Rating: 
Summary: What is ethics?
Review: "Just a small county east of London" in the view of Foreign Office diplomat Sandy Woodward. Le Carre begins his examination of the modern form of imperialism in Kenya with the murder of the wife of Woodward's colleague, Justin Quayle. Woodward has reason to know Tessa's murder may not be a random killing. His definition of ethics places him among those once called "the Silent Majority". A civil servant on the rise, he reflects how ethical values have been eroded by surging "globalization". The erosion results from a rising tide of a new imperialism - the multi-national corporation. There are billions of dollars to be made in developing new drugs and ethics aren't profitable. When government policy furthers the process, people like Woodward are there to help it along. How Le Carre's people deal with ethics is the central focus of this book. The George Smiley trilogy gave us a lexicon of "spy industry" jargon. This book introduces "pharma" as a new buzzword. It identifies a new subversive adversary - the international pharmaceutical corporation. It's a term that is likely to be with us for some time. In the way that his spy novels kept us focused on the Soviets as cruel foes, the pharmas are depicted as influential, determined powers existing nearly uncontrolled. Unlike the image carried by the Soviet antagonists, the pharmas' image is ameliorated by the demand for their products. Everyone wants what they can provide. What cost are we prepared to pay in their bringing it to us? Le Carre bluntly confronts us with that question. Le Carre shows vividly how the response is clearly individual. No agency will front for us in dealing with the pharmas. A departure from his spy novels, this book is hard to categorize. That's good, since it shows Le Carre has breadth and remains capable of surprise. He's on a campaign here, and wants us to join it. He shows the venality of government agencies under thrall to outside forces and depicts the people representing those elements with skill. Woodward is particularly well portrayed, as is Curtiss, the pharma baron. Justin Quayle is more difficult to diagnose. For a Foreign Office functionary, his ability to "go to earth" seems rather elevated, but Le Carre needs this to give us all the information we require. Only Le Carre could give a persona to someone dead, displaying it without providing a living voice at any point. Tessa speaks through Justin Quayle's memories and interpretation of events. It seems clear that the characters take a back seat to the message of the book. Justification for the conclusion of this tale seems lacking. It's almost as if Le Carre had tired of writing and had to contrive an ending, no matter how illogical. There's no motivation given for the pilgrimage, especially with prior events related in the story. The scene is very nearly a reprise of Leamas at the Berlin Wall in Spy Who Came In From The Cold. There is the same sense of philosophical failure and bleak future. Clearly, this book will not launch a trilogy in the vein of Smiley's quest. Which is sad, since globalization is a force sweeping the world in ways that would have made Lenin cry out with envy. Le Carre shows how the morality of communism and corporatism stand at par, toppling governments, repressing dissent and manipulating lives. Once again, Le Carre has exposed a world hidden from most of us. He's exposed it with his usual skill at language and characterization. It's a book to be ignored at your peril.
Rating: 
Summary: Constant Excellence: Another bumper crop from Cornwall
Review: A book of subtle intrigue and human fraility, a characteristically understated story of charm, power and insight. Johm Le Carre writes, as always, because he has something to say and his way of communicating is through the novel. In the Constant Gardener we are exposed to a world of powerful human instincts, believably good, complicated and banal characters. Le Carre captures the essence of corporate and personal egoism, ambition and greed, he shows personal foibles in the most human of ways. The Constant Gardener is a constant delight, it has obviously been well researched, even in the areas where most novelists seem to fall flat e.g. Business, Diplomacy and Technology, to say nothing of his brilliant yet understated characterization of those involved in the murky underworld of national security, spies and spooks. In a nutshell, another riveting English language classic from the master storyteller of our times. Regards, martyn_jones@iniciativas.com
Rating:
Summary: Another Terrific Page-Turner From LeCarre!
Review: Lovers of quality fiction will find much to admire in this new, thoughtful thriller by John LeCarre. Set initially in Kenya, it quickly turns from a gruesome murder mystery into a quirky yet fascinating personal odyssey to discover the truth about both the protagonist's murdered wife and about the state of the post-modern capitalist world in general. Indeed, like most of the best-selling works that came before this one from the unchallenged master of the intelligent spy thriller John LeCarre, this is a penetrating treatise on the hidden and conflicted corners of the human heart. For LeCarre, who made his reputation chronicling the particulars of the internecine aspects of the cold war and the spy trade, the ending of the post-war period and the coming of the new world order provides a whole new set of circumstances with which to peer meaningfully at the human beings inhabiting the so-called civilized areas of the planet as well as the darker side of humanity itself. In so doing, he mines new tunnels of cunning, deceit, and betrayal, all the while weaving a quite memorable story in the spaces parsed brilliantly into the plotline. British career diplomat Justin 's beautiful and much younger wife Tessa is brutally and mysteriously murdered, and her rumored black lover, a doctor with an aid organization, is nowhere to be found. Unsatisfied with the quick and dirty investigation conducted by both local authorities and an unsettling discomfort exuding from his fellow diplomats, Justin decides to take things into his own hands, beginning a fateful journey of discovery and at the same time setting many other wheels into motion with this action. Of course, all of this is merely the opening salvo of in the tirade of events, characters, and places that whirl into centrifugal force in this wonderful examination of the underside of human nature and the complexities of the human heart. LeCarre is a master at detailing the deceptions, betrayals, and complexities people bring to bear in their conduct, and the layers of complexity peel like skins from an onion as he delves deeper and deeper into what is going on. With his usual style, suspenseful prose, and intellectual gamesmanship, LeCarre stirs the reader's interest and dismay as we see quite dreadful games set into motion with deadly earnest by everyone involved; his fellow Brits, the local profiteers, and even darker forces that come to bear as the plot spins into overdrive later in the book. This is a stunning, suspenseful, and somewhat rueful tale of what unfolds when the protagonist begins to discover the motives lurking behind what seemed to be a simple homicide, and he gets sucked deeper into the geopolitical politics swirling around the affair like a evil whirlwind, predictable, evil, and quite possibly totally out of control. As one can expect from such a well-described albeit shadowy and complex geopolitical world of espionage and power that LeCarre writes so brilliantly and unforgettably about, there are no simple answers or easy foregone conclusions. Instead, the reader is spun along the twist and turns of both the plot and the wonderful characterizations; fascinated by the power of observation and description LeCarre brings to bear. This is a wonderful read and a marvelous book, and has the ring of more real-life veracity and worldly wisdom than one can easily find on the non-fiction side of the bookstore aisle. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: wake me up when this is over
Review: I loved the other LeCarre books but, lord, this one is boring with trivial nuances and overblown character development. The style is classic leCarre but he has become the master at making the short story long.
