Rating: 
Summary: Not Light Reading
Review: I haven't read LeCarre since Russia House and now I remember why. While the story is excellent and extremely well constructed, LeCarre's complex construction and frequent changes in voice and time require a concentration level far above that required by the average author. The British conversation style can be a challenge as well for those of us not accustomed.The story is definitely worth the effort. I highly recommend this book but don't expect to read it in a day.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, boring
Review: Unfortunately, I really looked forward to this book, but I could not muster up any interest in this book. I also couldn't care less about who killed "Tessa!" Way too slow and draggy for my interests.
Rating: 
Summary: The Garden of East Africa
Review: It's not often that a book holds me so tightly from beginning to end, but LeCarre's latest has done it. Back in the 60's I lived, worked and traveled in East Africa for 2 years. This book has hauntingly brought back it's beauty and elegance, its poverty, despair and the enduring plight of the people who live there. Le Carre presents every reader with the amazing African nightime sky, the fecund smell of the landscape and the heartbreaking reality of its human suffering. He gives us all that plus 1.) a murder mystery wrapped up in multinational corporate greed and madness,and 2.)amazing characters to dissect with relish at my next Book Discussion Group. Who could ask for anything more to snuggle up with on a icy February night?
Rating:
Summary: Sad, but true.
Review: I have never read any of John Le Carre's books. So unlike other readers, I am taking it as it stands. The reason why I picked it up in the first place is because it is about Africa and I am an African. The second was because I read a newspaper article in which he said, "I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard." Which poses the question: "How much more does he know?" So, it was from this vantage point that I picked up the novel. What glares out from every page is the contrast between characters who through fear, greed and plain cowardice lie and deceive their way through the world. Very few having the courage to do the right thing. This by contrast with his lead character, Justin, who conducts himself like a true gentle man throughout and attempts against all odds to do the right thing. Besides Carre fufilling all the requirements of a "good and gripping read," "un-put-downable," "real page turner" etc., he has brought to the fore a virus in western society that in the end will possibly be far more destructive than any TB epidemic or HIV virus in the future. "god Profit" as Carre puts it, at the expense of socieites less fortunate, less educated and less powerful than those who exploit them without any regard for honesty, integrity, humanitarian empathy or human rights. For those not living with Aids orphans and children with Aids who cannot afford expensive medications to help their suffering, then I guess that this is an "entertaining" and "gripping" read. For me, "The Constant Gardener" was sad, but true and I would like to thank the author for bringing this subject to the fore, even if only in fiction form.
Rating:
Summary: Digging up the dirt
Review: A fertile new plot of ground for Le Carre to work on - international big business and corporate ethics (or the lack thereof). The corporate world we venture into here is the international Pharmaceutical industry and it's related spin-off activities of aid to Third World nations and medical research. Tessa Quayle a lawyer and much younger wife to a mid level British diplomat in Nairobi, Kenya is brutally murdered and the African doctor that was with her has disappeared. The investigation into her death by both local and British authorities is quick and nasty. Why was she travelling in her maiden name? what was the relationship between her and the doctor? Justin, her husband, suitably angered by the insinuations and the ineffective investigation and more importantly, armed with the knowledge that Tessa, ever the activist, was onto something - "a great crime" - takes up the cause and the case. So far, So Le Carre. Pretty typical plot setting, with the flashbacks and multiple story lines, two of which seem to be going somewhere. The first, the supposed relationship with the African doctor is a dead end and then there is the love letter from Woodward, another British Diplomat. Woodward, an interesting character seems the type that would make a hidden Le Carre villain. But no, we quickly learn that Tessa had rebuffed the poor man, and any motive or malice is removed -another dead end. The main character we are then left with, unfortunately is Justin. It's unfortunate because he's just not very appealing. Sure, the great George Smiley was described like that but it was only his physical appearance, with Justin it's his character - wimpy. George was also brilliant and I have serious doubts about Justin's intelligence. What makes me think Justin is a dim bulb? It's not revealing too much of the plot to tell you that the pharmaceutical company folk are the bad guys. Tessa knew it, we learn it fairly quickly and Justin figures it out. So, why, after leaving Kenya does the turnip find himself back there, back there where... well, I'll leave the conclusion alone. Corporate politics and the ethics of big business is certainly fertile soil for writer's in the spy-thriller genre, but Mr Le Carre has hit a very rocky patch of ground with this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Gardener of truth......
