“The scientific approach to life is not necessarily appropriate to states of visceral anguish.” Anthony Burgess: Blimey I’ll show them how to write a bloody spy novel.Denis Hillier is a British secret agent based out of Yugoslavia who has accepted (bribed with a large retirement bonus) a final assignment to bring his old school friend Roper back to the West. He is on the ship Polyolbion. Knowing Anthony Burgess the name of the ship probably has some deeper meaning, but the most likely refere...

This was a really tough Burgess novel. Some of the reviews said it was like a parody of Ian Fleming and John Le Carre novels. I haven't read any books by those writers. There are moments, lines and paragraphs of pure genius in Tremor of Intent. But there is also a lot of weird stuff which is hard to keep track of. Its about a British spy who is sent to Russia to bring back an old scientist friend who now works for the enemy. A lot of the novel takes place on a ship where the spy takes part in ea...

I think this is supposed to be a satire of James Bond type of novels. The blurbs on the book make it sound sincere though. I never read any of the James Bond books, or any of the real spy novelists so maybe what I think is satire is actually how it is done. Does James Bond fuck teenage and pre-teenage girls? Do his villains sodomize 13 year old boys? Probably my least favorite Burgess novel so far, but still good enough in it's non-spy / children fucking parts to be interesting. If you are into

Anthony Burgess is the master of writing flawed, some might even say horrible, protagonists. Alex (from A Clockwork Orange ) comes to mind first, of course, but there's also the eponymous character from Burgess's The Complete Enderby series, and then Hillier, from Tremor of Intent. Published in 1966, this is a Cold War spy novel in which the spy, Hillier, is nothing at all like James Bond. I wouldn't go so far as to call this a parody of Ian Fleming's novels, because there's a lot more going

A parody of spy novels. As outrageous as, but much shorter than, the Enderby series. With plenty of unexpected plot twists, it was a pleasure to read.

This was entertaining and an often hilarious cold-war spy novel. The protagonist a bit of a bungler, with an over-active sexual urge that tends to land him in trouble. He's not likable, nor is his comrade and his pursuers. One is thence stuck with a well-written, often erudite, account of a place in time with characters hard to like. This novel reads as a show-piece for the author, whose prose often dazzles as well as his massively large vocabulary (Burgess has a habit of creating words as well

''Isn't miscegenation a means of destroying ethnic identity and thus getting rid of national guilt?''Tremor of Intent is a dense, messy spy novel, telling the story of a English spy on his last job—it's the Cold War and his childhood best friend has defected to Russia, now it's his job to kidnap him and bring him back to England.The first half is mostly a rumination on guilt, in its many forms.Burgess' thesis seems to be that guilt—religious, national, or personal—is a destructive force.Religiou...

'"Beyond God", said Hillier, "lies the concept of God. In the concept of God lies the concept of anti-God. Ultimate reality is a dualism or a game for two players. We - people like me and my counterparts on the other side - we reflect that game''.'I wonder which spy novel, of the many that I have read, ever said such a profound and revealing thing about the nasty little game of espionage and deception that spies and traitors are condemned to play all their lives. It is moments like these in Anth...

My first Burgess. Hilarious anti-Bond spy novel.

There's an article in the Catholic Herald by Jonathan Wright that begins, "Anthony Burgess was a gifted writer, but he had the theology of a lapsed Catholic bore." Whether lapsed or not, many a gifted writer has tried the patience of his or her readers on that score: Waugh, Greene, etc. Even the Pope would have to stifle a yawn once those lads get into their stride.The trouble is that to non-Catholics all that stuff is simply tedious. Characters (all the characters!) talk about states of grace a...

In his auto-biography Burgess tells us that one of the Bond films was considered to be made by a script of his. It did not work out. But the plot was hilarious. This book is the next best thing. A spy novel. Obviously Burgess wanted to show the likes of Le Carré and Fleming how to really do such a book. And there are exciting things in the book like the eating contest of the main character with the nemesis. Some nice plot ideas. But ultimately, I must say, the most important thing is absent. The...

Seemingly intended as a spoof of the spy novel, but often plays as a straight spy novel that is no longer as audacious as it may once have been. The writing has style, but the story lacks focus and never really catches fire despite some great sections.

I've been told that Burgess' intention with this book was to outdo the ridiculous tropes of the James-Bond-type spy novels. Never having read those, I can't say whether or not he succeeded. I can say that I spent a lot of time with my eyebrows raised and my mouth open at how extremely OTT it all is – especially the sex scenes, which really were, um, something. 'Distasteful' is the word that comes to mind. That said, I was so hooked on the plot and the writing that I read the whole thing in a day...

