Product Description

ABSOLUTE FRIENDS is a superbly paced novel spanning fifty-six years, a theatrical masterstroke of tragi-comic writing, and a savage fable of our times, almost of our hours.

The friends of the title are Ted Mundy, British soldier’s son born 1947 in a shining new independent Pakistan, and Sasha, refugee son of an East German Lutheran pastor and his wife who have sought sanctuary in the West.

The two men meet first as students in riot-torn West Berlin of the late Sixties, again in the grimy looking-glass of Cold War espionage and, most terribly, in today’s unipolar world of terror, counter-terror and the war of lies.

Deriving its scale from A PERFECT SPY and its passion from THE CONSTANT GARDENER, le Carré’s new novel presents us with magical writing, characters to delight, and a spellbinding story that enchants even as it challenges.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14446 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
John le Carré's Absolute Friends is his best in years, capturing the verve and mastery of the magnificent early work. In fact, as a prelude to the book, you could do worse than reread The Spy Who Came in from the Cold again, and be forcibly reminded how le Carré transformed the spy thriller 40 or so years ago. And the consolidation of his achievement came with the George Smiley sequence (inaugurated with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy). As the Cold War came to an end, le Carré seemed to be in need of a new focus for his literary universe, but this was soon to come as the author explored newer social threats, with The Constant Gardener utilising the power of the pharmaceutical companies as nemesis, and producing yet another critical and popular success.

Absolute Friends, even before publication, had some of the best word of mouth any le Carré novel had enjoyed, and every word of it was justified. As a penetrating character study, it's nonpareil, with the (very different) friends of the title brilliantly realised.

Ted Mundy is the son of a British Infantry officer who left India under a cloud after partition, while Sasha is the crippled son of a religious German family who became a star of Far Left politics in the 1960s, at which point he encounters the ungainly Ted, taught by his father--and a committed girlfriend--to loathe British imperialism and all its current offshoots. In the present, Ted finds himself acting as an eccentric tour guide at Ludwig's palaces in Bavaria. When the two men meet again, they once more become involved in clandestine activities--with lethal results. If the author's own anti-Blair/Bush feelings are sometimes foregrounded, this is still le Carré at his considerable best, and a reminder of what a great talent the UK has in this writer. --Barry Forshaw

Raymond Seitz, The Times
‘This is le Carré with a twist, the Old Master developing new techniques for a new age'

Review
‘This is le Carré with a twist, the Old Master developing new techniques for a new age' (Raymond Seitz, The Times )

'Thoroughly gripping' (Sunday Times )

'Absolute Friends is vintage John le Carré: complex, often sardonically funny, always galvanically written.' (Daily Express )

'[Le Carré] has found a worthy enemy, a target for his moral indignation. Moreover he has hit a contemporary tune again. This is an anti-war novel and, very fiercely, an anti-American one. It's written with passion.' (Allan Massie, Scotsman )

'Truly thrilling' (Financial Times )

‘The master has not lost his touch . . . one of his most enthralling creations.’

‘A literary master for a generation’

Customer Reviews

A Gem
Is it still possible that a writer can create a so historically aware novel which is fiction and fabulation, but speaks directly to those who have experienced first hand the events and socio-political climates he weaves into his story? Le Carré is foremost a storyteller and his protagonists are fictious, albeit symbols. But to a person who demonstrated against the Vietnam war as a student, was there when Aldo Moro was kidnapped, lived through the Baader Meinhof era in Germany, and is proud of being a resident in a country where a stand was made about the intervention in Iraq, his book makes lots of sense.I disagree with other reviews about the end. Mundy and Sasha are two sides of the one coin united in a hopeless battle. Their demise is as symbolic as the rest of their very existence. They are incidental to the overall message. I revel in the clarity of the writing and the erudition which is a hallmark of le Carré's later writing. The Constant Gardner was his best book to date for me. This comes a close second. And I've read them all.

Unbelievably up-to-date thriller
This has got to be the book of the year. I'm not normally a great fan of spy stories but this book had me engrosed from the first page. The hero, Ted Mundy, is so believable that I'm sure that he exists. The story is based on fact and, if it were sold as a true story, I'd accept it. I'm giving this book to my friends as a christmas present and I anticipate a lot of e-mails of thanks in the new year.

Your Resume Is Your Fate
In the beginning of Absolute Friends, I found myself wondering why Mr. Le Carre had put together such an unusual resume for his main character, Ted Mundy. Be patient with those details because Mr. Le Carre uses every one of them to develop his most intricate plot ever. This book will continue to surprise you with its plot twists and will reward careful reading. Those who have a very cynical view of the motives behind the invasion of Iraq in 2003 will love this book.

Brought up without a mother and with a distant father whose life was on the skids, Ted Mundy found himself looking for emotional connection. With a strong sympathy for the underdog and the oppressed, he finds himself some unusual friends among the radical community of his youth. Made of stern stuff, he willingly engages in helping them and becomes closely involved with antiauthoritarian Sasha in West Berlin. That unexpected connection becomes the central pivot of his life from then on. Try as he might to avoid it, he and Sasha are permanently linked through that youthful friendship. In essence, Ted Mundy's life becomes a resume that others are willing to interpret as supporting their views . . . and he finds himself unexpectedly draw into the espionage battles of the Cold War. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mundy's past becomes valuable to those who want to create new perceptions today. In the process, Mundy finds his good intentions and friendship unintentionally subverted.

The jacket copy for this book is misleading. It suggests that the story is mostly about the mysterious Dimitri, the idealistic billionaire who wants to recruit Ted Mundy. Except for a brief introduction, that section of the book comes only at the end. Most of the book deals with a flashback into Mundy's life before meeting Sasha and his involvement with Cold War spying. A lot of the action occurs behind the Iron Curtain, and pieces of the book will remind you of Mr. Le Carre's marvelous stories about espionage into East Germany.

The book has an Achilles heel though in that Mr. Le Carre needs such an unusual combination of characters that the plot builds on what seemed to me to often be dense, unrealistic details. I kept wondering why he was making up such preposterous backgrounds for his characters. In the end, all became clear . . . but the story's eventual ending could have been told without all the background. The book feels like two books, loosely bound together by a limited tether three-quarters of the way through. Without the last section, this could have been a five-star Cold War book. With a simpler development of the last section, this could have been a four-star book about political chicanery. I found the way they were bound together was just too big a stretch for me. I found myself focusing on the author's plotting, rather than just accepting the story. I do, however, admire the mind that could put all these pieces together.

If you are like me, the ending will leave you stunned and feeling queasy. Mr. Le Carre has a powerful message for us about the dangers of believing that everything is what we are told. Be skeptical!

As I finished the book, I wondered again about the proper balance among our responsibility to ourselves, our loved ones and our loyalties to greater causes. Mr. Le Carre seems to suggest that we shouldn't be so idealistic . . . the price is too high. But isn't our idealism what makes us noble and admirable? Perhaps he means nothing more than that we shouldn't abandon all else for our idealism.