I bravely saw The Naive and Sentimental Lover through to the (bitter) end, finishing it today. It didn't improve over the final one hundred pages. How on earth did le Carre ever get it published?
My guess is that since he was an established writer, with The Spy Who Came In From The Cold already granted classic status, the editors just allowed it through. Also I suppose it's a very 'sixties' novel and since it was still the sixties in all but name, someone somewhere thought it had some relevance.
Thank goodness tedious existential crises are no longer the stuff of (most) fiction. Or charismatic rebels who completely lack charisma. Didn't le Carre see that Shamus (his charismatic rebel) lacks all credibility, except as a ludicrously selfish immature plonker who couldn't manipulate a tea-bag?
Oh dear, I really lost all patience with this one.
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