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The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (Hardcover) (精装)
by John le Carre
| Category:
Spy fiction, history, espionage,thriller |
| Market price: ¥ 208.00
MSL price:
¥ 198.00
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Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Le Carré is simply the world’s greatest fictional spymaster |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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Doug Vaughn ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
This book defined a genre. From the elegance of the language, to the betrayal and harsh brutality of the plot's finale, this novel set the standard against which all other espionage fiction of the Cold War would be judged. Whatever the truth of the matter, Le Carre's fiction created a world which is so real that subsequent spy novels departed from its parameters at their peril.
The story at the heart of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold implicates all sides in the struggle in a hypocritical conspiriacy of betrayal and disloyalty. The message seems to be that no good deed goes unpunished and that things certainly are not what they seem.
A truely great book, with characters one cares for and a deftly plotted story that both surprises and distresses the reader. The message of the book is not a pleasant one, but then the reality of Cold War espionage was not pleasant either.
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A reader ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
I was given the task of selling of the library of the clinic where I work (we needed the space) and, mixed in with 150 psychology and social work texts, was a copy of "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". I've read quite a few James Bond novels, but this might be the only serious spy thriller I've read. I state this to make it clear that I have no ability to rank this book within its genre.
That said, I can say that this book is intricate, well-written, fast-paced, loaded with intrigue, and has good character development for the core characters, along some of the peripheral characters seem interchangeable. Alec Leamas is a British Intelligence agent working in Cold War East Germany, organizing a network of information sources. When his agents start getting killed, he is recalled to London, and a very elaborate plot to address the problem is launched.
This is not a pretty story with an admirable hero, a damsel in distress, fancy spy gadgets, and a happy ending. It seems obsolete now, with the Cold War over and the Berlin Wall gone, but it is very true to its era.
The copy I read was the 1964 first American printing of the story, and there were more typographical errors than I'm used to seeing, including whole lines of text out of order. However, this didn't interfere with my enjoyment of the book.
If you're not accustomed to reading spy thrillers, and you can handle a gritty story, you might want to give this a try. If you are a fan of the genre, and you haven't read this one, you're probably missing something.
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Bill Mac ( MSL quote), Canada
<2007-04-05 00:00>
If one is to read only one spy story and certainly only one Cold War novel, that story is The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. LeCarre established himself with this one novel as not only a popular writer but also one of the best novelists of the second half of the 20th century.
In LeCarre's spy world, secret weapons and glamorous action are not present. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is full of twists, turns and betrayal. It presents seamy people living seamy lives without ideals, just playing a deadly game to win at all costs. Spying is like a giant chess game in which the players can very quickly become the pieces and become discarded when they have lost their value.
The novel features Alec Leamus, a middle aged spy who wants to come in from the cold. That is to say he wants to stop spying. He is persuaded to accept one more mission to discredit the East German who has been catching all his agents.. He must pretend to sink into alcoholism and eventually defect. What follows are the twists, turns and betrayal that are stock LeCarre.
The presence of George Smiley is felt throughout much of the novel. The protagonist of Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality is present in very few scenes although his spectre follows the action. However, he is a Kafkaesque figure. What is Smiley doing? Why is it important? All is ultimately revealed or is it? In subsequent Smiley novels, the reader gets to see Smiley the player. In The Spy Who Came in From the Cold we get to see Smiley from the viewpoint of one of the pieces.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold works on one level as a straight spy story, perhaps the best ever written and there is more depth. The "cold" referred to is not only a metaphor for the discomfort one feels when one is isolated from home and security it is also a metaphor for the Cold War. Leamus is involved in a nasty, dirty business from which he cannot easily withdraw. Essentially he represents the west, not wanting to engage in the business, not sure why it is involved and who benefits but unable to withdraw.
Ultimately, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold answers all the questions but in doing so creates far more unanswered questions. It is a thought-provoking masterpiece and one of the great novels of the 20th century.
