Review | Audiobook review: spy novelist John le Carré reads his memoir
The writer speaks frankly of his conman father, unlovable mother, MI5 associations and gifts for evasion, deception and lies
By John le Carré
Penguin Audio (audiobook)
John le Carré gives himself away by his writing, honed, we learn in his sprawling memoir, by MI5’s classically educated senior officers. He acknowledges that evasion and deception come easily to him, leftover weapons from a childhood with a conman father and a mother for whom he felt no affection. We hear also about meetings with Margaret Thatcher and Yasser Arafat, along with film directors, including Fritz Lang, who wanted to make screen adaptations of his spy novels. The Pigeon Tunnel in audiobook format benefits greatly from having le Carré narrate. It matters little that its protagonist warns of his gift for lying, by the end you will be saying: will the real John le Carré please stand up.