I thought about abandoning this about halfway through the first chapter, but decided to suck it up and finish it since it was so short. Really wish I'd opted to abandon it, because there was nothing at all redeeming about this novel. The plot and characters are all over the place. The writing is frilly and pretension in a way that doesn't fit with the overall plot (and which is just absolutely insufferable). Hillier is basically a poor man's Bond, if James Bond were a self-important, totally inc...

It was like reading an anti Le Carre. At times hilarious, especially the sex scenes with the mystical Indian corrupter and aide to the Sidney Greenstreet evil knowledge broker, but for the most part bitter and cynical about religion and governments and the spying biz. I'm still reeling from the rich language and convoluted concept that faith in government and faith in religion is ultimately the same kind of faith. Plus lots of Catholic puns, my favorite the cuckolded man who spies on his prostit...

Burgess being crafty and funny.. a direct send-up of the espionage and suspense genre that somehow manages to keep the reader going back and forth between cliffhanging and just laughing. As if Kingsley Amis had written From Russia With Love as a satire inside an adventure. Cue theme ...Lucky Jim--oo7. [not read recently enough for more thorough review, but still resonates as maybe closer to five stars than not; time for a reread]

"He was becoming both full and empty at the same time"

If there is one disadvantage of having written a classic, it is that it often overshadows everything else you have or will write (I know, first world problems, right?). This is doubly the case when a brilliant (and certified insane) director turns said classic novel into a cult-classic movie, because now 99% of the response to your classic is either "had to read it in high school", or "saw the movie once, I think...".Not that we should feel terribly sorry for Anthony Burgess, but it is worth poi...

A spy novel that's less a thriller and more comedy, with a style that verges on pastiche, taking the various established spy novel cliches (sleeping with women, top secret projects, environs of the rich and powerful) and weaving them all into one wry narrative. Tremor of Intent has much of Burgess' knowing style and his odd way with mixing high and low culture that results in multiple levels of humour and bewilderment. There's a many-paged sex scene deserving a Bad Sex Award if it were written i...

Attention all Goodreads users self-isolating because of COVID-19, there is another concerning virus that endangers those staying at home (but what is home?) and on cruise liners alike - the virus of criminal espionage! Criminal, I say, because this is not like your garden spy with whiskers and a fur coat, this is the vocational spy who murders and dismembers poets and scientists both! and without remorse, because he might have read a wiff of Russian philosophy. So close your doors, windows (even...

Frustratingly beautiful. Hillier is every man who thinks himself successful and unique. Again and again he is outmatched by people who from his point of view are barely contenders. Theodorescu, Roper, Wriste, these men lie, to themselves mostly, to others when it suits them, and they all are their own undoing. Hillier is nominally the hero, yet everything he touches is worse off for his involvement, he hurts people to protect them from himself, and yet can’t bring himself to realise just how des...

What might James Bond have been if Ian Fleming hadn’t been such a stone cold dummy? Well, probably less popular. But on the other hand, if Fleming had been Anthony Burgess, Bond might well have turned out something like this. Though by no means the best novel he ever wrote, this is an entertaining Cold War espionage romp, simultaneously an intelligent send-up of spy novels (particularly the lothario/gourmet elements) and a thought-provoking exploration of questions of faith and loyalty.

All of the familiar tropes of the spy genre are sent up here and paired with unlikely religious and philosophical dialogues. As well as being witty, the book is also genuinely suspenseful and unpredictable.

a bit on the graphic side but really good story.

It’s as if someone made James Bond funny and intelligent.

Burgesss’ Good Stuff but Not His Best Not a clockwork orange but any old fruit in a storm. Burgess was a reaL genius at putting real stuff and doggerel together.Fine plot, amusing ending

Took me a long time to get through this book even though it was short and sn easy read. Just too far-fetched for me. There were snippets that I did enjoy but they were too short and far between.

great put on

Definitely witty and clever satire, but it hasn’t aged as well as A Clockwork Orange.

I usually try not to read any other reviews of a book until I've written my own but I struggled with this one so much I decided to peak at a few, and I'm glad I did. It became immediately obvious that I'm not the only person who has struggled to adequately understand this book but still acknowledge it's brilliance.It is a very intellectual spy novel that left me feeling a little less clever than when I started it. It contains so many cultural and historical references I didn't understand that a