The Tailor Of Panama
(John Le Carre)
This novel is a nod to Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana;
The story is about an innocent man who causes chaos in a setting of
tropical corruption. He's desperate for the extra money the part-time
spying brings his way but he can find nothing to report on. So he makes
up stories and feeds them to his intelligence handlers. The arrangement
works well until his stories lead to real intrigue and real death.Le
Carré brings in another character: a disgraced British intelligence
operative, Osnard, who is sent to Panama as his last chance to redeem
himself. Looking for someone with access to the country's elite, Osnard
chooses Harry Pendel, Panama's most exclusive tailor.Heavily in
debt after spending a fortune on a failing farm, Harry needs the money
Osnard can funnel his way. And Osnard is happy to use the bits of
chicken feed information Harry gleans from his elite clients to ensure
his own financial recovery. Goaded by self-interest and Harry's crumbs
of information, Osnard creates reports of a so-called silent
opposition, a faction that schemes to wipe out the corruption the
United States left behind after removing Manuel Noriega.Osnard
quickly gets the leverage to get Harry to cooperate. The spy knows that
Harry's tales of hailing from London?s Savile Row tailor district is a
lie, and that his late, much respected partner, who has the
Anglos-Saxon name of Arthur Braithwaite, was actually Harry's late
Jewish Uncle. Benny taught Harry the trade, and Harry spent five years
in prison for burning down a shop so Benny could collect the insurance.
These events his wife, Louisa, has no inkling of, and since he worships
her he's determined to keep the information from her.The
potential for real danger isn't explicit in the sophisticated irony of
the novel, and since neither Harry's nor Osnard's motives are pure, the
novel may throw readers who want their reactions clean-cut. The fun of
the novel is in the slyness the writer brings to the ever-shifting plot.
Resumos Relacionados
- Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix
- Ron Weasley
- Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
- Harry Alfarero Y El Mago De Piedra
- Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
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