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| Plot Summary of Call for the Dead |
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"By the late 1950s, veteran British Secret Service agent George Smiley does mostly quiet work back in England. Two days after he conducts a routine security check of a Foreign Office employee named Fennan -- a man Smiley is sure poses no risk -- the man turns up dead, an apparent suicide. His widow, Elsa, a Jewish escapee from the Nazis, tells Smiley a few lies that don't add up. Smiley suspects Fennan was murdered, but his superiors want him to just let the case go. Smiley pursues it anyway, with the help of a police detective named Mendel, and the case turns out to involve people from Smiley's spy-recruiting past in Germany before the war. This 1961 novel was Le Carre's first book, in which he introduced his short, plump, nearsighted and "highly forgettable" but brilliant longime hero."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Call for the Dead |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story:
- 1930's-1950's
Spying/Terrorism Thriller
Yes
Cloak & Dagger Plotlets:
- stopping a saboteur/spy
Who's the terrorist enemy here?
- spy ring
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- spy
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- spy
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a little/some
The antagonists are:
- communists
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
City?
Yes
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 3-4
Unusual forms of death
- drowned
- perforation--bullets
- perforation--swords/knives
Unusual form of death?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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