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Available
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Series
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Collection
Publication
London : Heinemann, [1965]
Description
It would have been an easy job for the Circus: a can of film couriered from Helsinki to London. In the past the Circus handled all things political, while the Department dealt with matters military. But the Department has been moribund since the War, its resources siphoned away. Now, one of their agents is dead, and vital evidence verifying the presence of Soviet missiles near the West German border is gone. John Avery is the Department's younger member and its last hope. Charged with handling Fred Leiser, a German-speaking Pole left over from the War, Avery must infiltrate the East and restore his masters' former glory.John le Carré's The Looking Glass War is a scorching portrayal of misplaced loyalties and innocence lost.
Media reviews
The spy part of "The Looking Glass War" is, of course, excellent. It concerns a former military espionage department in London (small, left over from the glorious days of World War II) and its struggle to train one of its former agents for a mission into East Germany. The technical background for
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the mission is well presented. The action itself, once it finally gets under way, is tense and doomed in a gratifying manner; we are given just the right sort of sketch-portrait of Leiser, the special agent. Moreover, as in "The Spy," we are given a strong sense that all this tension, duplicity and personal betrayal exist within the little world of espionage mostly for their own sake and not very much for the sake of the greater political good they are supposed to serve. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Larou
This is the fourth novel by John Le Carré I have read in the space of that many months, and it is starting to look like I might have embarked on a (more or less) chronological reading of his whole oeuvre. Chances do seem good that I will continue as The Looking Glass War is the novel I liked best
I suspect I will likely be in a minority with this assessment, though, because this is a very strange novel indeed and quite far removed from what one would expect a spy thriller to be – most of its protagonists aren’t even real spies and those that are, are mostly distinguished by their incompetence. Also it has to be said that the novel is not particularly thrilling – tension does rise somewhat towards the end, but overall it is not a page turner but rather a novel that requires the reader’s attention. The basic plot itself is fairly simple, and – thanks to a generous scattering of clues – it becomes clear quite early on where things are going and that they won’t be ending well. However, the ways by which The Looking Glass War actually gets there are not at all predictable, but unexpectedly thorny and twisting. The novel never really does what one would expect it to do, its attention and emphasis ricochet all over the place, it jumps from one irrelevant detail to the next, it shifts points of view erratically, gets distracted by apparently pointless observations, and generally seems doggedly determined to do everything a well-constructed novel, not to mention a supposed thriller, should not be doing. And yet, through all those irritations and omissions, through all the frustrated reader expectations and randomly scattered lacunae, Le Carré somehow still manages to tell a compelling, if extremely bleak, story.
What The Looking Glass War most reminded me of was Jazz music. Now, comparing literature to Jazz has been an old hat ever since F. Scott Fitzgerald, but that does not mean it doesn’t fit occasionally, and this seems to me to be one of those cases. It is not the language – that is Le Carré’s nuanced, highly literary style that readers are familiar with from previous novels, long descriptive periods that bear no trace of the speed and nervosity generally associated with Jazz music. But there is something quite literally offbeat about The Looking Glass War, the way it takes a traditional, well-known theme and proceeds to take it apart, breaks it down into its constituent parts and then puts them together again in an entirely new way, leaving things out we always thought were necessary but now find out aren’t and adding free, sometimes wild improvisations that drive the worn-out theme into entirely unexpected directions. I’m inclined to think it no accident that The Looking Glass War was published in the same year John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was released (1965), and only four years after Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz. In its wilful dismissal and gleeful breaking of all rules of “good” novel-writing I found it also a bit reminiscent of Godard’s À bout de souffle, making it very much a product of the period it was written and published in.
However that might be, The Looking Glass War is a highly intriguing read and quite probably unlike any other spy novel you’ve read, and I’m very keen on finding out where Le Carré went from there.
