Spies
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk 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
'Deeply Satisfying... Frayn has written nothing better.' Independent; 'Spies improves upon rereading, which is the true test of depth. It is cerebral and sensuous; extremely funny and yet deeply serious.' Sunday Telegraph
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Some reviews have already mentioned the book's common ground with LP Hartley's "The Go-Between". As a child's-eye view of adult behaviour, this novel also has plenty of acute insights into childhood, and a similarly bittersweet mood of nostagia for the lost past.
Limited in scope to the young Stephen's surburban street and its inhabitants, the novel is probably at its best in its excellent observations of how children think and talk. Stephen's relationships with his friends and neighbours are very believable, often amusing, and at times very poignant when he is at his most frightened and powerless in the face of incomprehensible adult behaviour. But despite feeling sympathy for Stephen I never felt totally involved in his story. The plot was neatly worked out but I didn't find it emotionally compelling. The family revelations are a good example - they're undoubtedly clever and neat, but perhaps a bit too clever and neat judging by the feelings of many reviewers here.
Ian McEwan's "Atonement" has similar preoccupations with childish perception, regret and culpability - but the difference was that "Atonement" made me cry. "Spies" is an acute intellectual study of wartime society and human relationships, but despite the subject matter it never quite threatened a tear.
43 of 49 people found the following review helpful
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.
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
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.
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
I spy with my little eye - something beginning with "D"
And the "D" is disappointing! I really struggled to get through this book although it started well. Michael Frayn is an excellent writer but this one just didn't work for me. Read more
Published 1 month ago by red petronella
Just...dull
At the beginning I was fooled into thinking that perhaps this was just a book with a slow start and persevered. This was certainly not the case. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lexy
A MODERN PROUST
In 'My Father's Fortune', Michael Frayn recalls his childhood and youth through the medium of a memoir of his father. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Stephen Cooper
3 stars is generous
Hmmm I'm not sure what to think of this, it wasn't my usual kind of book. I was tied between giving it 2 or 3 stars. Read more
Published 6 months ago by BookObsessive
Enid Blyton for grown ups
Enid Blyton has been much maligned over the decades; whatever her personal life held - for me as a child they reinforced hope and patience in an otherwise chaotic world. Read more
Published 9 months ago by L. Quinn
Look elsewhere
I find it difficult to understand how many of the very positive reviews of this work (let alone the award it won) came about. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Kritz
A masterful depiction of a child (mis)understanding the adult world
The writing style of Spies reminds me of Paul Auster and is almost as good.
What is a delightful is that the narrator and main character, Stephen, is in his own,... Read more
What is a delightful is that the narrator and main character, Stephen, is in his own,... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Daniel_writer
Spies Review
This purchase was excellent. The book was cheap and even though I bought used it was clearly brand new. Read more
Published 20 months ago by ClaireB
Strong plot, terrible style
I have read this book over the past couple of days as we are studying it for part of the A level English Literature course, and I waited until I had finished it before I could make... Read more
Published 20 months ago by J. Reckitt
"The Frightening Half Understood Promise Of Life".
The narrator of Michael Frayn's charming and captivating novel is Stephen Wheatley; an old man in his seventies whose feelings of restlessness and unease transport him back to... Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2010 by Isolina Visciano
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