The Tailor of Panama

by John le Carré

Paperback, 1997

Status

Available

Call number

823.914

Collection

Publication

Ballantine Books (1997), 416 pages

Description

An English tailor working in Panama is hired by the British government as a spy because of his contacts at the highest level. He proceeds to tailor his reports the way he creates his suits, giving the client what he wants, and the result is tragicomedy.

Media reviews

John le Carré's writerly skills are at work in ''The Tailor of Panama.'' The pace is nonstop, scenes are cleanly and economically written, and flashbacks are incorporated seamlessly into the narrative. The details of the tailor's craft are given entertainingly. And the conclusion, which should
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probably not come as a surprise, resoundingly does.
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User reviews

LibraryThing member baswood
"You know what you are going to get when you pick up a Le Carré novel" i wrote after reading The Russian House last year. Now I am not so sure after reading [The Tailor of Panama]published in 1996. In previous books I have read, le Carré's stories are set in the culture of operational British
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Spies, with just as much attention paid to office politics as to the adventures of the spies themselves. Usually any violence or assassinations take place outside of the narrative and it is the effect these events have on the professional spies controlling their operatives, that are important to the narrative. Certainly the British spies are very much old school in fact many of them went to the same school; you know the ones that produce many of our Tory politicians. They all play the game however ruthless it maybe, in a rather closed world, seemingly for the good of the country, they are honourable men doing their best and although the reader might pick up a wiff of irony he will not encounter the satire which permeates The Tailor of Panama.

Harry Pendel is the Tailor of Panama working as a bespoke tailor in the city of Panama. A refugee from Saville Row in London he has established a very British institutional clothing store for those people with money who want to buy the best suits in town. Most of the top politicians are dressed by Harry Pendel and he routinely travels to the President of Panama's residence to fit him out. He is a model employer and his premises cater to cloth and flatter all the men who want the best, however Harry is in debt, a bad investment in an upcountry rice farm has drained his resources. Le Carré's character portrait of Harry Pendel and his world is masterly, his ability to flatter his customers, but also command their respect makes for an entertaining first few chapters. His position as an outsider with a way in to the heady political machinations of Panama city, along with his money problems make him a perfect target for the British Intelligence Services. Andrew Osnard newly posted to the British Embassy sees his chance to enhance his career and make a lot of money.

Harry takes some persuading, but Osnard soon has him hooked and from then on the adventures begin in a highly sexed up world of political manoeuvring. There are assassination attempts, suicides, femme fatales, revolutionaries and counter revolutionaries with Harry at the centre of it all. The Americans, the Japanese, the Chinese are all vying to ensure they can control their access to the Panama canal. The press barons in England and America are working behind the scenes, while officers in the British Intelligence service are thinking of ways to make money.

Le Carré seems to have lost all respect for intelligence services whose aim was to keep the world safe or to further national interests, they are all crooks and fly-by nights. Perhaps it is because his story is set in the volatile world of Panama city, but more likely it is a complete loss of integrity: a world going to seed with the biggest and most powerful liars and managers playing the game. It makes for a novel that ups the octane, moving into spy-thriller territory. An entertaining read and Harry Pendel is one of le Carrés best creations, but I missed the more ironical, gentile, more rounded approach of previous reads by this author, 3.5 stars.
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LibraryThing member farrhon
Humor? Yes. Pathos? Yes. Best le carre? Maybe.
LibraryThing member name99
Subpar LeCarre.

