I used to check this book out of the library frequently when my son was younger. I think he liked the big pictures and the playful, dreamlike quality of the story. I have read it to him before bed dozens of times at least. So when I saw a copy at the library sale I knew I had to pick it up.
I love this image as a way to see the book in all its forms (effective marketing too).
This is really a wonderful story and a great read; one that you can soak up and enjoy. An amazing accomplishment for any novel yet alone a debut one. Highly recommended.
The spymaster-as-hero is gone, replaced by the whistle-blower, the outsider who retains enough of his heart to be appalled by the slaughter of strays. In Cairo they’re the young trash collectors living on the city’s edge, but in Gibraltar they’re even more insignificant: one mother and her child, around whom the whole novel rotates, and for whom le Carre’s rage simmers. By the end of A Delicate Truth, you either share his anger at the injustices between its covers, or you don’t. If you do, then you’re one of le Carre’s people. If not, you’re one of Smiley’s. It’s up to you to decide which one is more worthy.
I confess I haven’t read a Le Carre book since, what, The Secret Pilgrim? But perhaps I should give him another try …
I generally try to read anything by Lars Walker as I find him to be a skilled and interesting writer. This includes …
I think most of this very short book just went over my head. I’m not real knowledgeable about his life or the literature and art from which it seems to draw its inspiration. And while I can appreciate it to some degree my overall reaction was “interesting but rather dull.”
Need to add The Golem and the Jinni to the TBR pile:
Obviously fans of the series will be looking for the next book but this one has the weakness that so many second books in series seem to have: interesting characters and action but a lack of clear plotting and depth with an ending that leaves you less than satisfied.
As a vignette meditating on a suffering mother there are some interesting sections but the book as a whole left me cold. Perhaps my faith played a role but I would like to think I could recognize a well done work even if I disagree with its religious implications.