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The Mission Song
by: John Le Carre

Used Price: $28.87

Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780340933527
ISBN: 0340933526
Label: Little, Brown, & Co.
Manufacturer: Little, Brown, & Co.
Publication Date: 2006
Publisher: Little, Brown, & Co.
Studio: Little, Brown, & Co.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- slow slogging thru the African mud that just ain't worth the time
I am a longtime John LeCarre fan, especially the Smiley books. He obviously tries very hard to do justice to the tragedy of recent decades' Congo/ Rwandan history but the resulting novel was sickeningly sticky slow for me. I gave it 2 stars only because of the great effort in writing and respect for the subject LeCarre obviously shows. But if I hadn't known it was a leCarre creation, I'd have tossed it in the waste basket after 30-50 pages. I did at the end (sorry, I didn't want to submit anyone else to the pain) and felt I needed to balance the good reviews with this one. Sorry John, not a good read.

Rating:

- Excellent read
Great novel. Very well written. A book with characters that you can relate to in the sense of our inner private self versus the self we show
to the rest of the world.

Rating:

- le carre light
Mission Song works as a relatively light or thin Le Carre book, not even so much a spy story per se as something of a minor political thriller.

The narrator and main character, Salvo, is a Congolese of mixed (father white priest, mother native Congo) heritage, and finds he fits into neither African nor British society well. He finds himself a professional interpreter of a variety of languages and dialects, working in London, occasionally for the government, and on the borders of high society through his social climber wife. He is not miserable, but he is not happy.

A surprise gig comes up, interpreting for a conference between rival African warlords/power brokers, who may be putting together a plan that might just bring lasting peace and prosperity to just the corner ... Read More

Rating:

- Mission Impossible
I'm a fan of the "Russian" Le Carre, the novelist of the Cold War. For me, Gorbachev was the worst thing that could have happened to this wonderful writer. Africa is not a successful substitute and I think I know why. The author's great talent was for intrigue and conflicts of the heart. In a way, his books were studies in mood, certainly they contained ideas about betrayal and honor. They lifted the spy novel to new heights; they were cutting edge indictments of the cold war as an assault on the human soul. Africa, in the end, functions as an international arena for business and exploitation. There is virtually no mystery. Motivation? Isn't it very clear? "The Constant Gardener" is child's play compared to his masterpieces about George Smiley. This one is no better. You might call it the heart ... Read More

Rating:

- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Translator?
Another in the long line of cold war and post-cold war John LeCarre's thrillers, again with the optimistic proposal that ordinary, sometimes unremarkable people, can achieve the extraordinary. Here we meet a top translator, son of a wayward Irish missionary and a native African girl. Salvo is well trained by the church fathers and develops his skill for languages, becoming a tool of Her Majesty's Government and its somewhat unsavory allies.

LeCarre sets this story in present-day London, introducing us to Salvo at a time when his marriage is dissolving, but his career and love life are skyrocketing. In a most unusual first person narrative, we travel the first 100 pages, with no clue where we are going. Apparently this is another day in the life of Salvo, until we land in the midst ... Read More

Books : The Mission Song