Single & Single

Perfect voice for the master's stories

John Le Carre writes quite amazing stories - about flawed innocents with pure intentions caught up in the mendacities of the real word. There is something about Michael Jayston's voice, the slightly jaded world-weariness, that makes it quite the perfect vehicle for Le Carre's writing.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

A good listen

Le Carre rarely disappoints, and this one, while not one of his very best, is still a gripping yarn, with great characters and chilling realism. Michael Jayston is the perfect reader for his books, and brings the characters alive without interfering with the narrative.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A great book, but complex and hard to follow.

Would you consider the audio edition of Single & Single to be better than the print version?

It is for me, I like Michael Jayston's narration.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Brock, very like a less cultured Smiley.

Which character – as performed by Michael Jayston – was your favourite?

Brock

Any additional comments?

Le Carre's plots are always complex, but I think I found this book harder to follow than most.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

single but not alone

a fine work. was a good read, even though le Caree has explored his preoccupation of the father&son mire previously and i think more successfully in some of his other novels. M. Jayston, the resident narrator of this author, just carries on, delivers the goods and getting finer with age.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A very angry book

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes - see below

Who was your favorite character and why?

Brock - less mannered than the others, though still a type and probably a descendant of George Smiley.

Have you listened to any of Michael Jayston’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Yes - just as good as the others.

Do you think Single & Single needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It already has follow-ups.

Any additional comments?

Oliver Single, the hero of John Le Carré’s fourth post-Cold War novel, seems, if anything, more troubled by internal demons than George Smiley, though probably not Alec Leamas. He is damaged by disillusion as he is drawn into Single & Single and suffers, as do many of Le Carré’s heroes, from his public school up-bringing. Oliver generates in himself and many readers, I expect, considerable outrage and without even the ambiguous moral high ground of Western values that Le Carré occasionally defends in his earlier fiction. He finds himself a stranger in his own country and turns double-agent within his father’s business empire. Single & Single is in the business of investment and asset and portfolio management in the world of holding companies, usually off-shore and sometimes owned by foundations. It is the business of money and of dirty traders with smart addresses. “Everyone’s a trader”, someone remarks.

Le Carré is remarkably good at “showing”, rather than “telling”, to use Henry James’s distinction, and the interconnections between people, places, events, and activities are only bit-by-bit revealed. The significance of the shocking opening on a very hot Turkish hillside is left in front of the reader until, in time, its significance becomes apparent. There is also a good deal of narrative movement from past to present in Oliver’s mind, the former paradoxically signaled by a switch to the present tense. This device works very effectively, both in plot terms and as a way to reveal the struggles within Oliver.

Critics and reviewers often make a sound case for Le Carré’ transcending the spy-novel and the variants upon it that he, more than anyone, has gone on to develop since the Berlin Wall came down. There is real despair in his fiction and his narrative techniques are very accomplished and go well beyond generic norms. And, for a while, his characterization was quite subtle, as an interior life intersected with the protocols and plots of the thriller. However, at some point – probably before “Single and Single” – Le Carré’s characterization becomes mannered and over-formulaic, in that motifs from one novel are transferred without much modification into another novel. The hero’s decency is evident when he “pads” around a room like a big friendly bear; he has to “kill” or otherwise deal with a father or father-figure; and he is desperately sentimental about certain close relatives or friends. Oliver’s feelings for his daughter, Carmen, rise in pitch the more irresponsible he is as a father. Sentimentality is often a sign that a character wants to have his cake even as he eats it. When the main character slips into caricature (admittedly, a caricature of Le Carré’s own inimical making), other characters suffer as well and we know who someone is the moment he or she speaks. Subject and verb get dropped from too many sentences. Villains speak in an extraordinary mix of versions of English. These are balanced by honourable foreigners who have their own odd way of speaking. Women are abandoned wives or brave but rather physically-awkward comrades who abandon themselves to the foolishness of the hero (in this novel, a Customs Officer called Aggy) or landladies who hold the fort for the hero.

Quite possibly, Le Carré is so incensed by post-Cold War activities and by Blair- and post-Blair Britain, in particular, that he is looking for the most direct way to castigate it while still writing fiction. “Single & Single” is a justifiably angry book of markets being flooded by awful products with the direct or indirect involvement of the establishment.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

Fantastic

This put me in mind of "A perfect spy" ~ one of my favourites. It was delicious to slip into le Carre's world again. The Balloon man is an inspired creation.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Complex but interesting

This book left me totally confused until about half way through when it started to make some sort of sense. I have listened to many le Carré books but this one was by far the most complex. Once you have understood the characters the second half is very entertaining.

underated

Great characters, and excellent very well written story, one of John Le Carre's best books.

J l'C and MJ just about says it all

Books like this make you wish you could give six stars. Head and shoulders above most others in the genre and it reminds you just what good literature should be like.
Michael Jayston is the perfect narrator for his books.
Deep interesting plot, great characters and fine writing together with excellent narration, exactly what you expect from this team

Another tale from the master

A fascinating tale surrounding post communism in the former USSR – and vivid portraits of the men who grew rich overnight and ruthlessly held onto that power, taking no prisoners.