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The Little Drummer Girl John le Carre Books

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The Little Drummer Girl John le Carre Books

This is one of my favorite books, but let's face it - no one reads a John Le Carre novel for the plot. He's not going to give you a gripping narrative, but he will create a highly atmospheric tale with highly developed character studies. Nobody writes about spies as convincingly but also absorbingly. Le Carre is the thinking man's James Bond - and I'm deliberate about the analogy, because Charlie may be the first heroine in a spy novel to challenge the stereotypical sexism the genre is mired in (okay...maybe there's still a little bit of '60s chauvinism here. Charlie isn't exactly Ripley or Sarah Connor, but she is a deep, original character with a dynamic personality. That may be only a relative aberration for an author whose female characters are always frail love interests instead of protagonists, but I would still trust Charlie light years ahead of 007 for a covert op). With Joseph, Kurtz, and Kahlil, this might just be Le Carre's most compelling cast.

Furthermore, this might also be one of his more audaciously political books. It's pages are rife with ideology and rhetoric from both sides the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Someone might accuse the author of having a bias, but he could always sidestep that charge by saying that an immersive persona would necessarily reflect Charlie's conditioning for her role. If I sound sensitive to subject - I'm not, because it was electrifying to read. The novel never goes far enough for a full-fledged endorsement - it's conclusion is still one of resignation, that intelligence work and national security never offer their practitioners any moral high ground. The only relief for their consciences is in choosing the least of many evils.


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The Little Drummer Girl John le Carre Books Reviews

Little Drummer Girl is what I consider to be the first glimpse of Le Carre's modern post cold war style(even though he wrote it a third of a century ago and the cold war had a bit left to run). Le Carre's earlier Smiley works appeal to me not at all. In attempted rereads I could not force myself to finish them,where from Drummer Girl on the magic of his writing glows and lends a pleasure as I reread his later works for the third time. Le Carre's old work was well respected but his newer stuff is among the finest writing of my times. England was dank,dark and depressing back in The Spy Who Came In from the Cold days. Modern,multicultural,multicolored England is a bustling,thriving,vibrant country. Le Carre reflects this profound change in British society effortlessly and almost by the way in his writing. Old England was boring-modern England is a very different place. Old Le Carre bored me as well,but from Drummer Girl on I consider him to be one of the masters of the English language.
this brilliant book is very pro palesttinian though few seem to catch that. Le Carre does not adopt a propagandistic position--instead he does something very clever--he starts with the worst imaginable Palestinian 'terror" attack and attaches our sympathies firmly to the Israili's--the rest of the book is a slow deconstruction of that sympathy and also an examination of the perverse brilliance of the Israeli spy machine. This machine employs exploitation of a disenchanted but not completely disenchanted former Israeli operative who we see struggling with his own contradictions and finally becoming a murderer (even that is problematic did he shoot so violently as an assassin tout court or to protect our heroine Charlie) The book explores the sexual exploitation of Charlie and the Israelis disregard for her as a human being--as is so often the case is redemption required or possible for the two main characters--I say tentatively yes. The plight and the heroism of the Palestinian people especially the woman is explored wonderfully. Le Carre gives the appearance of balance as Pontecorvo did in Battle of Algiers. No for le carre the Israelis are terrifying villains since they play on the humanity of their operatives Gadi and Charlie for the plan to work--i will not give that away. The book slowly has been realized as anti-Israel so subtle is his craft but it has also been unjustifiably called anti-semitic--this leads me to a point le carre makes in his preface and in the book. The most contemptible characters are the european "radicals" who are truly vicious anti semites--arrogant dogmatic loveless--they represent the continental anti-semitism that as Le Carre says in his preface so horrified him--a tradition arno mayer remarks goes back to the first crusade. Le carre has predicted the moral degeneration of Israel I take no joy in that and he has nailed the european so called "anti-zionist" movement. He leaves us with no hope save perhaps the redemption not of charlie but of Gadi--will he be able to atone for the blood on his hands? I hope so. The one problem as I see it is that Le Carre is so subtle that people do not see his real agenda the degeneration of Israel--had he come right out and said it it would justifiably have been dismissed as propaganda but his use of what I can only call cognitive dissonance forces people eventually to confront their assumptions. Oh PS there is a Smiley in this book--an Israeli of course who would not know Smiley if he met him but it is Smiley see if you can pick him out. I hope one day this book will speak to the Israeli heart--but it does not look good--Le Carre has been unfairly accused of being an anti semite but his Israel could be any imperial state the US UK you name it--it is those european radicals make no mistake who are the true anti semites and toward them Le Carre is merciless.And a final thought mentioned in the book--the true villain is Great Britain
I know it's heresy, but I find this book far better than any of his classics. First, it could have been written in 2014 as nothing really has changed in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Second, I will take Kurtz over Smiley any day. Smiley is always more or less on the outs with the Circus, whereas Kurtz is very much in the organization, and his trade craft is as good if not better. Plus he doesn't have that depressing relationship with Ann that saddles Smiley and the Smiley books. Third, the Israeli secret service is young, vibrant, enthusiastic, on the offensive, whereas the Circus is made up of disillusioned old men trying to keep their service from disintegrating, and they're almost always on the defensive. Fourth, Le Carre's language and characterizations are superb. About two-thirds of the way in there is a brief interlude where Kurtz needs cooperation from the British military. The way the author sketches the history of the British occupation of Israel through his characterization of a British officer is brilliant. Fifth, the plotting is intricate but there is a great payoff at the end. I have to admit this was not my favorite upon first reading it, but having recently re-read Le Carre's canon I find this is the one that truly stands the test of time.
This is one of my favorite books, but let's face it - no one reads a John Le Carre novel for the plot. He's not going to give you a gripping narrative, but he will create a highly atmospheric tale with highly developed character studies. Nobody writes about spies as convincingly but also absorbingly. Le Carre is the thinking man's James Bond - and I'm deliberate about the analogy, because Charlie may be the first heroine in a spy novel to challenge the stereotypical sexism the genre is mired in (okay...maybe there's still a little bit of '60s chauvinism here. Charlie isn't exactly Ripley or Sarah Connor, but she is a deep, original character with a dynamic personality. That may be only a relative aberration for an author whose female characters are always frail love interests instead of protagonists, but I would still trust Charlie light years ahead of 007 for a covert op). With Joseph, Kurtz, and Kahlil, this might just be Le Carre's most compelling cast.

Furthermore, this might also be one of his more audaciously political books. It's pages are rife with ideology and rhetoric from both sides the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Someone might accuse the author of having a bias, but he could always sidestep that charge by saying that an immersive persona would necessarily reflect Charlie's conditioning for her role. If I sound sensitive to subject - I'm not, because it was electrifying to read. The novel never goes far enough for a full-fledged endorsement - it's conclusion is still one of resignation, that intelligence work and national security never offer their practitioners any moral high ground. The only relief for their consciences is in choosing the least of many evils.