The Mission Song by John Le Carre - Book Review

The Mission Song is a timely narrative, with an empathetic eye into the mind of Bruno Salvador, an orphaned child of a Catholic Irish missionary and a Congolese woman, and the state of Africa in world politics. Strong metaphors wash the story like a neo-Biblical parable; but the stalls in suspenseful plot-development and stock characterization, save one, muddy the strength of the story’s impact.

Pros

• Unique, original protagonist
• Penetrating perspective into African politics
• Thought-provoking metaphors
• Dry humor

Cons

• Slight uneven narrative flow
• Lack of suspense despite arresting

Bruno Salvador is called to a no-named island to intercede as an interpreter in a meeting between European financiers and Congolese warlords. As his story unfolds, friends and foes will change faces in the course of a week, as will Salvador’s outlook on the salvation of Africa. And his life will forever change as Salvador chooses where his loyalties lie.

On an evening when he begins to wonder whether he might leave his popular British journalist wife and begin an affair with a young Congolese nurse, Bruno Salvador is asked to be a British Intelligence officer for 24 hours at a special meeting that could possibly change the course of African politics forever. Instead, he discovers a conspiracy that could either save the people of the Congo or sabotage them.

John Le Carre’s captivating setup bodes well for The Mission Song; yet, the story loses some of its original spark throughout the course of the novel. While Le Carre’s new tale is an accomplished book – one whose plot sometimes slowly meanders while you read but whose implications and metaphors quickly begin to haunt when you put it down – it’s bittersweet because he had the potential to make it a classic.

The preface is a quote from Heart of Darkness and Song mirrors Joseph Conrad’s implications of the human heart throughout as Le Carre gives us a unique outlook on the current state of Africa and the outsiders and insiders who might influence it for better or worse. The author repeatedly addresses these issues through allusions and metaphors via Salvador or “Salvo,” his original protagonist of Irish Catholic and Congolese

descent, whose name and history hints at his future purpose. The story ebbs and flows in its building of tension while consistently teasing the reader to wonder and guess at what Salvo will do next and what it will mean for his innocence as well as the innocents in the Congo.

Sadly, the drive of the story sometimes gets lost in secondary characters and a surprising lack of surprises. The Mission Song is a literary thriller that works well at being literary, but doesn’t work hard enough to be a thriller. Throughout it can feel as if the characters are just serving a predetermined metaphor or plot implication instead of the story unfolding because of the actions of genuine people. But due to the strength and weight of Le Carre’s use of metaphors, the idea of people, and nations even, having a predetermined destiny is the question Le Carre is prodding and interrogating to an interesting conclusion. Just not that thrilling of one.

In the end, The Mission Song is a three-act story, albeit one that succeeds in keeping the reader interested, but fails in keeping him enthralled. Le Carre composes rich prose, but without Salvador, this story would be a metaphorical reflection without the right interpreter to translate the Song.