The story felt like an earlier draft of Absolute Friends, but not as compelling. Better than your average thriller, but still not recommended.
(And the disclaimer at the end about how the real British embassy staff are nothing like what's portraited in the novel kinda destroys the
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whole impact of the book. Why write a book implying a certain view of the how the world works then say, on the last page, "BTW I don't believe a word of this".)
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LibraryThing member JustAGirl
Interesting spy thriller set in Panama after the collapse of the Noriega regime. Excellent sense of time and place and of the desperation of the characters making the best of a confusing time where no-one is sure of their future. At the centre of this Pendel, the Tailor, and Osnard, a British
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agent, each weave lies over lies and attempt to create their own realities, that in the end must crumble despite their ever more frantic story-telling.
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LibraryThing member aketzle
Eh. I gave up. Decided it wasn't worth my time to finish.
LibraryThing member Eamonn12
Disappointed in The Tailor of Panama because I like John le Carre's books. The plot is a bit jaded. Man with past is blackmailed into being a spy by those who know about the questionable bits of that past, etc. This is a mainframe on which a good novel can be built. Not here, though. Things take
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far too long to get going and although there are plenty of examples of le Carre's wit and skill, they are weighed down by the very slow pace of the novel. It takes the first one-third of the book to get any action going, and while I am NOT a fan of 'action-packed' narratives, the story should pick up more quickly. As with Graham Greene, le Carre's 'heros' are usually flawed and drift towards their fate. This is the case here with Harry Pendel and his character is well drawn. Pity about the sluggish pace of his story.
'Arguably his best book since The Spy Who Came in from the Cold', says The times Educational Supplement on the cover. Well, no.
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LibraryThing member BillPilgrim
Very amusing story of an ex-pat Brit in Panama, who is pressured to become a spy, and who invents a whole world of intrigue out of whole cloth.
Makes me think that this is what happened to the USA in its intelligence gathering prior to the Iraq war.
The book was a bit slow going. The interspersed
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humor kept me going though.
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LibraryThing member Cecilturtle
I enjoyed this novel for its mix of espionage, humour and thrill. One can't help but feel sorry for Harry Pendel, caught in his web of lies but fundamentally good, trapped in a world that does him no favours and for which he is ill equipped to survived. I also liked the cast of supporting
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characters, from Andy, greedy and mischievous, Maltby, surprising and opportunistic, Marta, mysterious and faithful. All are well developed, enticing and engaging.
The plot did have lengthy bits but never once was I bored. The politics were relatively easy to follow and I enjoyed learning more about a country I knew nothing about.
Not one of LeCarré's best, but certainly a good example of this work, and an entertaining read.
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LibraryThing member hermit
The plot though rather good, could not keep my attention. Some of the characters are well written, but others, seem to drag the book down. The book does not flow and you will find yourself putting it down to do something. The story is a satire on the time when America has just handed over the
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Panama canal. Though I cannot believe that any agency would fall for the information that was passed on by Harry, the tailor and would be spy. Of course I read the whole book, because my rule is once you start ....finish it. Other wise , I would have put it down.
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LibraryThing member Sarielle
When I was younger, I almost never left unfinished a book that I once started reading. Even if it bored me completely and I didn't like it at all. I think it was because of school reading, which was often boring but I still had to read it. At the age of fifteen, I went with my mother for a two-week
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vacation abroad. No one had heard about kindle back then and we took only two books with us. One of them was by John le Carré. I read the second one in the first two days, what left me with twelve days and only le Carré to read. I could not make it. I haven't even gone through the first fifty pages of this book. I read from cover to cover all the magazines that fell into my hands (even those that didn't interest me at all), I read two newspapers in foreign languages that I didn't speak at all and probably some boring romance in English (and I didn't know English so well at that time, so it was quite a job). But in two weeks I couldn't read le Carré. Bored over the top and left with this one possibility, I still couldn't read this book.

Now, being a lot older, I decided to give le Carré one more chance and reached for one of his most famous novels, The Tailor of Panama. Oh, no no no no. Nothing has changed in the last several years. I still can't read his book. I forced myself as much as I could, reached a little over 40% and the thought that I have to read the next 60% is enough to make me feel miserable.

I can't even say what exactly I have a problem with. I think it's his writing style. Which stretches like chewed gum you try to unstick from under the chair, numb like a thirteen-hour flight after which you get a jet lag that leaves you totally confused and at times pseudo-poetic like poems of a thirteen-year-old with this bizarre pseudo-depth. Generally one of the most boring things I've read recently.

The situation is not saved by the plot or the characters. The plot may still be there, but the action is completely missing. Everything drags on. At a snail's pace. Scene after scene. Little by little. One meaningless conversation after another. Unhurriedly. From time to time a side thread that supposed to diversify the story and enrich the character, what story do I ask? And of course, a flashback, as if everything was not slow enough. Christ, how slow it is, counted in minutes! If you can handle this pace, that's fine, you might even like this book, but I couldn't stand it. After reading one page I was so bored that I couldn't bring myself to read the next one.

The thing is, Harry Pendel is even quite an interesting hero. But the writing style killed any desire to follow his actions in me. There was also something that irritated and upset me. I can't even say exactly what.

I was seriously wondering whether to force myself to finish this book, but reading it is such an unpleasant experience for me that I decided to abandon it. Le Carré is probably just not for me. I doubt I'll ever read his book again or finish this one. In fact, I'm so uninterested in this story that I don't even feel like watching a movie to find out how it all ended.
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LibraryThing member BooksForDinner
A little different than so other le Carre, more satirical. The book takes some fast turns and you might not see the main character for a few chapters. Not my all time fav le Carre but of course excellent.
LibraryThing member MrDickie
Some years ago my wife and I went to see the movie, "The Tailor of Panama," based on a book by John Le Carre. When we came out of the movie theater we looked at each other and asked, "What was that all about?" We didn't come ;up with an answer.

Recently I checked to see if I could find a copy of the
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book in either, eBook or Audiobook at the two libraries where I have access to books in these formats. There was one copy of this twenty-four chapter book in eBook format at the Anne Arundel Maryland County Library. I read the book on the external monitor that is attached to my laptop. This was my first time reading an eBook.

The author makes extensive use of flashbacks, especially at the begining of the book. In my opinion this contributes to confusing the reader or anyone viewing the film. At the conclusion of the book I had a better idea what the story was about but I was still asking, "What was that all about?"
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LibraryThing member JBD1
Perfectly fine, but in the end I never managed to get into this one very well at all. A lot of nothing happened through most of it. Some very decent satire, though.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1996

Physical description

416 p.; 6.87 inches

ISBN

0345420438 / 9780345420435
Page: 0.6562 seconds