The Constant Gardener
Featuring his strongest heroine since "The Russia House", le Carre's "The Constant Gardener" combines the international suspense of his Cold War thrillers with the exotic romanticism of "The Little Drummer Girl". This is a masterful novel by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time.
Customer Review: Out of Africa....
I'm afraid "The Constant Gardener" has been lying around for many months on my night-time book shelf before I finally began to read it, even though Le Carre is one of my favorite writers of Cold War matters. I'm also afraid that for weeks I progressed very slowly in the book--I kept falling asleep--as the book plodded along, character after character appearing, as the interior navel-gazing of the principal characters became confusing rather than enlightening.
Still, after a time the book picked up speed, the action became more "active," and suspense was at last achieved in the final third of the book as Justin, the British civil servant protagonist, searches for answers to his wife's mysterious death. The overriding theme concerns the machinations of Big Pharma and their efforts to shortcut the usual long-term testing procedures with pushing a new drug in a region of the world where sophisticated judgments as to the effects of drugs are largely absent--except for some nosy do-gooders as represented by Tessa, whose murder starts the tale on its journey.
Le Carre is a fine writer, his settings seemingly valid, his characterizations often complex, and his knowledge of Kenya and the world of British diplomacy and drug manufacturing apparently on mark. Nevertheless, I think the book could have been judiciously cut by about 25 percent without undue damage to the richly drawn characters--some could have been left out or minimized--without harm to the novel's theme and story. A good and interesting read, but it is not one that will keep you up half the night because of its page-turning qualities.
Customer Review: Too many characters to care
This is my first expose to the author. I listened to an audiobook read by author. I listened but I was not interested. Tessa Quandry dies and her husband learns how her quest against corporate drug companies kills her. There are a few surprising secrets revealed on who Tessa was traveling with. I just could not keep track of the characters "guido, guita, etc." In listening, I kept thinking "now who is this now? Were they introduced to us or did they just start talking?". I wasn't even sure what time period this book was taking place in until I heard reference to a computer - before I heard dress, the old white woman with a black man taboo stereotyping, and reference to colonialism in Africa.