Suche books:   





The Constant Gardener: A Novel
John le Carre

Scribner, 2005 - 482 pages

average customer review:based on 170 reviews
view larger image
 for more information click here






One of Le Carre's post-Smiley best

The negative reviews of this book usually contain words like "dull" or "slow-paced." Le Carre's trend has been away from protagonists who, in the context of their particular story, are extraordinarily suited to handle what challenges the plot offers, even if Le Carre points out their inadequacies as people for reasons of characterization. In that context, this extraordinarily suited individual may seem more of a hero, because he sees his world more clearly than we might in his place, and is able to do more about it than we could.

Justin Quayle is not stupid or weak, but he's focused on a smaller picture of home and duty, like the mass of us. During the day, he's a dependable and minor bureaucrat in the British Foreign Service, not singled out for any sort of distinction. He tends flowers in his spare time, when he's deliberately not paying attention to the possibility that his wife carried out an affair with a handsome African physician - before the two of them were savagely and inexplicably murdered. The book is not about solving the puzzle; no one will ever be tried for his wife's murder, though his findings might result in an incidental loss of profit for the perpetrators when revealed to the public. The book is about his (and our) growing insight into a meaner, uglier world from which his wife tried to protect him while she confronted it, and the sense of closure this provides him.

Justin Quayle is Le Carre's best-drawn character since [i]Russia House[/i], and Africa has provided Le Carre with a setting as anarchic and dramatically rich as Europe or the Middle East. It may be different and require more patience to enjoy than some of his earlier works, but it is undoubtedly one of his best-written books, with the movie being the best feature-length adaptation of his work to date.


 for more information click here


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.


 for more information click here









 for more information click here


Decent - but depressing

I found this book good. However, it is too true to life
to be entertainment. A heavy dose of cynicism is there
throughout the book. It is full of action, but might make
you depressed by the end of it.

His characterizations are the best I've ever read though.






reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10



Now a major motion picture from Fernando Meirelles, the Academy Award-nominated director of City of God

The Constant Gardener is a magnificent exploration of the new world order by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time. The novel opens in northern Kenya with the gruesome murder of Tessa Quayle--young, beautiful, and dearly beloved to husband Justin. When Justin sets out on a personal odyssey to uncover the mystery of her death, what he finds could make him not only a suspect among his own colleagues, but a target for Tessa's killers as well.

A master chronicler of the betrayals of ordinary people caught in political conflict, John le Carre portrays the dark side of unbridled capitalism as only he can. In The Constant Gardener he tells a compelling, complex story of a man elevated through tragedy as Justin Quayle--amateur gardener, aging widower, and ineffectual bureaucrat--discovers his own natural resources and the extraordinary courage of the woman he barely had time to love.


 for more information click here



hot or not?    What's your opinion?     Write a review and share your thoughts!



recommendations

Fiction of Development: Literary Representation & the Developing World
For Readers of John le Carre
MY JOHN LE CARRE BOOKS I OWN
Great books about Africa
Adventure




gardener

John James Audubon: The Making of an American
Your Backyard Herb Garden: A Gardener's Guide to Growing Over 50 ...
The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D ...
Trowel and Error: Over 700 Tips, Remedies and Shortcuts for the ...
Steve & Me



novel

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel
Batman: The Killing Joke
Loving Frank: A Novel
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
A Thousand Splendid Suns



search for books
constant, gardener, novel


Impressum / about us


Suche books: