Spies
13 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
I read Michael Frayn’s Spies as it is on the English list for the Whose Reality Context and I’ll be teaching it this year.
Its starts very slow…. an old man smells a scent on the air that takes him back to his childhood in England during World War Two. He remembers playing games with his best and only friend Keith, who he thoughts was worlds above him in the litle universe they inhabit. One day, Keith comes out with a shocking revelation – that he believes his mother may be a German spy.
The two boys feel honour-bound to find out what they can. But in delving into the secret lives of the adults of the close, they do find real secrets. And Stephen gets caught up in the web of the adult world where he cannot decipher between his childish view of the world, the neighbourhood gossip and the things he has observed that he cannot make sense of.
It takes a while for the story to get going – at first the world of the boys is small and dull. Stephen is an unimaginative character who waits for Keith to “tell him what to think” and Keith borders on the outright dislikeable. But as the plot thickens and the imaginary world of the boys crashes into the secret world of the adults the reader will find plenty to keep them interested.
Frayn, a well-known playwright – uses an interesting narrative device whereby the older Stephen looks back t the younger Stephen much like they are two different characters. If you can persevere through the first half, you’ll find the second half much more engaging.
