I started to intensely dislike his prose style halfway through the novel, in the long scene with Connie (“Slowly her head came up, and he saw her face clear, and his voice quickened and gathered strength.”), and then just could not enjoy one more reference to Karla. Every 20 pages a reference to “Anne” who in the end appeared to be Helena Bonham-Carter playing a 50 year old Princess Margaret in The Crown? What then did that make Smiley?