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Book Review: The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carré
John le Carré (David Cornwell) passed away in 2020. In his recent memoir, he says that every one of his books was titled The Pigeon Tunnel at some point in the early stages. He finally nails a book worthy of the title with this memoir of his writing life, his time working for British Intelligence, and between the lines, a sense of the man behind the stories of espionage and intrigue.
Le Carré tells stories about meeting Arafat, about fellow author and intelligence operative Graham Greene, and letting Robert Redford borrow his Swiss ski chalet, which he’d built with the proceeds of his first smash hit book The Spy Who Came in from the Cold… But le Carré doesn’t splay these stories before readers, pushing his own life before us like a wordy, mercenary paparazzi, exploiting his limelight-adjacent life. He also comes across as a man trying to sort things out, but barely mentions marriages and children. Perhaps out of respect for their privacy, or perhaps because they’ve been covered in past interviews. I don’t know, but for me, it’s a curious absence.
Some stories are well-polished yarns le Carré has no doubt shared for many years over drinks, at readings, or over dinner…
