just finished reading this and haven't fully processed it.

However, it is an engaging read , well worth a try. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Septimus Croft
1.0 out of 5 stars Silly and exasperating
It's very well written, but I just didn't like the story or how it developed. Just my preference I know people in our book club who liked it.
Published 1 month ago by Norman David Crisp
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Haven't read this book for years, even better than I remember it. Wonderfully perceptive view of the tricks childhood memory plays. Or are they tricks ? Read more
Published 1 month ago by maggie pearson
5.0 out of 5 stars memory lane
a n unexpected delight. haunting and reminiscent of childhood innocence and pain. An exploration of trust and doubt- and the essential qualities of a good 'den'!
Published 2 months ago by Deniflo
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting twist on a spy story
This was an interesting story set in the last World War. I liked the way the story was told from a boy's point of view, and the way the location is very restricted, probably only... Read more
Published 2 months ago by greenmonapia
1.0 out of 5 stars A hard read because. Of the style of writing
A reflective book with a small story that seemed to be dragged out. The narrator took several positions in time when telling the story and often the switch felt quite awkward and... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jane Mckenzie
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