"The Smiley books are definitely not easy to follow, although they're well
worth the effort. Not only are the plot complicated, but he generally uses
dialogue and not third person narration to further the story along. I have
to force myself to read the books slowly so as not to missing something.
The acting on the series WAS great. The funny thing was when I first saw
Alec Guiness play Smiley, I thought that he was all wrong. In the books he
is pictured as a chubby man quite unlike Guiness. But after a few minutes
Guiness WAS Smily including wearing expensive but ill tailored clothes."
I second this praise of the Smiley novels. They are very worth the effort.
This past weekend I tried to find the miniseries at local video stores, to
no avail. Has anyone ever seen them for rent? I wouldn't be interested in
buying them even if they were available--I'm just curious after the recent
posts on them.
I've read most of the other LeCarre stuff, but in my opinion he hit a peak
with that quest for Karla trilogy. Atmosphere and complex, SB-like plots.
What could be better?
As for the guy who posted most eloquently about liking Callan better than
SB, I wish I had seen both to comment. But I think that it would be a
mistake to expect SB to be "entertaining" when you're dead tired and
falling asleep in front of the tv set. For one thing, dialogue is crucial
to all plot development in SB and those terrific actors' voices *are*
rather soothing. For another, I think much of my appreciation for SB stems
from the complexity of the plots which indeed require effort from the
viewer to understand. So I think it may hinge on one's definition of
entertainment.
Speaking of the actors' voices, where did Marsden get his accent? I like
how all the consonants seem softened into being virtually absent. "That's
alright, Willie" sounds more like "Thas al ri Wiiyy".
Tim