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so far, even better than The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.I suspect I will likely be in a minority with this assessment, though, because this is a very strange novel indeed and quite far removed from what one would expect a spy thriller to be – most of its protagonists aren’t even real spies and those that are, are mostly distinguished by their incompetence. Also it has to be said that the novel is not particularly thrilling – tension does rise somewhat towards the end, but overall it is not a page turner but rather a novel that requires the reader’s attention. The basic plot itself is fairly simple, and – thanks to a generous scattering of clues – it becomes clear quite early on where things are going and that they won’t be ending well. However, the ways by which The Looking Glass War actually gets there are not at all predictable, but unexpectedly thorny and twisting. The novel never really does what one would expect it to do, its attention and emphasis ricochet all over the place, it jumps from one irrelevant detail to the next, it shifts points of view erratically, gets distracted by apparently pointless observations, and generally seems doggedly determined to do everything a well-constructed novel, not to mention a supposed thriller, should not be doing. And yet, through all those irritations and omissions, through all the frustrated reader expectations and randomly scattered lacunae, Le Carré somehow still manages to tell a compelling, if extremely bleak, story.
What The Looking Glass War most reminded me of was Jazz music. Now, comparing literature to Jazz has been an old hat ever since F. Scott Fitzgerald, but that does not mean it doesn’t fit occasionally, and this seems to me to be one of those cases. It is not the language – that is Le Carré’s nuanced, highly literary style that readers are familiar with from previous novels, long descriptive periods that bear no trace of the speed and nervosity generally associated with Jazz music. But there is something quite literally offbeat about The Looking Glass War, the way it takes a traditional, well-known theme and proceeds to take it apart, breaks it down into its constituent parts and then puts them together again in an entirely new way, leaving things out we always thought were necessary but now find out aren’t and adding free, sometimes wild improvisations that drive the worn-out theme into entirely unexpected directions. I’m inclined to think it no accident that The Looking Glass War was published in the same year John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme was released (1965), and only four years after Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz. In its wilful dismissal and gleeful breaking of all rules of “good” novel-writing I found it also a bit reminiscent of Godard’s À bout de souffle, making it very much a product of the period it was written and published in.
However that might be, The Looking Glass War is a highly intriguing read and quite probably unlike any other spy novel you’ve read, and I’m very keen on finding out where Le Carré went from there.
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LibraryThing member camharlow2
Set in the early 1960s, this spy novel centres more on inter-service rivalry rather than being set on foreign territory. The rivalry is between an unnamed intelligence service, The Department lead by Leclerc and The Circus, where George Smiley is employed. The Department has been a declining
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influence since the Second World War and Leclerc is determined to resurrect its fortunes by confirming the existence of missiles stationed in East Germany near its border with West Germany. However, its reduced budget means that it is forced to negotiate for resources and help from The Circus while attempting to disguise its true purpose. Le Carre deftly describes the delicate dance of their deception while also revealing the canniness of Control as he leads The Circus and gets Smiley to mislead The Department. There is betrayal, and as is so often the case in John le Carre’s novels, the deepest effect is on the smallest individual, but it is the manner of the betrayal and its acceptance that is most disturbing. Show Less
LibraryThing member Muscogulus
Most spy thrillers are junk food; this is a gourmet meal. Le Carré is a masterful writer who doesn't waste a word. His story is a tragedy spiced with bitter satire and a dash of farce. The action takes place in the early 1960s in Finland, London, and East Germany. Le Carré's George Smiley makes a
The spies' world is old and worn, coal-heated, still stocked with snapshots of The War. But now everything is in the throes of renovation into something breathlessly modern and urgent, as befits a conflict that has the potential to destroy the world.
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few appearances, but the protagonists are mainly from a rival British agency determined to remain relevant. Most of the fellows used to trick Nazis in their youth. Now they've decided to try some tricks on the East Germans. The spies' world is old and worn, coal-heated, still stocked with snapshots of The War. But now everything is in the throes of renovation into something breathlessly modern and urgent, as befits a conflict that has the potential to destroy the world.
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LibraryThing member bevok
Another well performed Smiley book. The storybis told in le Carres usual understated style, evoking more strongly than previous books the bureaucracy and petty rivalries of the secret world. The characters are very plausible and well developed.
LibraryThing member claraoscura
Not one of the best Le Carre's but still good.
