Comments (33)

Community comments are the opinions of contributing users. These comments do not represent the opinions of Whistler Public Library.
What did you think about this title?
1 to 25 of 33 items
Aug 27, 2023
didnt like it, couldnt get in to it after the firstchapter
Apr 21, 2023fred98115 rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Classic espionage novel. George Smiley, ousted operative, is called back sub-rosa to find the mole in the British Service. Slow but enjoyable read.
Jan 15, 2022
read 2021
Nov 28, 2021
The first spy book of the Karla trilogy.
Jan 27, 2021
If you like a book about a bunch old guys talking about all the amazing things they have done. This book goes nowhere very quickly after about the first six pages. Don't waste your time
Jan 07, 2021AtkinsonMH rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
‘Tinker, Taylor, Solider, Spy’, as a storyline, represents numerous things, organisationally, environmentally, culturally, socially, psychologically, politically and literally. All of which, by in large, have been well described and…
Jan 09, 2020THX11388 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
If you were looking for a James Bond/007 movie script wannabe, this is not it. If you understand the paranoid Cold War mentality this book depicts, the story becomes more pertinent. Uncertainty, moral ambiguity, and betrayal: The book…
Jun 20, 2019bogwolf rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5 whatever that means I should know by now that I don't much like spy stories - maybe Eric Ambler a bit in the 70s & 80s, but then his heroes were always amateurs who stumbled into the game. The professionals, people who build lives of…
Jan 19, 2018jeff1885 rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I loved the story and the way you stay with Smiley as you venture through the mystery. You do visit Jim, but he's just waiting for Smiley to show up. It makes for a good intense story that is fun to fall into. Will be reading more of John…
Jul 14, 2017
For those commenting on the pacing... the British classic method for developing a murder or mystery plot is almost always the same. It takes three chapters before the "event" occurs. It is the same with Agatha Christie and others who…
Nov 23, 2016leiliqian rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
really a classic ! take your time to read into it, you will enjoy it all.
Apr 01, 2016mstolarik rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
Much too slow in developing, gave up on it!
mvkramer
Feb 05, 2015mvkramer rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I know, I know, it's a classic - but I could not get into it. There are only so many times I can read a scene of shadowy men talking in drawing rooms. For a book that is supposedly a spy thriller, nothing really happens.
Feb 01, 2014eusebius rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I've read it three times now, and expect to read it again sometime. As Dickens was to the 19th century novel, Le Carre was to the novel from 1960-1980, when the cold war was at its peak, in all its paranoid glory. If you can read the…
Jun 02, 2013slarsenbc rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
I started to watch the movie, but it was way too slow. Finished the book, though. It was well written, but all in all I thought it could have been more suspenseful and found the ending a bit anticlimactic.
Mar 28, 2013bkilfoy rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
le Carre is a big name in spy fiction for a reason, and this novel is a perfect illustration of why. Brilliantly evoking the later days of the Cold War in the mid-1970s, we explore the world of men that came in to preserve Britain and the…
Jul 28, 2012buirechain rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I really shouldn't review this book by comparison to the movie, but it seems I will. I wasn't the biggest fan of the movie, there was a certain something lacking in the conclusion, and just in the depth of what it explored. It didn't do…
mtb_awill
Jun 17, 2012mtb_awill rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Awesome spy novel. George Smiley is a wonderful character and this is probably the best spy novel I have read. Delightfully complicated scenario, lots of intrigue, colourful characters and I couldn't put it down.
Jun 09, 2012dcafk rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This is a great novel. I've read it twice now and it was as engrossing the second time around as it was on the first. John LeCarre is a master.
btmslt
May 11, 2012btmslt rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
An okay spy thriller. A bit more interesting then the recently produced film.
Apr 23, 2012
Not only is this a great read it is also a great BBC production that is available through the library. The reader is advised that knowing about the importance of winning in the Cold War against the Soviet Union was a life and death…
Goober1950
Mar 30, 2012Goober1950 rated this title 1 out of 5 stars
Don't like his spy writing - boring, read over 100 pages and then packed it in. Definitely an improvement over The Looking Glass War, however..
Feb 08, 2012
13years
Feb 01, 2012LazyNeko rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
An absorbing and tense tale of a hunt for a spy who has betrayed everything and everyone. It provides a lot more insight into the characters than the recent movie starring Gary Oldman.
Jan 25, 2012
2012 Oscars: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, based on John Le Carré's novel, was nominated for best actor (Gary Oldman) and best adapted screenplay (Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan).