Groundforce African style (The Constant Gardener - John Le Carre)

Member Name: NOCDAV

Product:	The Constant Gardener - John Le Carre
Date:	16/02/01 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Le Carre prose and form

Disadvantages: None

The Constant Gardener


Just for a change I thought it was too long in places. Some authors, Ellroy, Donleavy Le Carre I can keep going with till the cows come home. This latest effort, out now, in luggable hardback for a bargain £15.00 should keep most people going for a week, and as such is very good value for money. What disappointed me was that so little of it seemed to be infused with that Le Carre page turning quality which was there to savour in full in Single and Single and The Tailor of Panama his two previous efforts.

The plot, pay attention Bond .... junior old Etonian diplomat in one of the least worst African postings, manages to lose his wife to the heat and dust, and his grip on reality as he attempts to follow in her footsteps. Why? I?m glad you asked. Mammon. In the shape of big bad drug companies, with their shady, secretive ways, and their big budget bribery. Death, redemptive journey and death.

The cast of characters seems built for the big screen, and one can have many enjoyable light reveries considering how you would cast the production. The diplomatic emotional cripples, the enlightened academics, the cardboard cutout bad guys and the open mouthed wide eyed believers.

At it's best dealing with the tradecraft knowledge which Justin our hero manages to resurrect from his limited training memories. In a civilised country, you never can tell. Elba, evocatively, Switzerland, Germany and the remote Canadian snow covered boondocks are all brought to life with a cold eyed attention to detail. These were the fun and exciting episodes for me.

What I did not enjoy was the only half honest accounts of how so many of the other male characters were drawn. Sandy, our hero?s superior, and would be cuckolder. Torn between his soldiers son woodeness and incandescently uptight maleness. He could not, would not, have written such a letter without more of a physical effort to realise his dreams.

De
sperately sad, and probably only the very tip of the iceberg in terms of reality, and the way in which corporate patent protection is put before global patient protection.

Summary: