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This is, naturally, going to be edited as we go along.

Happy Birthday, parcus~!

You get green like money.

Aaaand Happy Birthday, levade! ♥

Happy Birthday, untangles~!
I really hope you get a wonderful day. ♥


And Happy Birthday, jetdragon!

At last, I am subjecting you to my post on the final installment in John Le Carre's trilogy focusing on George Smiley's pursuit of Karla, Smiley's People.

"He remembered waiting all his life for something he could no longer define: call it resolution."

This? Definitely my favorite in the trilogy. And I love the other two books, so that is really saying something.

To a large extent, what puts it above for me is the characters. The first two books, while being centered largely around Smiley, are not quite his books. Peter Guillam, and his point of view, carries a great deal of them. And of course, The Honourable Schoolboy is really about Jerry Westerby above all others. But, perhaps ironically considering the title, Smiley's People is carried almost entirely by Smiley himself. This is his character study book, the culmination of his life, his thoughts, his feelings.

But he doesn't carry it entirely alone. This time around we get into the heads of some marvelously interesting female characters! In fact, the book opens with one of them (following the pattern of having the story start with an incident involving supporting characters which will prove Significant), Ostrakova. I love Ostrakova. I just thought she was such a compelling, strong woman, who was treated with great sympathy and insight. Much later in the book, we also get marvelously done looks inside the mind of a very damaged young woman. And there's at least one character on the male side I came to like in spite of myself, and the bit of prejudice against him that carried over from Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Also- the return of Peter Guillam.

As for the plot itself, it has kind of a classic set-up. A murder of an old friend and asset causes Smiley to be called in, and the murder proves to be part of a larger plot that gives Smiley the chance to truly complete his life's work. This being Le Carre, "complete his life's work" means giving a lot of attention to the lives involved, from Smiley to the deceased Vladimir, and even in a way Karla. Perfectly due attention. Without sacrificing tension where it is needed. And certainly not sacrificing tradecraft. There is a particularly lovely scene where the entire setup for getting the necessary blackmail material on a man is described, with all the people and equipment used, and the timing of it.

I always love it when people are able to make the ending harken back to the beginning, bringing a work full circle. One of the things that makes me like The Bourne Ultimatum so much are the scenes and lines that deliberately invoke the first movie. Le Carre brings things full circle here. In a number of ways, Smiley's quest for Karla here is reminiscent of his quest for Karla's mole in Tinker, Tailor. He starts out having to work independently of the Circus. He makes a trip to see Connie Sachs. He has to dig up material on cases thought to be over.

( And his relationship with Ann suffers. But when doesn't it, really? )

I'm hoping to get the miniseries out from the library soon, so I can do a comparison having read the book. (Though I am sorry to say I had next to no memories of this miniseries. Which, on the bright side, meant the plot details were mostly new to me.)


And a side note, but possibly of interest to a few of you. There's this passage in a sort of throwaway conversation: "Our future was with the collective, but our survival was with the individual, and the paradox was killing us every day."
I read that. And I thought "That is a perfect quote for Stand Alone Complex! Also it is just lovely!"