The Constant Gardener

Having been a long time reader of John Le Carre's often bitter ironic take on the life of Britain's intelligence community, I looked forward to reading The Constant Gardener, as it promised to be a departure from his usual cloak and dagger novels. It exceeded my expectations in ways I did not anticipate. The Constant Gardener at its heart is a love story. Justin Quayle, a minor British diplomat, is stationed in Africa, rumored to be his last posting. He has met and married a younger woman, Tessa, the subject of much gleeful and often malicious speculation amongst the diplomatic community. The story opens with the horrific news that bodies have been found by Lake Turkana and are believed to be those of Tessa and her driver. The other occupant, a much beloved man by the name of Dr. Arnold Bluhm, an African civil rights activist, long rumored to be Tessa''s lover, is missing. As the tale unfolds, myriad people who knew Tessa, some loving her, others despising her youth and high ideals, struggle to cope with her loss, and their own hidden fears. Many hold Justin Quayle in semi-contempt as an overfond and doting fool, more involved in his plants, than keeping a rein on his young headstrong wife. The writing is taut and exquisite, as carefully, Le Carre exposes the reality behind the masks worn by so many of the people around Tessa. Tessa herself, using both recollection and the reflections of Justin Quayle, begins to emerge as something much greater than anyone ever gave her credit for being. Justin, trying to deal with the huge emotional wound his wife's death opened, begins on his own, to investigate just what Tessa had gotten herself involved in. He finds finally, something more precious, more valuable than he could ever imagine. In the process, he faces his own shortcomings when it comes to dealing with the bigger issues of our time. And in this discovery, he finds himself coming up short in comparison to Tessa, who never ran or shirked her role in battling the truly nasty, vile things facing Africa. This book is filled with a passionate concern for the welfare of the African peoples. Le Carre spares neither the UN, his own government nor the people on the ground, supposedly trying to help bring Africa into the 21st century. The role of the giant pharmaceutical company's, and what they have done is mercilessly depicted. The Constant Gardener is one of the best Le Carre has ever written, and well worth reading. It is both thoughtful and deeply troubling, given the times we live in. But the insights into people, the depiction of the UN aid effort, and why it often fails to reach the people needing it most, make this a timely and absorbing read

Corporate greed and corporate murder are not exactly new, nor are they particularly fun for many people to read. It's a profound shame that the sting is gone from them for some of us. A book which allows you to FEEL that sting would be a valuable work of art. But wait, this is not particularly about the corporate scene. That's background, but there's a stronger thread which is about love and about a search for truth. Most of this on the parched plains of Africa. With frequent side-trips to the claustrophobic dance of diplomacy. Le Carre seems to have built his reputation on spy novels. Spycraft is present here. You see the watchers, the searchers, and the strategists. You see the weaknesses of the (fictional) bureaucratic hierarchy (in the view of the characters). You see the idealism-vs.-life tensions played out. But that's only for starters. In some reviews there seems to be scant appreciation of the author's character development, which is outstanding here. Similarly outstanding is the skill for nuance in dialogue. In this book you move from Sandy's world to Justin's world, with bumps along the way, and the shift is profound. You also get a tour of British idiom as a device in character building, and I found that to be delightful. You also get a picture of corporate greed practiced by way of third-world imperialism. As consciousness-raising, this is more profound than Edward Abbey and as entertaining as Palaniuk, more entertaining than Ballard. If you've ever felt the pang of idealism, and especially if you've felt it and lost it, then this book is a compelling, worthwhile experience.

I think this is the first John Le Carre book I've ever finished. I usually find the characters too patronizing, the plots too crammed with incredibly unexciting spy arcana, and the characterizations of women too weirdly 1950s for me to ever soldier on (a very Le Carre image there) to the last page. But hallelujah, the cold war's over. And after several awkward forays into a sort of half-genre Le Carre has found a new pace, and it is terrific."The Constant Gardener" is Justin Quayle, a midrange bureaucrat in the British foreign service whose young wife Tessa is heavily involved in relief work from their base in Nairobi. Tessa is horribly murdered and the respected African doctor she was traveling with disappears. Bits of information fall into Justin's lap about a so-called wonder drug for TB, and Tessa's research into its ultimate side effect - death. The practices of pharmaceutical companies in the Third World, the business of humanitarian aid, and roles governments play in regards to both are probed by interesting characters in a smart and smartly-paced series of events that lead to an ending that will make your skin crawl.I never found much suspense in Le Carre's other books because it was so difficult to care about his characters. This book will keep you riveted from start to finish. "The Constant Gardener" is what I always thought a John Le Carre book was supposed to be.

Too often a commercially successful novelist -- especially one identified with a particular genre -- falls into the easy routine of writing in essence the same book over and over again or, at best, cutting corners to quickly finsh off yet another manuscript to be shipped off to the printer in time for the annual publication date. But that is not John le Carre. His work almost always shows a progression in his exploration of theme and technique. Certainly there are echoes of his most recent works from "Our Game" through "Single & Single", but in "The Constant Gardener" we are drawn even more deeply into an identification with the central character during his lonely odyssey. I cannot imagine how anyone could read this novel without being strongly emotionally affected.

In Kenya, someone rapes and murders activist Tessa Quayle, wife of a mid level British diplomat while the victim's traveling companion Dr. Arnold Bluhm has vanished. Tessa and Arnold protested the inhumane practices of the global pharmaceutical companies. They bitterly complained about the use of locals to test new products and the selling of expired medicines that would be flushed down the toilet in the West. The police blame the missing Arnold for the crime as evidence surfaced that they were lovers. Tessa's sedate, older spouse Justin wonders if something more sinister led to his wife's death. Even as his superiors want to place a lid on a major scandal, Justin begins to make inquiries starting with the time Tessa spent as a patient in an African hospital where he believes she discovered something top secret. He also believes that someone felt she deserved to die to keep all hidden skeletons buried so the public doesn't know. Many recent novels have anointed the giant drug companies as the replacement to the Soviet Union as the enemy of the common person. With THE CONSTANT GARDENER, espionage thriller guru John Le Carre comes out of the cold and joins the ranks of writers starring a serene David battling against the pharmaceutical-government complex who will kill for profit. The story line is fast-paced and no one does locality scenes better than Mr. Le Carre does as he shows with his vivid tour of Kenya's Lake Turkana region. Fans of his great tales will welcome the author's switch, as this is one of his better entries in recent years and is one of the sub-genre's superior crafted tales.Harriet Klausner