LibraryThing member charlie68
A sparsely written, but engaging, as you follow secret agents on their variouse quests. Fairly cynical too.
LibraryThing member ManipledMutineer
Bleak but compelling.
LibraryThing member TheTwoDs
John Le Carre follows up The Spy Who Came In from the Cold with this more realistic take on the mundane, and inane, world of cold war espionage. The brief sparks of idealism occasionally present in the previous book is replaced here by an almost pervading cynicism as rival intelligence agencies
This is where the more modern Le Carre began to take shape, introducing a brand of skepticism that can only be wrought by a former insider. At the time of its publication in 1965 it was excoriated by critics and did not sell nearly as well as its predecessor, not surprisingly since it was not in the mode of the rah-rah spy novels in vogue at the time. Sadly, as evidenced by the dysfunction revealed in the 9/11 investigations, clumsy, uncoordinated intelligence agencies incapable of working together still rule the world with disastrous consequences. The writing is less polished, but here lies the germ of the style that would become Le Carre's hallmark in the Quest for Karla trilogy.
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compete for resources, with the fading military intelligence operation, the Department, snatching at the flimsiest of leads in an effort to prove their relevance compared to the political intelligence agency, the Circus. In doing so, lies are believed to the point where they become indistinguishable from truth, careers are made or broken, assets, including men, are wasted.This is where the more modern Le Carre began to take shape, introducing a brand of skepticism that can only be wrought by a former insider. At the time of its publication in 1965 it was excoriated by critics and did not sell nearly as well as its predecessor, not surprisingly since it was not in the mode of the rah-rah spy novels in vogue at the time. Sadly, as evidenced by the dysfunction revealed in the 9/11 investigations, clumsy, uncoordinated intelligence agencies incapable of working together still rule the world with disastrous consequences. The writing is less polished, but here lies the germ of the style that would become Le Carre's hallmark in the Quest for Karla trilogy.
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LibraryThing member br77rino
Short, and one of Le Carre's better spy novels, though there is little action in it and Le Carre's intro says it was very poorly received.
We instead meet a sister service to the Circus, one that is in danger of being dropped altogether, and so goes out on a limb to prove sinister bomb developments
We instead meet a sister service to the Circus, one that is in danger of being dropped altogether, and so goes out on a limb to prove sinister bomb developments
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going on just the other side of the curtain in order to keep their service alive. People die. Show Less
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
This the Le Carre book that sets up the world of George Smiley's Circus. And I recall it as a "Business as usual" book, before Le Carre began to discuss the cost of the spy business, at which he was the master. One doesn't fully understand the following works without this home base book.
LibraryThing member mcintcj
Sorry but I just didn't like it. Couldn't engage with any of the characters and there were plot holes big enough to drive a Routmaster London bus through. Too much time spent on the training of the spy part...the last part seemed rushed and hastily thought through even though one suspected how it
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would end. Show Less
LibraryThing member brakketh
Another great spy thriller were the agent is betrayed for the greater good.
LibraryThing member isabelx
In London there is a small military intelligence department, in decline since its glory days during the war. It no longer runs its own teams of agents abroad, and is resentful of the Circus, which has prospered at its expense. At the height of the cold war the department decides to put an agent
At the point in the book where the spy attempts to get into East Germany, I felt that the most likely outcome was that he would be caught, tortured and shot, the next most likely was the Circus turning up to sort the whole mess out, and there seemed virtually no possibility of him actually succeeding and getting back to the West alive ( I won't spoil things by telling you the actual outcome). An interesting story, but don't read it when you're feeling down, as it's not a fun read.
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into East Germany to check out reports of troop build-ups and a possible new rocket site, while pretending to the Circus that they are just doing a training mission. An air of seediness and desperation to cling onto past glories pervades the whole book, as the department attempts to gain a foothold in the more glamorous side of spying again.At the point in the book where the spy attempts to get into East Germany, I felt that the most likely outcome was that he would be caught, tortured and shot, the next most likely was the Circus turning up to sort the whole mess out, and there seemed virtually no possibility of him actually succeeding and getting back to the West alive ( I won't spoil things by telling you the actual outcome). An interesting story, but don't read it when you're feeling down, as it's not a fun read.
