THE NIGHT MANAGER is, hands down, the BEST spy novel I have ever read. If it has not or did not win a Pulitzer, Le Carre was robbed.First of all, let me be clear: I _have_ read the best out there. I don't spend _all_ of my free time with the doings of espiocrats, as LeCarre dubs them, but I was willingly transfixed by all three tomes that make up THE BOURNE TRILOGY, and I do not have to close my eyes or be anywhere near THE BOURNE IDENTITY to viscerally remember, at the cellular level, the closing of that brilliant work.THE NIGHT MANAGER is a different animal altogether however. Jonathan Pine, our protagonist, has not gone out for guts and glory; his military career was a deep and profound function of the almost criminal loss of his parents at young, tender ages. He knew little of his father except that he had an illustrious military career and that that career was the cause of his death. His mother dies soon after of an illness. Before he successfully reaches and negotiates adolescence, he is profoundly and completely alone. Military schools and military service parent him, orient him, yet do not require of him a lifetime commitment.When we meet him, he is pleasantly serving as the night manager at a wealthy and quite exclusive hotel in Europe. He is not happy, he is not unhappy, he is not even waiting. He has loved one woman and lost her tragically, and he wants to avenge her, yet has had no opportunity to do so. He does not go in pursuit of one, such opportunity presents itself, and when it does, he lunges for it.He has hated the man, a notorious and disgustingly wealthy criminal at the highest level, since the brutal beating death of this woman he loved. She haunts him, lives deeply inside his soul, spirit, and consciousness, and when service as an agent is required for the chance to send the devil on earth responsible for her death to prison, Jonathan Pine surprises even the espiocrats who hire and train him. Not even they are prepared for his quiet, solitary, deathly, committed service.What I love most about this character is that he is not loud, boastful, an extrovert. He knows best how to remain by himself. He socializes, but never with intent; he takes nothing from his friends, nor does he give; he doesn't pry, yet if someone needed something important, he would find a way to satisfy their obvious necessity.He goes out in pursuit of nothing, yet when opportunity walks up to him, he greets it heartily and with the ready potential for murder within the most supple palms of his hands. He does not speak loudly, nor is he happy when love insists on the heart's allegiance; he is furious with himself when a woman captures his attention, and within his own mind, curses both she and himself repeatedly when his body and mind react to her beauty.Both Burr and all those committed to a lifetime of service within the intelligence community are dumbfounded by all they discover that Pine is capable of achieving. They think they train him, yet are surprised by what he achieves once they set him loose in the field. He is simply the best they have ever seen, and they cannot believe how forcefully and competently he rises to each and every occasion. And he does so without fanfare, bravado, just a quiet intensity and focus that astounds them all.THE NIGHT MANAGER is also quite the literary spy novel. There were at least 50 words that _I_ needed to look up in a dictionary, and I have three degrees in literature plus one in creative writing--that includes two master's and a doctorate.The difficulty of the vocabulary and its unapologetic Britishness I found imminently and profoundly refreshing; it was as though I had come home to the books I used to read as a teenager and young adult: challenging, masterful literature written at the highest level. Indeed, THE NIGHT MANAGER is definitely a tome for the Oxford lecture halls; the manner in which scenes are composed and play out equals Eliot, Shakespeare, or even Wideman at their most exceptional. Le Carre puts me in the mind of, say, Baldwin, in terms of the complexity and sophistication of his prose art.I could quite easily teach an entire seminar on this one novel alone.To say that I enjoyed reading THE NIGHT MANAGER is an understatement of three millenia. It was old home week; it was a return to literature of the highest caliber; it was discovering Sherlock Holmes all over again at 48.It was worth every second of every minute that I suffered and watched and waited with Jonathan Pine.Why? Because joy is our birthright, homeless or no.Love and blessings,Dr. Nihttp://www.blowing-up-barriers.com
Some people say that Le Carré's later novels are not as good as his earlier ones, but I disagree. He has been getting better all the time. It's just that they're no longer about the Cold War. The Night Manager surely is one of his best. It has the same style, intelligence of plot, suspense, great dialogue and interesting people as the earlier books, but also provides a fascinating look into the world of illegal arms trafficking. It continues the theme that was started at the end of The Secret Pilgrim, with Smiley's aphorism about the right people having lost the cold war and the wrong people having won it. The wrong people are called Pure Intelligence: spies who have nothing to do anymore and don't like it. They're no longer important and when noone is looking they start working with crooked businessmen to sell British and American arms to Third World clients. The right people are called Enforcers: they try to catch crooks.The crook in The Night Manager is a flamboyant upperclass British entrepreneur: Richard (Dicky) Onslow Roper, who sets up a drugs for arms deal with Colombian drugs cartels. Jonathan Pine works as the night manager in a Swiss hotel when he is recruited by Leonard Burr of the Enforcers to infiltrate Roper's entourage and provide information and evidence necessary to build up a case against him. The story goes back and forth between Jonathan's undercover activities and the Whitehall 'office wars' between the wrong people, who protect Roper, and the right people, who want to get him behind bars.The involvement of British and American government officials in arms trafficking is really outrageous the way Le Carré portrays it. Let's hope he exagerates.....Shifting between right and wrong is Harry Palfrey, the narrator of the Russia House. There he was a decent enough fellow, even if he was a lawyer and kept his distance from his story, but in the present book he has become an alcoholic and a pathetic figure. One wonders what he has done to Le Carré to deserve such a rough deal. The reviews and the sales figures of the Russia House weren't that bad at all I believe.It's a gripping story till the end, and there's a great stunt that Leonard Burr pulls off at the climax. Even if it's a bit hard to believe that it could work, we are more than willing to suspend our disbelief in the interest of Jonathan Pine.