Rating:
Summary: LeCarre - The Constant Novelist
Review: Justin Quayle knows his yellow freesias. Boring, ordinary. Terribly intelligent, but alas a civil servant. Guilty only of omission -- ah, the big one. Hero in the end? This is the stuff our dreams are made of -- and first-rate novels, like "The Constant Gardener". Just when you thought the world was learning to live with AIDS, John LeCarre has written a frightening novel about the threat of multi-resistant TB. Set beautifully in Nairobi, this novel spreads quickly to you doorstep. You'll wonder who's pulling the strings at YOUR university medical center. Robin Leach never gave us tours of the "pharmagiant" castles, but LeCarre does, and they're not pretty. This book has heroes and villians for every appetite and every persuasion. It will satisfy the devoted spy-novel reader, but unlike the intricate manipulations of "Tailor", the "Gardener" will intrigue readers for its broad portrayal of awareness, activism and conscience. This is a morality play that begs us to reveal our morals: How faithful a gardener are we?
Rating:
Summary: I WANT MY MONEY BACK
Review: I am a relatively normal, i hope, 58 year old, happily married professional man. I have loved the earlier novels by Le Carre. This one is beautifully written, but boring as sin.I mean, the gal gets murdered on page 40 or less, and the next 400 pages get more and more boring.Great style, no story of interest.I tried and tried and tried to like it.I want my money back.Give it up John, take up gardening for good.
Rating:
Summary: Exquisite
Review: Le Carre is like red wine, getting better with time. His style and language are a source of immense reading pleasure in themselves. His characters original yet plausible and human. This time Le Carre went a step further by choosing to expose what some pharmaceutical companies are doing in Africa, probably helping Africa more by doing so than a truckload of activists. An excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Needs more sun and water
Review: With the demise of the Cold War, John Le Carre seems to be running out of subject matter, and his choice of Africa and the Multinational Pharmaceutical Industry was an interesting one. The government officers and their spouses are as accurately drawn as ever, their relationships well illustrated over the course of the book, and the usual foreign service and intelligence staff are described well, but the plot is thin, and his very shallow descriptions of the machinations of the drug industry belied his usual deep research. As a former member of that Industry, I could have listed better examples of their behaviour. His Africa was of a colonial era, and a little out of touch with the modern scene, though his awareness of phone and email tapping showed he was aware of Echelon and its long arms. More familiarity with PC usage may have helped, as he seemed to be writing from a third party viewpoint in those areas. The end of the book not really an ending, rather a tying up of loose ends into a knot. Although this is a gentle reminder that the drug industry is still one of the world's most profitable enterprises, and benefits from sickness and ill health, no-one comes out of this novel with any real respect, companies, NGOs, the UN, Western governments, arms dealers and the usual corrupt African governments, and I wondered what Mr. Le Carre was trying to say. The Constant Gardener was not a bad book, but needed more sun and water to complete it as a novel.
Rating:
Summary: Pls John, discover the time machine ...
Review: I cant write a review of this book, since I started it but failed to finish it, I was completely uncaptivated and bored. Le Carre seems to have overlooked the fact that fictional literature had no bearing on reality, and therefore there was absolutely no need to acknowledge the departure of the cold war! Thus we could all enjoy what he is good at ... all of his recent novels (including and exemplified by this one) seem rather contrived and frankly uninteresting ... maybe he was bored with the cold war as a framework to write within, sadly since he earns his living writing, his interests have little to do with me the the consumer ... I wasted my money on this book ... but I will probably try once again to get through it ... just for the hell of it!
Rating:
Summary: Even a lesser Le Carre is pretty great...
Review: Well, I suppose I feel that something slipped here. I'm not one that believes that his best work ended with the fall of The Wall (Single & Single is excellent), but there's a certain ... diffusion ... here that doesn't work for me. The first half of the novel is excellent, but as Justin moves forward, it loses focus and steam. The character becomes frozen, unlike the best Le Carre characters, who develop right up to the end. Perhaps I'm just disappointed. It's still an excellent book, and the first half had the makings of one of his best. But that promise is not fulfilled.
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