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 enlarge | Author: John Le Carre
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $28.00
Buy Used: $9.99
You Save: $18.01 (64%)
New (63) Used (31) Collectible (3) from $9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  122 reviews
Sales Rank: 1691
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 1416594884
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9781416594888
ASIN: 1416594884
Publication Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition.May include ex library markings. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact(including dust cover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting. Thank You for your purchase, it goes to a non profit organization and will be shipped in 24 business hours.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Decent spy novel December 14, 2008
This was a decent spy novel. I rated it a 3 because the plot was a bit thin, but I did enjoy reading it. Seems like it was partly just trying to capitalize on 9/11 war on terror type stuff, another "there are new rules now" plotline.
A pleasant read December 14, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
A powerful story about a poor Chechen, the bastard son of a corrupt Russian General, who has suffered immensely in the hands of the Russians and the Turks and who ends up in Hamburg to reclaim his father's ill gotten gains which he intends to put to good use. He also wants to study medicine in order to help people. All Le Carre's characters, the Chechen, the German lawyer-ideologue and the failed British banker, despite their many cliches remain original and fresh, surreal yet real. The author manages to convey clinical detachment and objectivity behind which lies a deep concern about the world we live in. And reminds us of Plato's question: "who will protect us from our protectors"?
 great characters, good start, falls apart at the end December 8, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I enjoyed the first 3/4 of this, my first LeCarre read, but the ending was disappointingly simplistic, predictable, abrupt and unsatisfying.
Definitely could have used more Bachmann, my favorite character.
Different Perspectives December 7, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'm not much of a fan of the spy genre, and I've only read two Le Carre novel before this one ("Tailor of Panama" and the one about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians). I wanted to give the current title a try because several reviewers thought that it had an "Anti-American" twist, which is something that sounds odd to my ear and something that I've really never come across before. As it turns out, this book has a lot of different targets--not just Americans. But the Americans that are portrayed are more cartoonishly evil and brutal than the others. What's Le Carre's problem anyway? That aside, this novel is clearly crafted well enough to hold the interest of a general fiction reader. (My only other quibble was with the rapid psychological collapse of a female protagonist which seemed ill-explained and out of character.) Politics notwithstanding, this novel is more literate than most and ranks well above the ordinary.
Being There in Germany December 7, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
John le Carre has created in Issa his most enigmatic character yet, which is saying a lot for le Carre. Issa has more in common with Chauncey Gardiner in Being There than any character in any other spy novel you've ever read. He's a cypher in the beginning and remains a cypher until the end, but everyone reacts to him based on their own inner demons, rather than anything Issa ever does or says, and he remains the one innocent character out of the whole lot. And by everyone, I mean exactly that, those who would help and protect him for their own reasons and assupmtions of who Issa is or might be, and the various intelligence services of Germany, Great Britain and the U.S., all with their own individual agendas. Watching the intell groups assess and attempt to exploit Issa, and use and abuse those around him and each other is the real fun here.
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