The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life

This is an interesting read .. Definetly a departure from normal le Carre writing. It is a bit arcane and rambling. However as a reader and owner of all of his novels, I needed to read this book. You can read a chapter here and there. I have not finished it although I've had it for several weeks. It will be several more til it's done. Still a good addition to my library.

Joy to read and enlightening background to his novels.. Like a great wine, every new taste reveals a deeper complexity.
I am now re reading all Mr Cornwell's books from A Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality, to the very last one. Highly recommended
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Disappointing. Seems that the author's goal is to let the reader know just how many famous people the author has been involved in. If one expects in-depth spy stories, then this, in my opinion, is not the book.

Readers have complained that this remarkable memoir - from a writer who has been delighting us and provoking us out of denial for decades - is disorganized or flawed from ommissions. He openly admits he fears being unable to remember or even discern fact from fiction because he's been dissembling and acting all his life. I found The Pigeon Tunnel riveting and engagingly transparent. I felt as if he were talking to me across the kitchen table.

Although there are a couple of situations, recollections and/or clarifications, this collecting of anecdotes is scarcely more than what's already been done in the "authorized biography" of recent publication. It's almost as if David, as Soon of the Authors Father, is playing Ronnie who in turn has played another con, this time getting royalties for himself from another writer for mostly the same material.

Le Carre has an engaging way of painting word pictures of the people he meets with. I find myself re-reading some of his graphic and detailed descriptions. He certainly led an interesting life. Some of his descriptions have a tell me more and mystery aspect to them.

John le Carre is a writer of quality spy novels. "The Pigeon Tunnel" is an autographical description of 38 incidents that played a role in the various novels he wrote. After reading this book, I am inclined to reread several of his books with a new understanding of the story line. Recommended.