Silverview: A Novel

SilverviewLeCarré fans, he did not disappointLike so many, I was overjoyed to hear a new LeCarre novel was being released. I purchased the book but held off reading even though I was dying to jump into it. I knew it would be the last LeCarré story published. I’d hoped it would be another of his gems and I soon discovered that it indeed was a gem. Not a gem in the sense of Tinker Tailor Sailor Spy whose echos reverberate throughout the story. Like TTSS a very senior Service officer, Proctor, who like Smiley, has an unfaithful wife, is given the assignment of tracking down and recreating the career movements of a former field agent, Edward. The Service has been recently notified that he may not have remained loyal during his career and afterwards. Edward is one of the most enigmatic, complex characters I’ve met. He is mysterious with a charming personality. Though what does that mean with regard to Edward? He involves himself with an innocent bookstore owner, who has recently left the London rat race. The plot ensues with Proctor, in painstakingly detail, unearthing the movements and motivations of Edward since the Bosnian war and before. It reminded me (echos of TTSS) of Karla, the Soviet spy master. I don’t like to rehash the details of the story. They can be found elsewhere. But suffice it to say that LeCarre’s intricate analysis of personalities, their hidden motivations and clever dialogue are as good as ever.At 210 pages I wanted more but that shall be the last from from this superb novelist. Nevertheless, it a worthy capstone to a great career.

i have only read a couple of his books, but when president obama added this book to his summer read list in 2022, i realized i had never kept up on all of his books. it was compelling. personally i loved the character of the bookseller and found myself not putting the book down because i loved the dialogue between him and his mysterious guest. the author can say so much in a handful of words, i was often finding myself reading passages again and again just to admire how the structure and vocabulary. i did feel that the middle of the book rushed into a quick summary that would have been better had it not summarized past connections as fast as it did. only after the book was finished did i realize the characters in the books whose lives compelled me to read faster, their roles in the book were somewhat diminished as though they had just been a fun little tool to snare me into reading nonstop. but that said, there is plenty in this book to recommend a reader pick up a copy and enjoy this last tale from a master storyteller.

A short book. Great writing....characters equal to Le Carre's best but too short to offer the wonderful backstories we loved about George Smiley, Jerry Westerby, etc. still very appealing folks.The motivations are all solid. As a midwestern american, my viewpoint of Russia, China, the Muslim world as a whole is that each was more enamored of Genocide than I'm comfortable with....and their base cruelty whether thru benign starvation (russia) or vicious murder (Turkey and china) would be familiar to my Texas forebearers experience with Comanches and Apaches.But the English have always struggled to dislike these old enemies.....preferring to forget their sins in preference to staring into their mirrors and seeing their own many real and imagined sins grow disproportionately over time. I attribute this to the mass slaughter/horrendous losses of WW1 which wiped out the very best of a generation, followed by still more losses in WW2. I don't think the country ever recovered from their loss...and left subsequent generations foundering politically with no clear perspective as to a course for their country and its culture.LeCarre's novels seemed to follow that diminished confidence in what is right and wrong or good and bad as Smiley/LeCarre aged their perspective on the past changed and left them uncertain of their actions in the past......not for saying England was wrong in what they did, but more just lacking in what they could/should have done.Standards are much lower here among American readers where our culture is much less sensitive to past wrongs. We prefer not to dwell on past wrongs, whether the bloody past of a Civil War, the American Indian wars, slavery, the often unexlained murders of Presidents and popular politicians. We are just not prone to introspection . Preferring to think there were many more positives than negatives in the rear view mirror.....perhaps because of the deep economic success compared to England. In my family 120 years ago an orphan from a landless (and slaveless) share cropping family progresses 4 generations later to a family of lawyers, physicians, bankers, and engineers....not rich but prosperous. When things like that happen to individuals, the uglier "big" sins of recent history are forgotten. Not so by LeCarre...right is right, and failures to address sins and shortfalls are fatal, unforgiveable errors and a source of agony.Oh well every country is different.

Como todas las obras de Le Carré, visión del espionaje británico desde centro.

I think the title says it all. A Silveira at his own world and career. A masteful final accomplishment. RIP.

First things first. Overcome any suspicion you might possess towards posthumous publications. This novel was fully written before le Carré’s passing at the end of 2020. His younger son wonders why it had not been published, before offering an explanation of his own as an afterword to the book, which I’ll not share here, as you can have an equally speculative hypothesis of your own. For me, a fan of le Carré, this was one last gift from the revered writer of the spy genre. It is a short novel, which once it gathers pace becomes hard to put down. Sentimentality and nostalgia are not required, as this is a story that stands on its own feet, with as worthy characters and plot as the author always delivered. So, set aside the time, pick your favourite reading spot and beverage, and enjoy.

For fans of John le Carré this will be a must read, the author’s final completed novel. Others, stumbling across the book may wonder what all the fuss is about. Neither should really be a measure of the worth and value of this book in my mind.Sure those who were drawn to this remarkable writer through his early works at the heart of the Cold War will forget George Smiley and The Circus. Dramatised so well on our TV screens and later in motion pictures. Bringing spies into focus and then revealing that the good ones we don’t even see them in our field of vision.For those who have read le Carré before it will be returning to the familiar and spending time with an old friend. In his canon of work it is an important addition and a worthy conclusion in his breadth of work. Bringing the dark world of spies into modern Britain which has lost its way and perhaps questions its direction and ambition. All beautifully played out in characters seemingly out of step and not in time with reality.I loved the human element here; the sense of duty and lack retirement from the Service. The secrets one must keep and the smokescreen that prevents normality in relationships with partners and children.Can a spy have doubts; can one lose one’s way and value people before state and country? Told through the interactions of the players on this great stage of espionage we learn about people but seldom take who they are and what they say on face value. The characters don’t reveal whether they are actors or bystanders in this production.Yet with great storytelling we are drawn into an account where people and relationships matter, where tradecraft is a way of life but as readers we see the consequences and loss that life in this world of agents and spies brings.We are presented with a range of emotions but are never asked to judge and perhaps like Julian find we have our own mind and sense of values about what counts in life.Full of intrigue and character driven. Less action based but full of human drama and what good writing creates, a story we invest in completely.Hopefully, the new reader will be drawn further into this author’s unique world of double agents and moles and returning fans will concur that this book resonates with all we have found in le Carré’s writing and is a fitting curtain call on his tremendous body of work.

Thank, sir, for this amazing last book of yours. A Perfect Spy made me discover you in the 90s. My favorite book for years. Your books have been at my bed-table since, each more inspired and personal than the previous one. And Silverview does it again. Thank you sir. RIP