Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The Constant Gardener is a 500 page story about a man's quest to uncover the (not so mysterious) mysteries revolving around his late wife's research into an evil pharmaceutical company and her subsequent murder. It really did not live up to it's billing as a thrilling tale. It definitely did have a feel to it, though, typical of many fiction novels these days: an elegantly written bleak and depressing story. Most of the "action" that takes place occurs within the endless conversations between various characters on the same subject, which makes for a slow pace. Are there good moments of intrigue and drama? Yes . . . but, oh so few! The ending of the book was especially unsatisfying. Please also be advised that Le Carre likes to do a lot of preaching through the words of his characters against the pharmaceutical industry and ultimately, it would seem, against capitalism. For someone like me who reads fiction for entertainment and escape, this was unfortunately not a good choice.
Rating: 
Summary: In a world where no one can be trusted
Review: Le Carre is a true master of the "grey" world; a world where no one can be trusted the dollar (or pound) reigns supreme. Justin Quayle's wife has been murdered, and this quiet British diplomat tries to unravel what occurred. What he finds is deceit, betrayal and eventually a realization that the things he thought were important really don't count for much. While on a journey through his wife's life, Justin learns how much he has failed as a husband and how difficult it is to set things right in a world that is not concerned about morality. Le Carre greatest talent is his ability to make us care for his characters as they struggle valiantly against odds too great to overcome. There is no mastermind here, just a faceless corporate entity whose singular quest for profit leaves many lives in jeopardy. Le Carre is not afraid to show the ugliness of this world, warts and all, and there is a great deal of truth in this work of fiction. This one will force you to think about a number of issues that may have escaped your notice; at least that's what happened to me after finishing this one. Some people wondered what Le Carre would do after the Berlin Wall fell; THE CONSTANT GARDENER shows that he definitely is not at a loss for ideas or "bad guys."
Rating:
Summary: Solid
Review: Although this is touted as one of Le Carre's best I found it a bit weak. If the British argot doesn't get to you, the slow development of the story will. The protagonist doesn't really begin to take hold of the story until a hundred pages into the book. Justine, the constant gardener, is a complex character as is his wife, the murdered Tessa. The problem that she is trying to stop is the testing of a new drug for TB by a multinational that is killing some of the test subjects. The collusion of the local government and even British Intelligence, bought off by the drug company, sounds only too plausible and is a well-told story. The ending is a bit weak and somewhat philosophical rather than definitive.
Rating:
Summary: Thoughtful, exciting thriller
Review: I honestly believe that The Constant Gardener is one of John Le Carre's best books of his career, and certainly the best of the last decade. This is partly due to the nature of the story itself; set in Africa, filled with exciting characters and paced in an unusual but compelling way, keeping the reader turning the page long after the mysteries of the tale have been solved. What struck me about the book, however, was how different it was from Le Carre's usual body of work. Normally his characters are so dark, their motives so clouded, that you expect even the protagonists to be morally compromised. Thus, in any other book it would be assumed that the character of Justin's motivation would be solely to discover his wife's murderers, but in a book by Le Carre it comes as a shock, halfway through the book, when the reader discovers the two main figures of the novel, who were married, were actually deeply in love with each other. It suggests that Le Carre takes the subject of the book; the greed of corporate drug companies, very seriously, and places all the ambiguity upon them. When an author is this passionate about his work he demands that his readers take it seriously, and Le Carre fans would do well to do so.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book. Couldn't put it down
Review: I thought I'd read about 20 pages of the book, to find out the setting, and then put it away for later reading. Mistake. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. I'm learning what many people know: Le Carre is not a writer of thrillers, or spy novels, but is simply a great novelist. His books belong in the Literature section of the bookstore. He is writing as well now, in his late sixties, as he did 40 years ago.
I was stunned by the ending. I admired the author's guts for not taking the easy way out.
Lacrimae rerum
Rating:
Summary: Le Carre in Africa
Review: The first 200 pages or so are superb, up to Le Carre's finest standards, in which he tackles the story of the murder of a beautiful young activist in Kenya through his typical refracted perspective, that of a colleague of the husband of the murdered woman, AKA, the "Constant Gardener." Whether or not anyone actually talks the way Le Carre writes dialogue, he is a master of the form and always a pleasure to read. In this story, it's the British Foreign Office that serves as the behind-the-scenes institution, rather than British Intelligence, but the FO's diplomatic intrigues and folklore are every bit as mystifying, obfuscating and fascinating to read about. After Justin Quayle, the widower of Tessa Quayle, embarks on a solitary quest for his wife's murderers, the story's pace slows considerably. A fair amount of local color (England, the island of Elba, Saskatchewan) leavens the weight, but a long section in which Quayle cannot even master the basics of computer usage strained belief. However, when the action returns to Nairobi and the festering secrets in the British expatriate community boil to the surface, Le Carre swings back into gear and I was swept away again. One long scene prior to that, in which Quayle has lunch with a high-ranking Foreign Office potentate back in the clubby dining rooms at Whitehall, is pure gold and represents that which I've always loved most about Le Carre's work. His characters talk to one another but rarely mean what they say or say what they mean; deciphering what lies beneath the tortured convolutions is what makes his novels so much fun to read. The underlying message of this particular novel -- that the world pharmaceutical industry is responsible for heinous practices in the 3rd world -- was of less interest to me, though obviously important to the author.