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LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
I recently read an article in the book section of The Guardian’s which extolled the virtue of this book as John le Carré’s forgotten masterpiece. Published shortly after his widely heralded masterpiece, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, this novel was met with a predominantly hostile
The Guardian article acknowledged the decidedly cool critical response when the book was first published, but urged a modern readership to give it a second chance. I was put in mind of Astolfo, the English knight who flies his hippogriff to the moon in search of the lost wits of Orlando, premier among Charlemagne’s paladins who has lost his mind through unrequited love for the pagan princess Angelica. Well I guess we might all have our own dreamy and dream-worthy Angelicas, but I wonder whether le Carré has really been well-served by the Guardian’s Astolfo-like attempt to restore this work from the trove of lost things.
Before I go further, I should make plain that I am a great fan of John le Carré‘s writing … well, more accurately, of his other writing. I think that he has, perhaps, been ill-served by too many critics suggesting that he is the finest writer of spy fiction. While that is certainly true, I feel that such a judgement overlooks the more important point that he is simply one of the greatest writers in any genre. Few other English novelists have so successfully explored the extremities of the human condition, while also almost always delivering a watertight, plausible plot.
Except here.
I read this book maybe forty years ago, and seem to remember having enjoyed it. Well, I suppose each of us could find similarly embarrassing confessions to offer up from our teenage years. Contrary to what the guardian writer suggested, I think that this book is perhaps best left in the dustier recesses of the moon, and any literary Astolfos would be better employed seeking to revive and resuscitate more worthy books.
Having burbled on for more than long enough about this already, I don’t propose to say much more. The plot was weak, the characters were poorly drawn, and any dialogue was relentlessly stilted.
But apart from that …
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response. Despite the lukewarm critical response, it was quickly, as has been the case with so many of le Carré’s novels, adapted for cinema, with a youngish Anthony Hopkins taking the lead role. I think it is fair to say that, unlike most of the screen (large or small) adaptations of le Carré’s works, this film did nothing whatsoever to bolster the book’s, author’s or actors’ reputations, and I imagine that both le Carré and Hopkins might nowadays distance themselves from such an unmitigated cinematographic howler.The Guardian article acknowledged the decidedly cool critical response when the book was first published, but urged a modern readership to give it a second chance. I was put in mind of Astolfo, the English knight who flies his hippogriff to the moon in search of the lost wits of Orlando, premier among Charlemagne’s paladins who has lost his mind through unrequited love for the pagan princess Angelica. Well I guess we might all have our own dreamy and dream-worthy Angelicas, but I wonder whether le Carré has really been well-served by the Guardian’s Astolfo-like attempt to restore this work from the trove of lost things.
Before I go further, I should make plain that I am a great fan of John le Carré‘s writing … well, more accurately, of his other writing. I think that he has, perhaps, been ill-served by too many critics suggesting that he is the finest writer of spy fiction. While that is certainly true, I feel that such a judgement overlooks the more important point that he is simply one of the greatest writers in any genre. Few other English novelists have so successfully explored the extremities of the human condition, while also almost always delivering a watertight, plausible plot.
Except here.
I read this book maybe forty years ago, and seem to remember having enjoyed it. Well, I suppose each of us could find similarly embarrassing confessions to offer up from our teenage years. Contrary to what the guardian writer suggested, I think that this book is perhaps best left in the dustier recesses of the moon, and any literary Astolfos would be better employed seeking to revive and resuscitate more worthy books.
Having burbled on for more than long enough about this already, I don’t propose to say much more. The plot was weak, the characters were poorly drawn, and any dialogue was relentlessly stilted.
But apart from that …
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LibraryThing member VersionPerson
Certainly not my favourite John le Carre. I found the training section in the middle of the book particularly tiresome.