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A reader ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
Arguably the best spy novel ever written. It was out of print for years. I envy the readers who can now buy this newly printed copy. I had to make due with a decades old moldy copy that fell apart as I read it. Not that I'm complaining--I loved the book! Le Carre knows his spy stuff. This is not some techno-filled, action-packed, lets-throw-in-a-plot-twist-for-the-h@ll-of-it book. This is a tightly-packed page turner that will lead you by the hand in the beginning and then drop a piano on you at the end. Le Carre's heroes are not Bond, they are overworked, overweight, underpaid, highly intelligent characters who love their country. This book was one of Le Carre's first books, and I feel his very best. The "winners" and "losers" are blurred in the spy game, and this book clearly illustrates that point. If you want to get a feel for what real Cold War spy work was all about, read this book. Highly recommended.
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A reader ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
The two cardinal rules of criticism are: 1) A critic must distinguish what he likes or dislikes personally for subjective reasons and what is objectively good or bad, and 2) a critic must judge works on their own terms.
"The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" is a spy novel, a story about espionage. It is not concerned with evil-genius super-crooks and science-fiction gadgetry; it is not a cops-and-robbers concoction. You may prefer super-crooks, etc., but as far as your review is concerned, that is neither here nor there.
"The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" is hard-boiled fiction. You may prefer Agatha Christie to Dashiell Hammett, Fitzgerald to Hemingway; you may prefer "colorful" characters and settings, but that's you.
"The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" is not and does not purport to be "realistic". It is genre-fiction (not "literature") just realistic enough to draw you into its web. (In his introduction to "The Looking-Glass War", the author himself makes this point clearly and, one might say, vehemently.) "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" is plot-driven, not character-driven. Essentially, in fact, it's a small puzzle for you to work out. (The solution is given.) Only readers who enjoy working out puzzles, readers who like to think, need apply.
With the possible exception of "The Russia House" (which I also heartily recommend), "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" is John Le Carre's best spy novel (he has also published detective stories and non-genre fiction), and the best he is likely ever to write. (Ian Fleming's James Bond short stories, by the way, are much better than his James Bond novels, and I recommend these -- the short stories -- too.)
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James Stephen Garrett ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
A word of warning: "The Spy who Came in From the Cold" is not just an espionage thriller, it's a horror story.
British MI-5 agent Alec Leamas, the eponymous hero of John Le Carre's brutal little espionage masterpiece "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold", discovers that being a secret agent at the height of the Cold War is a little like being a man outside in the cold, looking in on the friendly warmth of home and hearth but unable to come in---so close, yet so far. His life depends on keeping up a charade, on cloaking his intentions and lying about his work. He can trust no one but himself, and he keeps an eagle eye on himself.
To make matters worse, a botched defection at the Berlin Wall sends Leamas's career into free fall, prompting his recall to London, a subsequent reassignment to a desk job in Personnel, and, simultaneously, the hatching of one of British intelligence chief Control's more byzantine little schemes: use Leamas's fall from grace as a means of ferreting out and destroying Hans Dieter Mundt, a high-ranking East German master spy and Leamas's shadowy nemesis.
To say more would be unfair to the reader. Le Carre, himself a former British intelligence officer, is perfectly suited to composing the elaborate, excruciating fencing match between London and Moscow that lies at the heart of so many of his best tales. The typical Le Carre protagonist and his handlers are not James Bondian pulp heroes with Union Jacks painted on the pommel of their 9MM Walther PPKs; instead, they tend to be bland, non-descript ciphers, poker-faced and cynical creatures who hide their machinations under bland exteriors.
"The Spy" is Le Carre at his deftest, and the Cold War at its coldest. Leamas is re-introduced into the world as a potential defector, but his ruse is haunted by the unexpected relationship with a British librarian he leaves behind in London. And really, the relationship, and the emotions it awakens in this grizzled Cold Warrior, is what makes "Spy" so compulsively entertaining and riveting: Alec Leamas wants to love and to reveal himself, just as his East German interrogator Fiedler wants desperately to believe in the purity of the Revolution and in the ideals of Communism.
But this is a Le Carre novel, and ideals and emotions are the luxuries of the dead or the doomed.
"The Spy" has the advantage of excellent pacing and deft characterization, and as with many of Le Carre's best novels, it manages to condense a considerable amount of treachery in a minimum of exposition. Le Carre is not only a good storyteller and a master at plotting out the grim duel between his spies, he is also a consummately gifted writer who uses words like a surgeon uses a scalpel. Best of all, "The Spy" is a nastily clever work, in which the plot turns in on itself suddenly and viciously, casting some light on a dark arena in which no one can be trusted.
