The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carre'

I finished reading this book some time ago, but I haven’t been able to sit down and write about it. It could be that the story exhausted me! Not that I don’t enjoy that, especially in a spy novel.

The Honourable Schoolboy is a follow-up novel to Tinker,Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Everybody’s favorite spy (well, mine anyway), George Smiley and his people at “the Circus” have a lead on Karla, Smiley’s particular Soviet nemesis. A very convoluted trail is uncovered, mostly in Asia and Jerry Westerby, the “Honourable Schoolboy” of the story, does most of the footwork.

I think it was Westerby’s hard and often pointless work that was so exhausting to me as I read this novel. I somehow was induced to willingly follow him along as he skillfully pulled off some dirty but necessary deeds, bravely burrowed into war-torn Southeast Asia on a somewhat Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now-style quest, unwisely fell in love, and eventually spiraled downward into a sort of justified madness.

Often, I get pretty angry with characters who make the kinds of decisions Westerby makes in this novel and even at the authors who created them. (This happened when I read Blue Angel by Francine Prose.) But, somehow, John Le Carré made me understand Westerby and many of the other ultra-paranoid, just-about-to-crack characters. I felt more like I was invited to learn something than implored to feel something. Sure, I felt the heartburn and exhaustion of this story, but I also was made to understand it. I didn’t just empathize with the characters, but was given a subtle but complete study of them to ponder. Nothing was gratuitously graphic, but everything was informatively detailed. I was taken on the mad, paranoid journey with these exceptional characters. With Le Carré’s skill, I couldn’t help but believe every word of The Honourable Schoolboy.

Some people might come out of a novel like this feeling depressed or fearful about the scummy-ness of humanity, and, I suppose they are entitled to that. Somehow, I really enjoy the sneakiness and spookiness, the paranoia and the pulled-out rugs. Yes, the intrigue and action and pain and uncertainty can be exhausting to read, but for me, it’s a good tired. I’m already deep into Smiley’s People, and am thoroughly enjoying that one too.

  

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