The Naive and Sentimental Lover

I was surprised to see such negative reviews; I have read this novel at least three times over the past decades and it has engrossed me each time. Perhaps that is because, like Aldo, I come from a culture which emphasizes self-control and circumspection and have known others who have struggled with breaking free in all the wrong ways. It is indeed a "sixties" novel, and may not speak to those who didn't come of age in the button-down fifties, but bear in mind that those personal struggles of the sixties produced the much free-er culture we enjoy today. Try the book, if only as cultural history.

Perhaps I'm lucky - NASL was one of the first Le Carre's I read - at the age of about 14. I hadn't thought much of A Small Town in Germany, and I wasn't expecting much from Naive. In the event, The Naive & Sentimental Lover far exceeded my hopes. Le Carre plays the emotions of his characters and his readers like a Stradivarius, he attacked social taboos, and gave me much food for thought. I've gone on and enjoyed thousands of books; and every other Le Carre I've read. But Naive has a special place for me, and I recall it with affection. I still can't get on with A Small Town in Germany. though!!

As a Le Carre fan I was a little confused when I first started this novel - this is not another spy novel. Sort of like when you order coffee and are presented with a cup of tea: but then if it's the best cup of tea you've ever had, you soon forgive the mistake. The author was exploring an entirely different side to himself when he wrote this. I first read this book many years ago and it has haunted me since, and still rates as one of my all-time top 5. It is an achingly beautiful and involving story about three people struggling with themselves while caught in a love triangle. The power relations between the characters are intense and engaging. Read this classic story about the "human condition" and be amazed, entertained and moved.