Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy & The Hobbit

So, I finally finished Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by Le Carre. Three months after I started it. Offt. It was a very difficult read. I got to about 53% before I figured out who the spy was. And from that moment on everything else was rather anti climatic. I found the point of view shifts rather jarring and often confusing. I don't know if perhaps it was just a bad transfer to Kindle but my God, the shifts were rather abrupt. The sheer amount of information thrown at the reader throughout makes it very clear that you've not read all the rest of the books (if you haven't, obviously). Which is fair enough but I was left with a massive gap in my knowledge, which we shouldn't get even from a single book in a series.

And the attitude towards Alleline was, in my opinion, atrocious. The way they spoke about him and his 'Scottish' behaviour... It really itched under my skin.

As to who the spy was... I still think that the reasons for that person becoming the spy were rather thin. Surely if this person has been in the other Smiley books, something would have been known? I just... couldn't help the feeling that Le Carre hadn't made up his mind who the spy was until he arrived at the house.

And the whole thing with the kid and Prideaux... I don't know. I just... couldn't.

The other thing that annoyed me about it was the way the emotions of the characters were represented. Le Carre tells us a character feels a certain way (rather out of the blue at times, I thought) but doesn't show it. Smiley keeps randomly thinking of Ann (which I get, but his anger is... it seemed false, or... forced?); Guillam is randomly having panic attacks. I don't know. There was something all very superficial about it.

You would get the impression that I didn't like the book. I did, or else I wouldn't have finished it. It was just difficult to read and there was a lot of things I didn't like about it. And I can't tell you what I did like about it. But the last section, about Prideaux... yeah. It stroked the little chords of my shippy wee heart. Brilliant.

Have started reading The Hobbit (I wonder if anyone sees the theme). I did not know that it was a children's book. Imagine my surprise. Am on page 60 already. Didn't realise I'd read so much. Again, plot holes. It's definitely not Lord of the Rings. And I can't take this 'Smaug' character seriously...