What do You think about The Night Manager (2006)?
Another fine le Carre story. A winding story. Characters with depth. Visual details. LC always seems to have his finger on the pulse of international news, even now as it was twenty years ago.Our hero is gently wooed into service, trained for technique, scenarios to develop deep cover, the set up, chumming with the villain, fem fatale, a proverbial storm on the high seas, a horse in green fields. Isn't it refreshing how Mr. le Carre refrains from using guns to the extent that film, television and other authors do? He hints of a climax approaching, but still there is surprise upon its arrival. Others have mentioned Greek Tragedy; hubris, pathos, Gods playing with mortals. The formula isn't what matters. It is LC singing his song, painting his picture, walking us through green canopy tunnels. The ebb and flow, tension pulling us forward. Timeless themes.This must be my fourth read. Fortunately my memory isn't as it was, I have a fresh story every time. I wonder which of his I will open next.
—John
A great read as can be fully expected from John Le Carre. But set your expectations right: it is not an action filled page turner. Rather it is a great work of fiction, complete with well developed characters, each living in a different world of circumstances, experiences, skills and motivations. Memorable scenes from locations ranging from a Swiss hotel to Irish battlefield, to a private island and a luxury ship. Wonderfully crafted dialogue and, as always, a great sense of humor.The story itself is complex where the actions of the central hero are counterpointed by difficult "game of chess" between, sometimes corrupt, representatives of various government agencies.Le Carre's characters are never simplistic, even "bad guys" have their charms, and vice versa.I am giving the book 5 stars, true to the intended meaning "liked it very much", rather than as a mathematical maximum. It is hard to numerically compare books, just like you do not rank Van Gogh paintings, say "Sunflowers": 4.23, "Starry night": 3.79, etc.5 stars just means liked it very much, highly recommended.
—Jacek Ambroziak
Disclaimer: I only read this book because they're making a TV version, and Tom Hiddleston is going to play the protagonist.With that out of the way, I have to say, I struggled mightily with this book. The plot--man infiltrates criminal organization to seek revenge on the man who heads said organization—should have made for a compelling novel, but it just...didn't. In my opinion, of course.Overall it was plodding and slow, and could never really hold my attention for very long. I could easily put it down for days, ok, months at a time.The bureaucratic side of things was too confusing; there were far too many government figures—all of whom had little character development—to keep straight. Burr being the exception.It took way entirely too long to get Pine infiltrated into Roper's organization. I get that they needed to set up an intricate criminal background for him, but it took too much time. I'd have rather seen him get into Roper's organization much earlier. I think it was over a third of the way in before he finally got in with him.I also felt too much of the novel was focused on Pine's manpain in regards to women. He wanted revenge on Roper for Sophie's murder, and that's why agreed to infiltrate his organization. I get that. I do. But instead of making it out to be wanting revenge because he felt responsible/guilty for Sophie's death, as he passed on copies of documents she gave him to British intelligence, and Roper has spies everywhere, I felt the author was wanting me to believe he was in love or at least could have fallen in love with Sophie, and I just couldn't. Had more time been spent with her and Pine in the earlier parts of the book (maybe by cutting out some of the 'criminal background setup' I mentioned earlier), then perhaps. Therefore, I felt the revenge motive to be a bit...lacking.And then there's Jed. Jed is Roper's mistress. Gorgeous. Leggy. Blonde. And, of course, Pine is going to fall for her. And for me, there were far too many passages of Pine's internal thoughts about Jed, his feelings for her, hating himself for having feelings for her, because he's not even sure he likes her most of the time. Needless to say feelings the two had for each other never rang true to me.All of the characters, Pine and Roper included, needed more fleshing out. I couldn't connect to any of them, really.I don't know. This book just didn't work for me.That being said, I didn't loathe the book, and there were some enjoyable parts. With some retooling and a lot of the fat trimmed, I can see where this could be adapted successfully for the small screen. Can't wait to see how it all plays out there.
—Jennifer
