Bill - you're obviously a big fan. I am currently reading "Tinker Tailor" on the recommendation of my wife. I am bored with it - none of it makes sense to me. What am I doing wrong?
You're doing nothing wrong. LeCarre was in his depths by then. His best are his earliest 5 or so novels, and he's written better ones (like The Night Manager) in later years.
I couldn't follow Tinker either. Struggled to the end then got rid of the copies of The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People that I had been planning to read next. I consoled myself while reading Tinker with spotting instances of bad grammar and poor sentence construction. A pity, as I liked The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
You surprise me Crisp. Those three novels, published collectively as 'Smiley vs Karla' are easily my favourite Le Carre's and are generally regarded as not only his best work but the best of the genre. While they all have complex plots I never found them particularly difficult to follow, just superb storytelling.