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The Mission Song (Hardcover)

by John Le Carre (Author)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Little Brown and Company; First Edition First Printing edition (19 Sep 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316016748
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316016742
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.5 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 602,979 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Sunday Telegraph on THE CONSTANT GARDENER

‘Essential reading’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Stella Rimington, The Times on ABSOLUTE FRIENDS

‘This is vintage John le Carré’ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews

24 Reviews
5 star:
 (3)
4 star:
 (8)
3 star:
 (10)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.4 out of 5 stars (24 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A great addition to Le Carré's post-Cold War output, 27 Feb 2008
By Wynne Kelly "Kellydoll" (Coventry, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: The Mission Song (Paperback)
Bruno Salvador, with an Irish Missionary father and Congolese mother, works as a freelance interpreter. As well as English, French and Swahili he also speaks a range of less common African languages.

As a loyal British citizen he is proud to be called on by unnamed government departments to assist in sensitive negotiations. But when he is asked to leave at short notice to attend a conference of unnamed people for unknown purposes on an anonymous northern island things go awry for him. As an interpreter he is expected to hold everything in strict confidence but as the conference progresses he sees and hears things that can only be detrimental to peace and progress.

It is very well done how Le Carré portrays Salvo as initially very enthusiastic and naïvely supportive of what is being planned and how he gradually has his innocence ripped away from him.

The Mission Song is well plotted (complex but believable) and whips along at a great pace. An exciting read but without any crazy chases or gun fights. Another great addition to Le Carré's post-Cold War output.

Can businessmen, Civil Servants and politicians be so corrupt and self-serving? Yes, probably.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars On top form, 27 Dec 2007
By Pilgrim (Scotland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mission Song (Paperback)
I cannot understand why other readers of this book have been disappointed. Perhaps they expected a trademark tale of intrigue instead of an accurate description of the tawdry intrigues in which the Uk government regularly indulges in order to protect its interests in Africa (for which, read big business). Instead, Mr le Carre has given us a dark farce, seen through the eyes of the delightfully drawn central character. Whilst the surface story is fairly straightforward, once you begin to think of the underlying assumptions that are being exposed, you see that the fierce anger at the way the West has treated Africa still burns.

As for being 'literary'. Well, Mr le Carre has always been that. He has chronicled the dark heart of our civilization and all the forms of betrayal on which it based ever since he started writing. It is high time his work was recognized for this - if ever there was a contender for the Nobel prize, it is John le Carre.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Not for me, 18 Aug 2007
By Suzie (Scotland, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Mission Song (Paperback)
I bought this because I so enjoyed reading `The Constant Gardener'. The theme of 'The Mission Song' - Western exploitation of an African country - is admirable and the writing as clear and fluent as any other Le Carre, but I found the story tedious in its detail. In particluar the word-for-word description of a meeting on some unnamed island struck me as too long and laboured. Eventually the story did get going again but I have to say it took some perseverance to reach that point and even then I found the ensuing chapters disappointingly predictable.

Although well-written and clever, this did not seem to me to be up to Le Carre's previous work. Unless you're into detailed political negotiation I really wouldn't bother.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Original and worthy, though could be more readable
For those who are familiar with Le Carre's books, this novel is in a similar vein to the excellent 'Constant Gardener'. Read more
Published 6 months ago by BookWorm

4.0 out of 5 stars Idealism and naiveté betrayed
"I'm just not sure who the heathens are." - Bruno Salvador experiencing disillusionment

First published in 2006, THE MISSION SONG has a racially mixed protagonist -... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Joseph Haschka

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Thriller
A book about a "whistle-blower" who happens to be an interpreter. I liked the insight given into the world of an interpreter - different from a mere translator - and was... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Andy

4.0 out of 5 stars Will Salvo save the day?
This isn't the type of book I'd usually read - usually I prefer to stick to more light-hearted stuff, or at least, books that don't contain too much politics. Read more
Published 20 months ago by L. Felthouse

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully constructed, unfortunately credible
In The Mission Song John le Carré re-visits the world of espionage that we associate with his writing. He is a master of the clandestine, the deniable, the re-definable. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Philip Spires

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best
This maybe is a familiar tale, but Le Carre ensures the reader is left in no doubt that the UK government, big business are at the heart of the coup and the American's are lurking... Read more
Published 23 months ago by H. Ludford

1.0 out of 5 stars Deeply disappointing
I am a huge fan of Le Carré and rate The Perfect Spy as one of my favourite all time novels. As someone else put it, I would usually classify his work as literature. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Nick A

3.0 out of 5 stars More of the same
John Le Carre is one of the the most accomplished writers around. I classify his writing as 'literature' - the detail, the dialogue, the characterisation, the prose style - all... Read more
Published 24 months ago by Keith Mitchell

4.0 out of 5 stars Not up to par, but still one of the best novelists out there
I would agree with other reviewers on this site that The Mission Song is not one of Le Carre's best. Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2007 by Ingaborga

3.0 out of 5 stars African Connection
There is no doubt that Le Carre is a main player in contemporary fiction and his work is always well crafted, however I have to say I was slightly disappointed with the Mission... Read more
Published on 1 Nov 2007 by Duncan Stewart

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