Comments on: A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carré

By: Sid Mishra

Sid Mishra — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:10:25 +0000

In “Most Wanted Man” Le Carre paints a world at stark variance with the happenings around. In the book, the headscarf wearing Annabel is treated with near deference by Issa, Malik and Malik’s mom Leyla. In reality, Annabel would have been at serious risk of sexual assault which would have begun with a ritual shout of Allahu Akbar. In the book Issa dreams of converting Annabel to Islam and then marrying her and getting her pregnant for most of the time ( the conversion and pregnancy part sound familiar); in reality Annabel would have been taunted as the “German whore” during he assault. Had Annabel gone over her Stockholm Syndrome and complained to the police; Leyla would have cried hoarse and would have demanded punishment to that “German bitch” whose provocative outfits aroused desire in her oh-so-innocent sons. Abdullah, the imam would have shouted from his mosque loud speakers about the persecution of fellow Mussalman’s in the kafir land of Germany. A sleeper cell would have been activated and Hamburg would have woken up to another bomb blast leaving five or six innocants dead. Somebody like Tommy Brue would have sent a didactic letter to the editor of Der Spigel outlining the need for fellow Germans to be alive to the sensitivities of our fellow Turkish citizens / immigrants. After all, it is a multi-culti Germany.
I do not know what is going wrong with David (Cornwall).Probably he does not realise that most of the criticisms of Islam today are actually true. The violence associated with Islam draws its legitimacy from the “sacred” books of that religion (the Koran and the Hadith). Political Islam with its ruthless desire for global domination needs no sympathy. Influential writers like Le Carre should know better than to offer literary cover to crazed jihadists who shed innocent blood for no rhyme or reason.

By: K. Griffiths

K. Griffiths — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:52:27 +0000

If as his dossier notes, the Issa character has been tortured, and by such experts in the field as the KGB’s gray Russian Federation descendant, it cannot be altogether
ascertained, I believe, how the character might react or attempt to heal himself. In respect to Ms. McBride, I agree that there have been times Mr. le Carre’s heroes (cf. Tessa Abbott Quayle in THE CONSTANT GARDENER ) and antiheroes (cf. Issa) come off a bit one-dimensional, but in the main I respect the author’s championing of characters who simply by their existence in a certain place and circumstance risk being ground into the pavement by paranoid schizophrenics masquerading as governments, to say nothing of their bully boys. Combine institutionalized fear with a passel of mercenaries who will accept money to kill for you if not die for you (this ‘you’ being an editorial ‘you’), therefore making it almost certain that the truth will be buried by the body count, and then add the victim fleeing from oppression elsewhere who hasn’t necessarily heard the news that the door has all but been
padlocked against them. A MOST WANTED MAN is regrettably
one of many all-too-possible outcomes.

By: christine mcbride

christine mcbride — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:52:47 +0000

Le Carre has always, from the early 1970s, been my favourite author.I have read all his books and watched the videos. Whilst living in Lyon, Tunis and Naples, during the 80s, I’d have homesick days, where I’d close the shutters, and watch 8 hours of Tinker tailor, Smiley’s People, or A Perfect Spy, (for me, his masterpiece.)Since then, his heroes appear to have become more ,(difficult to explain,)innocent,quirky, naive, unrealistic, and, sorry, a bit “twee”, Issa being the worst example to date..After all he’s inherited, done, and been through, how can he be so childish, and I’ve not yet got to the paper planes? I’ve read less than half of the book, but I’ve put it down to read the last Kathy Reich’s. (unthinkable in the past.)I’ve got Le Carre novels in English, French, and Italian, I’ve read his newspaper articles, especialy regarding immigrant status, and I agree with him,;however, I cannot come to terms with his new, “silly boys who can also become hard and ruthless protagonists,”,mode of writing, and his, almost, fawningly ,over-consideration for people who are at a disadvantage, or who have no national status.It comes over to me as really pretentious.Anyway, let’s see what happens to the unrealistic Issa, Annabel and Brue, (all very stereotypical)and, whatever happens, I’ll always buy L e Carre.