"The Spy who Came in From the Cold" is a classic in espionage and a timeless literary masterpiece, but it is also a ruthless and jolting work whose cynicism is horrific. It is a bracingly good read and completely unforgettable.
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Andrew E. Parcel ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
As someone who has always been facinated by the world of secret agents and the cold war, this book was a wonderful step in my education of what went on during that period. I have seen more than enough movies, and I have read a few fiction and non-fiction books about the era, but this was a fictional work of art. Although it is a short book, I often had to go back and reread parts because of the enormous complexity. From a literature standpoint, Le Carre's characters are so real that you don't need to try to imagine what they are really like; they simply are what they are while avoiding your prototypical characters. I would definately recommend this book for anyone with any interest in the cold war, spies, or simply good works of literature. A true classic.
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Neil Albaugh ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
I can say from personal experience that John Le Carre's description of early '60s Cold War Berlin is deadly accurate-- from the feel of the cold rain on cobblestone streets to the tension of waiting at a border checkpoint.
Many reviewers have used words like "dreary", "dark", "cold", and "bleak" to describe this novel and they are right. The Soviet Zone of Berlin was all of that and more-- a depressing, grey and colorless prison whose inmates lived in constant fear.
In those days, East Berliners were afraid to be seen talking to-- or even looking at--an American soldier. For example, they would look only at my reflection in a glass store window-- afraid of being picked up and questioned by the DDR Staats Polezei. Le Carre captures that depressing climate of fear and imparts it to his reader.
The 1965 movie of the same name starring Richard Burton also captures this mood. It is not coincidental that it was filmed in Black & White. This medium reinforces the crushing dreariness of East Berlin in 1962. I consider this espionage "film noire" one of the best ever made.
On a different plane, I can also recommend the original movie "Day of the Jackal" (not that dreadful remake!) and the book is even better.
I think many readers and even editorial reviewers missed an important point-- Alec Leamas was supposed to start drinking and fighting so that he would be arrested-- that was the set-up to make his disaffection with his "former" agency believable to the Staasi. His descent into bitterness and alcoholism was contrived but, like so much of the story, one does not know how much was a sham and how much underlying truth may have been revealed.
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A reader ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
John Le Carre's masterful novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, has all the elements one could ever want from a great spy story. Le Carre brilliantly combines suspense, mystery, location, romance, and a story line that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.
Keeping with the tradition of all well-written spy novels, the action of Le Carre's book grabs the reader from the first scene, and doesn't let go. Set in the midst of the Cold War in Germany, the author, a former spy himself, has no shortage of material to work with. He uses it all in creating a brilliant story of a spy who finds himself a part of a complicated plan in a spy war in which all the things he thinks he knows turn out to be lies. As this unwitting pawn in a dangerous game understands just how deeply the untruths he has been told run, the reader constantly finds himself wrongly guessing as to the extent of the circumstances the character is really in.
The reader stumbles in this manner until the very end, when the whole thing finally makes sense and an unthinkable conclusion is drawn. Here the brilliance of Le Carre's work realy shines, for the reader discovers he, just as the main character, has been led along a path of powerful deceit for the entire story. For those looking for a great spy novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold truly has it all.
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Thomas Chaplin ( MSL quote), USA
<2007-04-05 00:00>
I finally read The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carre after reading a bunch of excellent reviews regarding the book. The reviews have been from every corner, including my fellow Amazon reviewers, professional reviewers, and other famous authors such as Daphne du Maurier. I decided to begin at the beginning (after reading Absolute Friends) so I read Call from the Dead, and a Murder of Quality. Those books were intriguing and made for decent reads, however, le Carre seems to hit his stride and peak with The Spy Who Came In from the Cold. The book starts out with a steady pace, nothing spectacular, then wham... it builds a head of steam and becomes un-putt-downable (not sure if that's a word, but it applies nonetheless). Alec Leamas makes for a very compelling and complex character. George Smiley takes backstage to Leamas and the spies from the other side. I love the simple nuances of this book, in particular in the description of the need to know the preference between pins or paperclips. I got the impression that this book could stand as a textbook for those entering the field of espionage. A true 5 star read. Highly recommended, in fact, required reading for those interested in the espionage/thriller genre.
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1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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