Review: Le Carre' creates an amazing backdrop of Africa to tell a tale of a giant pharmaceutical company, and the people who live and die from an untested cure for TB. The story centers on the life of a woman, Tessa, who is involved in relief work among the real people of Africa and discovers that these same people whom she has grown to love and admire are being used as guinea pigs in order to make big profits for a pharmaceutical company and those in it's employ. Tessa begins to gather information to prove what she suspects. She is joined in this pursuit by an African doctor, Arnold Bluhm, who is as dedicated to her cause as is Tessa. Tessa is married to Justin Quayle, a member of the British diplomatic corps, and keeps what she is involved in secret from Justin so as not to put him and his career at risk. What happens next is the horrible murder of Tessa, and the dissapearance of Dr. Bluhm whose company she had been in. The question of who murdered Tessa poses many possibilities. Her husband, Justin, a mild-mannered British gentleman gardener, is compelled to delve into Tessa's secret life and decipher the clues and information left behind in order to discover his beloved wife's mission. This is an amazing interpretation of Africa, very vivid and full of life and noise. While it is a novel pitting big money business against the everyday common person, there is nothing common about the characters involved or the situations that develop. It portrays the depths to which even the meek and mild mannered can reach out and gather their strength when the cause is truth and justice and love.
Rating: 
Summary: A new and old direction for Le Carre
Review: With this book Le Carre has finally successfully abandoned the cold ware era spy genre that he himself largely created. I felt the writing was tighter and the characters more finely drawn than in any Le Carre book for a good long while. His subject was interesting - global exploitation of the miserable third world - and has been largely explored by other reviewers. However, while the underlying dynamic has changed - we are now talking about rich versus poor instead of West versus East - much else has not. We are still visiting midlevel technocrats, doing a more or less competent job in an exotic and somewhat depressing location, and trying to keep their individual heads above water while around them swirl larger issues. This is OK and a good part of the fun. We are also taken on a familiar Le Carre ride down a path of futility, and here I have a little problem. Based on reading most of his other books I had a pretty good idea how things would wrap up half-way through the book and Le Carre did not surprise me. I know the man is trying to make a political point and I'm sure he felt the book ended the only way it could to make that point. And please don't think for a moment I didn't enjoy and recommended the book. It's just that if he could have set up the plot and characters he did and gone somewhere, anywhere, even slightly unexpected, the book would have been much more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: How does your garden grow?
Review: I've read all that I know of LeCarre's fiction, and Constant Gardener is his best since Russia House (in my opinion). His plotting is masterful, my admiration of Tessa is complete, and my empathy with Justin is absolute. Without respect to subject, Tessa, Arnold, and Justin represent what we can be if only... Justin's "grace under pressure" challenges the best of Hemingway. Though not always an easy read, Gardener is always pure pleasure ("The foothills ahead of them are tousled and untidy. A road appears like a vein among the muscles of the rock." p.477) Justin Quayle is a gardener, literally, not his foreign office day job, but a passion we learn that glows in a private man. After his young, caring, and beautiful wife Tessa is savagely murdered at the outset of his story, Justin is driven to learn what has happened and why. Piecing it together, he moves spy-like in and out of three continents, often engaging in tender conversation and reflection with Tessa, though dead, alive for him until he knows her truth. The fat letters he mails to his lawyer's aunt document Tessa's quest for justice in the garden of Africa, but we know that Justin seeks truth above vengeance, for Arnold, Tessa, and the African poor. [PW]
Rating:
Summary: What Is Our Responsibility to Others?
