" I recently watched the movie made last year from this book, and it provoked me into recalling how much I enjoyed the Smiley trilogy when it was first published back in the 70s. So I went back to do the rereading. There are still many things I like about the book. I like the gray atmosphere that I suspect is the true feel of the world of espionage (as opposed, say, to the colorful extravagance of the Bond books against which Le Carre was writing) and I liked the omnipresence of ideas of betrayal and duplicity. However much of the writing itself seemed quite mannered and the sexual relations being dealt with, despite the fact that they reinforced the theme of betrayal, came across as deeply conventional--at least conventional from the point of view of male fantasy (plain old man paired with beautiful younger wife, etc.). No sense of real relationships there. I'll probably go ahead and take another look at "The Honorable Schoolboy", which I recall as my favorite of the three, but we'll see about "Smiley's People". "
— Rand, 2/6/2014