Purchased a paperback for $6 then later found it on hardcover for free in a little free library. Read the first 400 pages by hardcover but then went on vacation and wanted to travel light and switched to my paperback copy.

Definitely a different experience. I would not recommend this to anyone I know. I picked up on circularness of the plot and a couple of other things. Read the plot summary on wikipedia to learn what I missed.

Long, banal and depressing. I started this and didn’t like the vibe. I took a vacation by the sea and didn’t want this to be my sunny read so took ten days off from reading this and read some more jovial summer reads.

So I read it slow at first but then powered through it to get it finished. This was a book that I read and kept with based on reputation so I could put a notch on my belt that I’ve read it.

I read Freedom before this which is also critically acclaimed and enjoyed it. I found the characters in this novel more tragic and detestable at times. As the novel progressed my reading pace increased and I had sympathy for the entire family.

I found out about this book because a female Mossad agent in The Little Drummer Girl reads it and this is mentioned several times. So when I found a used copy for $5 I picked it up.

Did I find this book absolutely enthralling? No. But it kept me reading and I liked that because it was a serial the chapters were short and I enjoyed reading it at a steady pace of only a chapter or two each day.

I can see why John Le Carré referenced the book. Henchard is a tragic character following a tragic path and many of his novels post Smiley’s People are in the same vein.