Review: In this sweeping story of moral obligation, you will look at the world from the saint's pathway, as explored by the saint's husband. The trials by fire are very real here, and that makes a consideration of choosing the right path all the more real and important. The English Gardener is the most unusual and darkest of all the Le Carre novels about human nature, exceeding even The Little Drummer Girl in these regards. This book has more in common with the psychological crisis in Heart of Darkness than with the George Smiley spy novels. You will definitely, however, find some stylistic carry-overs from the cold war books. Despite all of The English Gardener's emotionally disturbing features, there is beauty here . . . the beauty of idealism, love, and honor. Even in the densest, most forbidding jungle, wild flowers will relieve the darkness and provide hope. Every reader will be challenged to her or his core by the thought, "You think you're solving the world's problems but actually you're the problem." Before describing the novel in more detail, let me caution all of those who are easily upset by the human ability to be inhumane, that this book teems with incidents of inhumanity in many of its worst forms. The emotional impact of this novel is intense and lasting. You may well have dreams (or nightmares) about it. On the surface, the book is a detective story. Fragmentary reports and rumors seep in of a horrific and mysterious murder in Kenya of Tessa Quayle, the young newly-wed wife of a middle-aged British diplomat, Justin Quayle. Everyone knows more than they are telling, and seems to want to hush matters up except for two young English investigators. The press soon is having a field day making speculations about what Tessa was doing traveling under her maiden name with a black Doctor and sharing a room with him. Yet appearances are deceiving, and Justin soon begins to unravel an international plot of insidious proportions. Tessa was a lawyer, and she had stumbled across "a great crime." Because of her husband's diplomatic role, they had agreed that she should pursue her investigation without involving him. "She follows her conscience. I get on with my job." As a result, he remained in his domesticated garden of diplomatic activity while she was stalking big game in the jungle of corporate greed. With her death, he leaves the garden of Eden having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, and follows her pathway. Many people will find that the plot moves too slowly for them. After 30 percent of the book, you will already have figured out the mystery of "a great crime" (even if someone doesn't tell you the plot in advance as some reviewers may do). Clearly, the book could have been shortened by 100 to 150 pages without losing any important material from my perspective. While you are dragging through document after document, keep in mind the benefits of Le Carre's approach. One reason for this extra length is because Le Carre provides elaborate raw detail, so that the reader feels like he or she is Justin and pursuing the wrong-doing directly. Another benefit of this bulk is that readers who may not be familiar with the details of pharmaceutical research, political lobbying, and business promotional practices will avoid being lost by the story. If you are familiar with this type of information, the story will definitely drag. Another reason for the involved material is that Le Carre is painting with a very broad brush and wants to be sure that you know that he is indicting all of society . . . not just the bad guys. The final reason seems to be a desire to present the fumbling efforts of an amateur investigator in a realistic way. All in all, these sections work, but they are extraordinarily laborious for the reader. I thought that the main weakness of the book related to the actions of the business people involved. I found their greed, short-sightedness, and viciousness to be so extreme as to not be credible. A novelist asks us to suspend our disbelief inorder to enjoy the story. Here, the author has gone too far. Le Carre would have done well to have backed off a bit and colored them with some white and gray as well. As depicted, these executives seem to be pure disciples of Satan himself. That darkness is relieved by having many characters with white and gray qualities as well, but modern readers are accustomed to a bit more reality in their novels. An important minor weakness is found in the science involved. Those who like great scientific realism will find the descriptions here a little off the mark in several places, particularly in terms of how toxicity is tested and revealed. The book's greatest strength is challenging the natural human tendency to focus on what's right around us, the garden we tend. If we do so, we are very vulnerable to having those who watch the guardians be corrupted. In the process of that debasement, we are all lost. "We all betrayed her." is the sentence in this book that will haunt you afterwards. In this way, John Donne's poetry of "No Man Is An Island" is recalled. A particularly rewarding stylistic device is starting the narration from the perspective of an outside observer who does not know the facts before switching to Justin's perspective. As a result, you will appreciate better the extent to which appearances can be deceiving . . . like the beautiful garden that a murderer may have filled with the bodies of victims. After you have finished the story and have let its power wash over you, I suggest that you pick an area where you can explore ways to improve awareness of and interest in moral choices. How can you help others become constant to their moral purposes? Look out for the needs of others, who are not speaking to you about their suffering!
Rating:
Summary: Colonial Hangover and Corporate Greed
Review: Not LeCarre's best, but still a pretty fair read - thoughtful, well paced, intelligent. The usual mixture of social commentary is a little too heavy perhaps - the evil pharmaceutical companies bleeding cash out of the miserable third world poor, mixed in with a bad British colonial hangover (the hollow British aristocracy hangers-on still hoping for a knighthood - damn the natives). LeCarre can still tell a story with the best of them, but his literary skills are not as sharp here. The ending is not right by his standards either.
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