LibraryThing member Cecilturtle
Le Carré does a fantastic job of keeping a tension between love, play and game where political aspirations clash with friendships, war games with love and compassion. The final chapters are gripping as cynicism drips off the pages, and falsity, lies and indifference collide with loyalty, fear and
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frailties. It's a masterful piece which sheds light on the constructs - mirrors - that we build to justify our actions and busy our lives. Show Less
LibraryThing member librorumamans
Rereading after fifty years this fourth of the Smiley series, I am struck by the quality of Le Carre's writing: the vivid creation of scene and mood, the deft characterization, the subtle manipulation of point of view. The scathing satire exposing the shoddiness of a service addicted to fantasies
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of past glory captures the Brexit era as accurately as it captures the post-Suez years. Show Less
LibraryThing member adzebill
A Le Carre I hadn't come across, with a pervasive sense of impending doom, as vain and complacent spies plot a sure-to-go-wrong low-budget operation with obsolete equipment. So the exact opposite of a James Bond novel.
LibraryThing member mbmackay
This is a tough book to review - as well written as Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the plot is a trainwreck. Almost from the very start, the reader is painfully aware that things are going to end badly. It's hard to warm to characters who you know are going to do evil.
But, if you can put aside
The players belong to a Defence intelligence agency that is gradually going backwards. the Circus is where the real business happens, and where the best people operate. Our players are distinctly second string. It's reminiscent of Slough House of Mick Herron. Le Carre paints the picture beautifully.
So, good writing, but not a particularly enjoyable book.
But, if you can put aside
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these feelings, there is much to enjoy.The players belong to a Defence intelligence agency that is gradually going backwards. the Circus is where the real business happens, and where the best people operate. Our players are distinctly second string. It's reminiscent of Slough House of Mick Herron. Le Carre paints the picture beautifully.
So, good writing, but not a particularly enjoyable book.
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LibraryThing member Kavinay
The thrill of le Carre is not the swashbuckling of Fleming or jingoism of Clancy. Rather it's the utterly ruthless depiction of how institutions eat themselves.
LibraryThing member kukulaj
By now I feel pretty confident... Le Carre is writing spy fiction as literature. I.e. it is not just entertainment by indulging in fantasies about super powers and all that. It's more about the human condition as it plays out in the context of the world of spies.
This whole novel is a kind of
This whole novel is a kind of
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extended slump... it starts slow and then fizzles out altogether. Kind of reminds me of Neil Young introducing the song Don't Let It Bring You Down on the live album 4 Way Street. Show Less
LibraryThing member thisisstephenbetts
If anything this is grimier than The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (it's immediate predecessor, I believe). On top of the dirty business of espionage, the main characters are quite clearly incompetent, yet proud with it (it's somewhat reminiscent of the old Fry and Laurie sketches about a cosy spy
Again, fascinating to read for the descriptions of the UK in the early 60s, this book also introduces a whole spectrum of snobbery. Everyone has someone else to look down upon; sometimes this hierarchy is somewhat understandable, other times it is opaque, but it is absorbing. While the UK is still class-ridden in some ways, this book - better than any Evelyn Waugh or writer of his ilk - demonstrates quite clearly, throughout society what class meant, when it still did really mean something.
The plot has some similarities to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold - an initiating incident, then long build-up to something resembling action. The characters are beautifully depicted, and the politics of the plot are played out very subtly. Occasionally, the dialogue seemed a little florid, but that's a minor quibble. In fact, the more I think about this book, the more I like it. It doesn't quite have the 'perfectly-formed' quality of its predecessor, but it has a subtle complexity and rich context which makes it very rewarding.
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ring, but with a think layer of hubris spread over). That may sounds like it should be amusing, but it's anything but - it's sad and a bit frightening (I must say, if I'd been reading these books during the Cold War, I'm sure my enjoyment would have been tempered by a paranoid chill of assumed recognition).Again, fascinating to read for the descriptions of the UK in the early 60s, this book also introduces a whole spectrum of snobbery. Everyone has someone else to look down upon; sometimes this hierarchy is somewhat understandable, other times it is opaque, but it is absorbing. While the UK is still class-ridden in some ways, this book - better than any Evelyn Waugh or writer of his ilk - demonstrates quite clearly, throughout society what class meant, when it still did really mean something.
