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The Honourable Schoolboy John le Carre Books

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The Honourable Schoolboy John le Carre Books

This my favorite of all of Le Carre's works. I find it worth re-reading every few years. The main character is very well-developed and engaging. The moral, political and philosophical issues raised are timeless, and are not given facile, obvious solutions. I consider a book a classic if I benefit and have a new experience even in re-reading it. The Holourable Schoolboy always rewards my return visits.

The novel begins at a leisurely pace and accelerates throughout as good thrillers tend to do. It can be enjoyed as a thriller because it's a great ride. I read it as quickly as possible the first time. Now, I savor it.


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The Honourable Schoolboy John le Carre Books Reviews

This is the second book in the Karla series and for my review please see the final of the trilogy, Smiley's People.

This is my third copy of this work, a present from my youngest son who notes on the fly-leaf that it, in it s turn, is "A replacement for a well-used book." This copy is already six years old and is displaying evidence of many re-readings, as do all my "Smiley" series!

Of course le Carré, as usual in his craft, builds magnificent tension and intrigue whilst evoking Hong Kong ("Honkers") into a reality for the readers who have never been there, or a fond recollected memory for those who have. His usual strong character and ambience building is in evidence again in this story but, for me, the hero of this book is not the real one (The Honorable Gerald Westerby, "Horse Writer" and hack and amazingly resourceful "London Occasional" spy) but a beautifully crafted incidental persona called Fawn.

Sharing the "babysitting" (body guarding) of George Smiley with Peter Guillam, Fawn is described as a hovering dark-eyed factotum ... a sleek diminutive creature, who, when Smiley does one of his usual disappearing acts and leaves Fawn behind - or gives him the slip - Fawn seems to literally pine for his master. Guillam discovers him in his little den one evening is shocked to find Fawn "in a near-foetal crouch, winding a handkerchief around and round his thumb like a ligature, in order to hurt himself".
The odorous Roddy Martingdale, a single and very singular senior Civil Servant is accompanying Peter and Smiley after a secret meeting when Fawn flutters up, Crying out for his `Chief' and waving a note. He is intercepted by Peter and the note is confiscated and Fawn sent away in disgrace for creating a fuss, with Peter Guillam hissing"....bloody little drama queen racing around London in your gym shoes!" Martingdale is entranced, quite breathless with excitement... "What are darling little creature ... are all spies as pretty as that ... how positively Venetian. I shall volunteer at once!"

Yet Fawn's fellow Departmental "heavies" are afraid of him, with good reason ... as the story unfolds in the finale, le Carré produces, in a few scant and clever lines, a powerful image that reflects Fawn's sinister skills and his even more sinister role in the story's ending that is shortly to follow. It is decided to send the taut and impatient Fawn into the field, into the final action ..."Where Fawn had stood, two squash-balls slowly rolled a distance before coming to a halt. "God help us all", somebody murmured fervently."
When I read Le Carré (one of my favorite all time Authors) I am typically looking for vintage Cold War spy novels. I want an icy grey barren Russia, long trench coats, chained smoked cigarettes, huge quantities of vodka, walther pistols and midnight assassination attempts. I love the clichés and when I read a spy novel I want every one of them. The Honourable Schoolboy had almost none of these; it is set in Southeast Asia, contains no vodka and has no one named Vladimir. No pistols, no trench coats and a body count the sits at a mere 3. That said.......I LOVE THIS BOOK!!

I have never read another author who can set the mood of a book as accurately as Le Carré nor another who can tell a story of the main character through the eyes of the ancillary characters so well. His characters are emotive and yet amoral and his plots are startlingly realistic. This has every great quality of the spy genre without all of the clichés and truly stands out for it. In The Honourable Schoolboy Le Carré has brought us another one of his fantastic characters, Jerry Westerby, and one step closer to what I expect to be the stunning conclusion of the iconic Karla trilogy.

Highly recommended
Absolutely first-rate. John Le Carre is a writer's writer. A masterful story teller whose tales deliciously drip with British elitist wit and slang. I always find myself dreading coming to the end of his cleverly unfolding stories of cold war espionage. This story is no exception and but for "Smiley's People" may be his best. I travel abroad quite a bit. I wish I could have traveled to the many river ports so vividly described in this tale of intrigue and revenge (on Smiley's part). I have read all his works and only wish there was one more to anticipate. Some people crave talent. Mr. Le Carre was born with it. So unfair.
Yeah. I read in some of the other reviews various complaints, which astounded me. I'm a big fan of Le Carre, loving as I do the intelligence (no pun intended) on display in his work, as well as him being one of the very best in terms of pure writing, what I would call a writer's writer, of which there are really only a few. This one here is a FANTASTIC novel in so many ways, so many points where I just paused and re-read a section I'd just read to admire his phrasing, his powerful metaphors, his relentless creative, poetic imagery. The pace is also relentless and never wavers, hesitates, or falls off from beginning to end. Meaty, engrossing, thrilling and soo intelligent! One of a very few of my favorite books ever. Just amazing...
This is a big, complicated story. Le Carré deserves all the credit he gets, not just because of his knowledge of Cold War espionage, but because of the quality of the writing, his craftsmanship as a novelist. His depiction of the slow moving time of espionage is remarkable for its realism and for how he makes it enjoyable to read. His depiction of how an entire institution (the "Circus") works, almost as though it were a single character, is equally remarkable. This is an exemplary book.
This my favorite of all of Le Carre's works. I find it worth re-reading every few years. The main character is very well-developed and engaging. The moral, political and philosophical issues raised are timeless, and are not given facile, obvious solutions. I consider a book a classic if I benefit and have a new experience even in re-reading it. The Holourable Schoolboy always rewards my return visits.

The novel begins at a leisurely pace and accelerates throughout as good thrillers tend to do. It can be enjoyed as a thriller because it's a great ride. I read it as quickly as possible the first time. Now, I savor it.