PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewWhen the final twist of a novel leaves you more excited about pages yet to be written than the ones you’ve just read, the immediate temptation is to downgrade the pleasures you’ve experienced along the way. That’s the conundrum of assessing Neal Stephenson’s Polostan, an enjoyable book in its own right, but a trifle disappointing for the way it abruptly ends just as your interest is peaking in its intriguing main character ... It is a fine study of Dawn/Aurora as she comes of age, with plenty of intrigue and beautifully rendered scenes, but it ends up feeling mostly like an extended setup for a bigger spy saga yet to come ... Manages to make it all feel plausible.
Adam Sisman
RaveThe Washington PostWhile there is plenty of tabloid-worthy material between its covers, the book is nonetheless complex and consequential — a portrait of lifelong duplicity and betrayal as carried out by a novelist whose work so often focused on those themes. By the end, we’re convinced that one reason le Carré wrote with such insight on these dark arts is because he was such an able and enthusiastic practitioner of them ... The book is also a fascinating examination of the biographer’s art ... Sisman’s new book casts le Carre’s life and writing in a fresh light, because up to now the dominant perception was that he wrote so well about deception and betrayal due to his horrible childhood.
John Banville
PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewNot to say that the Quirke novels are breezy confections. They work best when Quirke is at his worst, and that’s what Banville gives us here, with his usual insight and elegant prose ... Plotting, police procedure and making the clues add up have never been the strengths of the Quirke novels. Their deeper pleasures come from Quirke’s emotional give-and-take within his tight circle of friends, family, colleagues and adversaries ... There is also Banville’s prose to savor ... While his writing in the Quirke books is more fluid, it, too, can dazzle with finely wrought moments that make you want to slow down to savor them ... The novel’s only disappointment is its epilogue.