Rating:
Summary: It's not elevator music!
Review: LeCarre weaves a tale of deception, broken trusts, conspiracy, murder, becoming of age, and retribution. In that regard, this wonderfully written novel strikes several chords similar to his 1970's - '80's novels. The KGB/CIA becomes Three Bees, a pharmaceutical monopoly intent on sucking the life out of the African countryside. The British Government remains the same as any government, duplicitous, dishonest, uncaring of individual life, greedy and ineffectual. Africa represents innocence; it's government, pimps. The characters are frequently cowardly; the protagonists often confusing. Tessa Quayle is the young wife of Justin Quayle, a career Foreign Service Officer. Passionate about the death of Africa, she embraces the causes of AIDS, tuberculosis, spiraling downward poverty, sexual abuse and the imprisonment of women. Where she is a whirling dervish of ideas, hopes, tears and prayers, he is nonchalant and distracted. She loves him and recognizes the danger lying beneath still waters. She protects him, and early on, reportedly trapped in an affair with a Nigerian Doctor, she is murdered. Like many of LeCarre's heroes, Justin Quayle becomes resolute in proving his worth, but more importantly his wife's worth. After a certain passage of time for mourning, he announces 'Tessa's mission (is) henceforth (my) own.' Here's the deal on LeCarre. He is a brilliant author. Yes, he takes 100 words when 15 would do. Yes, there are some long paragraphs, long pages, and long chapters. He uses words like macabre, polemic, winged seraph, lank and inconsolable. He also writes beautifully. He is the kind of writer in which the words occasionally sound like music. He drafts the kind of sentences you want to read a few times over because of the way the words flow out of your mouth. He writes of resignation "dumped at the railway station with bad memories and promises." Later, when he grows into the idea of what he must do, LeCarre says, "freed of his burden, he moved with symbolic lightness. Sharper lines defined his features. A strange light burned behind his eyes." But this should not go unnoticed. Do you want to read something light and superficial? Do you want to read something akin to a TV movie? If you want to read something fast like an airplane novel, don't buy Hermann Melville. Don't buy Leo Tolstoy. Stay away from William Manchester. Watch out for John Keegan. And for Heaven's sake. Stay away from John LeCarre. This book is the main course, not an appetizer. This is the main event, not the undercard. This is Mozart, not Billy Joel. LeCarre asks only that you be willing to work at the enjoyment he has created. So if you are willing, enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but somewhat implausible
Review: John LeCarre always writes beautifully. His prose is well-polished and his plot is thoughtfully developed. However, this book tended to drag a bit because the plot moves were predictable. It lacked the tension of some of his previous stories like, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy and Single & Single. The other problem is that the plot was somewhat implausible: would a big company really go to the trouble of killing people all over the world just to sell its product? I do not disagree with LeCarre's theme that doctors and scientists should conduct medical research with integrity and fairness, but it seems far-fetched.
Rating:
Summary: A Book Without An Ending
Review: Le Carre is an excellent writer, but every once in a while he messes up a book by failing to conclude an outcome. This is one where the husband, Justin Quayle, of the heroine, Tessa, manages to clear her good name and a fellow researcher, Bluhm, who have been hot on the trail of a dishonest pharmaceutical company who murdered both of them. Justin has uncovered this dastardly deed, but having done so, it is not clear what Justin's next move is or should be. Was he just satisfying himself about the integrity of his wife and her research colleague or the dishonesty of the KVH Drug Company? Maybe Le Carre ran out of ideas of how to end his novel. It would not be the first time.
Rating:
Summary: as real as the Sunday Times
Review: I read this just when the scandal over the big pharmaceuticals trying to shut down South Africa was breaking, and found myself turning pages feverishly to try & find out how much LeCarre knew & when he knew it. This is probably his best (and most heartbreaking) novel since the end of the cold war. Read it. Get mad. Read it again. Then go and DO something. LeCarre has used the medium of "fiction" to highlight an enormous crime - a crime that we in the North benefit from and partake in on an almost daily basis. A lot of you are going to hate this novel. A lot of you are going to disbelieve it. Do some research. This is a story that HAD to be told & probably only COULD be told as fiction by a master of fiction.
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