The plot has some similarities to The Spy Who Came In From The Cold - an initiating incident, then long build-up to something resembling action. The characters are beautifully depicted, and the politics of the plot are played out very subtly. Occasionally, the dialogue seemed a little florid, but that's a minor quibble. In fact, the more I think about this book, the more I like it. It doesn't quite have the 'perfectly-formed' quality of its predecessor, but it has a subtle complexity and rich context which makes it very rewarding.
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LibraryThing member elicarra
This novels is about a spy who goes behind the iron curtain looking for inteligence of some rockets, but what I found more interesting is the way Mr. Carre shows the humanless work that espionage is.
LibraryThing member kevinashley
Definitely a contrast to the later novels of his, which are the only ones I had read up until now. Although still gripping, there is a much greater sense of seediness and decay about the world being described. The characters
seem a little less full, and for some time the dialogue seemed much less
There are familiar themes of emptiness and lack of solace, and a suggestion that the world of espionage is as it is partly because of the type of people it attracts.
seem a little less full, and for some time the dialogue seemed much less
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natural. Yet one character (the Polish emigre) is clearly different, and one begins to see that some of the stiltedness of the British ministry men is intended to reflect their behaviour - and may well have been an accurate description of how these men, born in the first years of the 20th century, would behave and speak.There are familiar themes of emptiness and lack of solace, and a suggestion that the world of espionage is as it is partly because of the type of people it attracts.
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LibraryThing member Zare
I enjoy le Carre's novels for a single thing - his portrayal of intelligence agencies and spies is rather unique (or maybe was, I do not know if there are other authors writing spy novels in similar way). They are all shown as civil servants, part of the mighty bureaucratic machine who risk their
While I understand that not every spy is James Bond (and, yes I am aware of le Carre's view of James Bond, although his own "scalp-hunters" are no better) it is very interesting to imagine every civil servant or minor official you meet in the street as a secret agent working for a boss unlike your own - one who wants results no matter the situation.
And what happens when that overachieving boss decides that his department needs revitalization and takes upon himself to organize a grand operation that will bring back the glory days? What if in the background another boss, of more successful department, decides to swallow up this small unit of men and in order to do that orchestrates things so that operational element gets terminated in process? What if in general you cannot trust anyone and maybe those closest to you are the same people that want you put down?
Le Carre's novel reads like a shadowy conflict between two sections in the same department store. They are all well and polite but very much ready to back-stab each other on the first opportunity. And when operations guys end up captured or worse what happens to their respective directors? Well they advance, because it was war rules you know and poor chaps did not get the break .... but hey life goes on right? No need to dwell on negative thoughts.
Interesting novel, recommended to all fans of spy literature.
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lives (at least some of them) but in general live rather dull or maybe better said every-day lives with a little rush of adrenaline when action kicks in. They are all expendable (operations more than others) and their puppet masters are more than willing to sacrifice them just to see what will happen next.While I understand that not every spy is James Bond (and, yes I am aware of le Carre's view of James Bond, although his own "scalp-hunters" are no better) it is very interesting to imagine every civil servant or minor official you meet in the street as a secret agent working for a boss unlike your own - one who wants results no matter the situation.
And what happens when that overachieving boss decides that his department needs revitalization and takes upon himself to organize a grand operation that will bring back the glory days? What if in the background another boss, of more successful department, decides to swallow up this small unit of men and in order to do that orchestrates things so that operational element gets terminated in process? What if in general you cannot trust anyone and maybe those closest to you are the same people that want you put down?
Le Carre's novel reads like a shadowy conflict between two sections in the same department store. They are all well and polite but very much ready to back-stab each other on the first opportunity. And when operations guys end up captured or worse what happens to their respective directors? Well they advance, because it was war rules you know and poor chaps did not get the break .... but hey life goes on right? No need to dwell on negative thoughts.
Interesting novel, recommended to all fans of spy literature.
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Language
Original publication date
1965-06
Physical description
245 p.; 21 cm