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Jogo Duplo (2010)

by David Ignatius(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 2

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Bertrand Editora

review 1: I like David Ignatius and enjoy his work for the Washington Post, but THE INCREMENT was a tough read, sort of the way US government welfare cheese is really hard to melt. David turns the "show-don't-tell" storytelling method on its head and dunks it in cold water, so we don't get any meaningful dialogue until about 50 pages in, then we wish he'd abstained from composing dialogue altogether. What forced me to continue plowing through it was the knowledge that David really does have his ear to the ground in DC, and he's actually been to Tehran, so there's an undercurrent of authenticity dressing up the otherwise stale proceedings. The story more or less posits a cloak & dagger drama behind the scenes of the Stuxnet attack on the Iranian nuclear program. Its Yank hero is an u... morepright and principled everyman (yawn) in an unhappy marriage (of course), with his Brit foil the obvious balance of lurid and undependable with his unfortunate tendency of shagging the female help at totally inappropriate times. The omni-dimensional stereotypes the author crams his characters into approach unbearable, particularly considering the author's pedigree. The ripped-from-today's-headlines premise even tends to drag the story into a mediocre atmosphere. But Mr. Ignatius has "platform" as they say in literary clubhouses, which means his agent and/or publisher probably tends not to bother his manuscripts with an editorial steer, and this one could have really used it. Read it to find out what it's really like to walk down Vali Asr Avenue in North Tehran, but as Iranian television will tend to do, you'll want to skip the sex scenes.
review 2: I was handed this book by someone who really wanted me to read it because it apparently gives an excellent real live vantage point into the middle eastern crisis, he said.The book was interesting in a way because the CIA operations seemed to be realistic in as much as the process of how things work is portrayed. But I found the writing very difficult to get into because the author seemed not to have put much thought into making the characters very engaging. The narrative was jagged and jarring, especially when shifting between the different POVs. And the one love making scene was completely meaningless and I actually laughed out aloud in shock of it actually being there because there was no reason for it, and it was such a horrible half page.The POV of the Iraqi scientist was written quite well, and pit that against the lead characters half of the storyline, the latter left me wondering if it wouldn't be a better book if it was just written from the point of view of the scientist. He obviously knows that subject much better and developed the character much more completely.The Harry Pappas part of the story was so.... Ra ra , we are the righteous CIA and so moralistic, was almost funny, to the point that the British intelligence guys seemed to be more interesting to read about. The hidden American moralist agenda left me a little cold. Actually I could hear the authors opinions on things a little too much through the story, to actually get involved in the narrative too much. Though on first appearances he portrays the Middle eastern characters in the book much more sophisticated and intelligent that their american counterparts, there seemed to me a very hidden layer of modern american orientalism in that portrayal. This also caused me to finish the book with a bitter taste in my mouth.I have a feeling this man should definitely just stick to journalism. Less chance of those stories appearing like propaganda fairy tales there. less

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