( Finish Reading )

( Read )

( Acquire then read )


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

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!"

For certain people of interest-

Dear Democratic Party of Japan,

Congratulations! Good luck with the governing and the coalition-forming.


Dear Mr. Cheney,

Fuck. You.


Dear internet,

Needs more Urasawa icons.



More generally, if I disappear this week in the middle of conversations and such, it's actually not because of one of my bouts of irresponsibility regarding my lj. It's because we're having wireless issues. In fact, our network isn't working at all. It'll be seen to later this week. In the meantime, I'm leeching off another network which has a nasty habit of flickering in and out, especially at night (which is pretty much the only time I'm on these days, as you may have noticed). So yeah.

We based a CIA interrogation program on a military program designed to teach soldiers to withstand the worse.

Let me go over this again- we based our interrogation techniques on the torture the Chinese used against us in the Korean War. Torture that we knew resulted in false confessions. In fact, the point of the military program was to prevent the soldiers from giving false confessions.

I realize that this is mostly the result of a convergence of terrible factors. The demand for fast information following 9/11, the stripping of the CIA following the end of the Cold War, the presence of and pressure from a few people with a lot of power and no conscience (Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfield, I am looking at you). I realize that if they'd had more funding, or better guidance, the CIA might have gotten more Arabic speakers, might have taken the tact we took back in WWII with Nazis where we took them to the middle of nowhere and simply talked to them until they gave us all we needed.

None of that is an excuse.

Torture is wrong. Torture is, at best, a highly unreliable means of obtaining any information. And torture is illegal under both U.S. and international law. This should not have happened. It cannot be allowed to happen again.

You know what could easily allow it to happen again? A special interrogation force supervised by the White House. That the force is led by the FBI and is saying that it wants to return to the WWII ways is nothing. Because the executive, or his policies, could change at any time.

You know what else allows for it? Deciding that the "effectiveness" of torture is worth investigation.

Obama's approval rating has been dropping dramatically recently, mostly over health care. But he lost me a long time ago, in April, on the day that he decided the Nuremburg defense is perfectly valid and that CIA officials who carried out torture would not be prosecuted. True, anyone who acted outside the bounds of the Bush memos is still fair game for prosecution, but the Bush memos allowed a hell of a lot, things that anyone with a knowledge of history and of international conventions should have known better than to trust (and if we were using people who really didn't have any knowledge like that, we're in worse shape than even I think).

My dad seems to think that I'm over-intent on prosecutions on this matter. I'm not sure that he understands that it goes beyond wanting to send people to jail (though I want that). I want these people hung out to dry on public television. I want them to have to stand up and listen to what they did, to the list of things they broke. I want them to have to acknowledge that what they did was wrong and ineffectual. I want public attention, and public outrage, public demand for reform. A hell of a lot more reform than what we're getting.

I want a return to the rule of law and democratic values.

I want an end to executive privilege. I want government by the people, for the people. For all people, and that includes captives in the “war on terror.” Because everyone has the basic right to be heard out before they are silenced by intimidation, torture, or death. Actually, everyone has the basic right to not be tortured.

People have their causes, that move them and demand that something be done. For some it's saving the environment. For others it's gay rights.
This is mine.

Ffff, interesting week has been interesting.

I dropped dramadramaduck after over two years playing there. I moved prompt tables that I was filling out for two of my characters there to my Inksome, because...I won't bother anyone if I'm finishing them there, and I want to finish them. I got sick for the first time in...6 months? My immune system has been so bizarrely good this last year, it took me most of the day to realize I was sick. I saw my first production of Carmen, and it was very good. Picked Bourne up at taxonomites because I can't stop playing that man. Watched some movies, some t.v., started reading ahead of the U.S. release of 20th Century Boys (dammit Urasawa, you are too compelling), reread the first Twelve Kingdoms book (thank you bookelfe, I am working on icons), helped out a lot around the house (why is it so difficult for dad to clean up after himself in the kitchen?). Friday was Dad's birthday, I made a cake. Between that and the get-together with pie and brownies held by friends of the family, I am definitely gaining some weight back this week. But I have room for it, and I've been careful to exercise.

AND I HAVE AN INTERNSHIP!!! With the library's levy campaign! It's unpaid, of course, but it's political and will look good on my resume and I have something to do for the rest of the summer! I start tomorrow~

So yeah.

Also- I've been thinking about making a "creative filter." I've been thinking about projects recently, one in particular, and would like to be able to bounce ideas off of people. Who'd be interested?

Rest in peace, Walter Cronkite.