A PERFECT SPY: JOHN LE CARRE

I think it was Phillip Roth who called this spy thriller one of the great novels of the 20th century or something akin to that and though I might not go quite that far, I did both enjoy and admire it immensely, for the writing, first, the story telling second, the amazing narrative structure third, and Le Carre's innuendo, subtly, so that you are never quite sure where he is going until it's too late.  A master, for close to sixty years, this was written in 1984, just before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, one of the last of his novels dealing with the Russians and the Cold War.

Magnus Pym, master spy, rising star in the Firm, has disappeared, bothersome to the Brits, an anathema to the Americans, who suspect him of being 'turned.'  The novel, like all great books, revolves around what Faulkner called 'the human heart in conflict with itself."  Magnus, as we get to know him, has lived a life of lies, not surprising for a spy, but he lies to himself, to his scoundrel of a father, to his wives, even his son, only to his  secret agent, Axel,  does he seem to be true.  The novel begins with his disappearance, to a small seaside village, a secret hideaway for him, unbeknowst to his superiors, to his family. Here, we are privy to his thoughts, as he attempts to explain himself,  set down his life, from his childhood, a son in awe of his father, his disillusion with him in his late teens, to his first meeting in Switzerland with his two mentors, Axel, a displaced Jew and Czech sympathizer and Jack Brotherhood, one of the rising stars in the Firm.  Magnus looks back at his career, his life in Prague, Berlin, Bern, London and the pinnacle, life in Washington D.C., all the compromises he made in the name of a higher idealism, something above patriotism, I would say to explain it.  Axel, who turns Magnus, we are never sure of, whether it's out of idealism, love of his homeland, Czechoslovakia or Marxism.  Certainly, he's suffered at the hands of his own, both Czech and Russian, but remains true.  And we learn about Pym's lovers, his two wives, his last, Mary, whom he leaves without saying a word.  And we follow Jack Brotherhood, Axel's superior, who has stood up for him but must now find him, following every possible lead, interviewing anyone whom Magnus might of known, until he finds the key, Axel, where it all began, when Magnus was just a young man, friendless in Switzerland and befriended by both Axel and  Jack.  It's difficult to say how Magnus feels about his betrayals, of country and family because his loyalties lie with Axel more than the Firm or his wife, though his son, Tom, who he's writing this tomb for, he loves and wishes to explain his betrayal, his reasons for what he did, before he dies.  Eventually, Brotherhood tracks Magnus down to his small seaside town.  Magnus realizes it's over and as Jack rushes to the home, we hear a gun shot and the book ends.