Tuesday night on AMC the mini-series based on The Night Manager begins. I figured I’d read The Night Manager first since it’s one of the few John le Carre novels I haven’t read. When The Night Manager was published in 1993, it generated plenty of speculation. What was le Carre going to write about since the Cold War was over? Critics claimed the spy novel was dead. Le Carre cleverly saw that terrorism and gunrunning and drug-smuggling, the next growth industries, provided plenty of material for future novels. I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. Le Carre’s classic spy novels from the Sixties–The spy Who Came in From the Cold and A Small Town in Germany–were a fraction of the length of The Night Manager (429 pages!). The shorter books were better books. Are you a fan of John le Carre? What’s your favorite le Carre book? GRADE: B
I never read THE NIGHT MANAGER, nor do I intend to, but I will definitely be watching the miniseries.
My favorite? TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY.
Jeff, I liked the BBC versions on le Carre’s works especially as his books grew longer.
It seems to happen to all writers who become “big names”: their books get bigger (and, in most cases, bloated with unnecessary “filler”) as time goes on. Compare a P. D. James or Ruth Rendell from the mid-sixties to one they wrote at the end of their lives….the later books are three times as long! I guess editors don’t want to rein in their most profitable authors, but there’s a limit surely!
As for Le Carre, I liked A MURDER OF QUALITY best–hardly even a spy novel at all.
Deb, you are so right about the inflated books of “Name” writers. The early books are slim and focused. The later books are bloated and scattered.
I don’t think I”ve ever read a LeCarre, but may have listened to one on audio. I’m with Jeff and will see the mini series. As I recall, the movies I’ve seen from the books have been ok, none I would rave wildly about.
Maggie, you should try the BBC versions of le Carre’s spy novels on DVD. Top-notch stuff!
The TV miniseries with Alec Guinness (TINKER, TAILOR and SMILEY’S PEOPLE) were really good, and I liked the recent TINKER, TAILOR with Gary Oldman. Also THE TAILOR OF PANAMA with Pierce Brosnan.
Jeff, I thought THE CONSTANT GARDNER movie was well done, too.
I read several of the early Le Carre novels before he became famous, and I even read a few after that. Once the novels started to get longer, I lost interest.
Bill, I agree with you. The early books were very good. The later books grew longer and less entertaining.
The earlier Smiley books are very good. I stopped after reading them, so can’t speak to the later ones. The books are very dense.
Rick, I like your word “dense” when applied to John le Carre’s novels. The problem became worse in the later novels when the books grew in length and density.