Title: 40 year old novel holds up well
Product review: Even though this second book in the Smiley trilogy was written 40 years ago, it is still a riveting and suspenseful story of Cold War espionage. In some ways, with the advantage of hindsight, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the transformation of China into an economic power, and the end of the Cold War, the book serves as a useful reminder of what the world was like in the mid-1970s. Le Carre's plot, as always, is complex, his characters compelling, and the deliberative pace (matching George Smiley's personality and work method) is captivating. The reader is drawn into a many-layered and intricate web that only slowly reveals itself as the story moves toward its ending climax. I did not read this book when it first came out, but as a look back at the world as it was, it is fascinating.
Would you say this review depicts the product in a flattering or unflattering light?
