Rate this book

Philby, Portrait De L'espion En Jeune Homme (2011)

by Robert Littell(Favorite Author)

3.44 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

2917559195 (ISBN13: 9782917559192)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Flammarion

review 1: Entertaining, thought-provoking, and thoroughly enjoyable. Littell uses first person with different narrators of each chapter to great effect as a way of exploring a possible early life of notorious spy Kim Philby. His book weaves a plausible and very engaging tale. As historical fiction in the espionage genre goes, this is a strong contribution. I finished the book thinking that Littell made a good case for his hypothetical scenario, and, regardless, told a terrific story in the process. A nice work by an author whose books rarely disappoint.
review 2: This is one of Littell's shorter books, and it perhaps should not have been. The reason I make that point is because the story is speculative fiction, suggesting that Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was actu... moreally a "triple" agent, not a double. Philby famously spied for the Russians before and after World War II, and served as a high-ranking member of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service during much of that time. While Littell makes his suggestions interesting enough, he doesn't invest enough time or background - especially for the period of the mid- to late-1950's, to make the case convincingly. At the end of the book, there is a short epilogue, wherein Littell tries to lay more historical background for his thesis. Even that is much too short and appears very anecdotal. In that, he fails to clarify where he used his character of Philby as representative of more than one person, and that does not help his case. (For example, he describes Philby delivering intelligence to the Russians which reveals that the British had intercepted German plans for invasion during the war. [This intelligence was intercepted, and was purposely delivered to the Russians, to prevent Hitler from winning in the East.] In fact, it was John Cairncross [often suggested to be the 5th and unknown member of the Cambridge Five] who delivered that intelligence, not Kim Philby.) Is it a good read? Yes. However, as it is presented as history-based speculative fiction, it does not entirely succeed. less

Download links for: Philby, portrait de l'espion en jeune homme

Advertising