Over the past three years of this administration I could increasingly describe my political feelings as cynical, sad and paranoid. John le Carré clearly shares those feelings, both about the U.S. administration and his country's participation in our foreign wars and relations. Le Carré, however, has a powerful vehicle for the expression of his perceptions and feelings - his writing. In a recent interview with the NYT he calls the book "a fable, to illustrate the dangers of what Britain and the U.S. have committed us to: a virtual crusade in which we're exporting democracy by military means...The comedy in this - if there is a comedy - is that the lies that have been distributed are so many and so persistent that arguably fiction is the only way to tell the truth."
It's hard to find an objective review of this book anywhere; its very subjective tone brings out the politics in everyone. I waited until I'd read it to read the reviews, and my advice to any prospective readers would be to do the same. The storyline is convoluted and difficult to summarize. Joan Smith in The Independent does a good job without too much editorializing. In brief, it's the story of a complicated friendship between two men, one British, the other German, based on political/social ideology, yes, but ultimately on something far more.
(Continues in Part 2)
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