Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener
Author: John Le Carre
ISBN-13: 9780340733394
ISBN-10: 034073339X
Publication Date: 10/4/2001
Rating:
  • Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
 3

3.2 stars, based on 3 ratings
Publisher: Hodder Stoughton
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

49 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 17 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
It is hard not to see how real this story can be if an ordinary person is placed in this circumstance. I think often of my missionary friends who travel the globe and try not to allow the politics of the host country interfer with their mission to share God with the world. How this book reminds me of that struggle from the perspective of the one who decides to seek truth rather than turn a blind eye to it. Can we say we would be so bold?
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Loved the movie, but had trouble getting into the book.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on
Helpful Score: 2
John Le Carre manages to weave together a passionate love story, a chilling, suspenseful thriller, and a scathing commentary on the objectification of the African continent and its' people. The end result is one heck of a pager turner! I finished the book with tears in my eyes for both the beautiful, and ultimately tragic, love story and the sad commentary about our supposedly 'progressive' world.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 109 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
a wonderful complex book and movie!
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I really did not enjoy this book, although I do not tend to like Le Carre's writing style to begin with. This story in particular, though, I felt was full of a lot of suspense build up and build up and then when you find out what happens, you think "that's it? All that build up for this?" I also felt this was a unique attempt from Le Carre in delving into a more political theme (i.e. the corrupt pharmaceutical companies). To put my feelings for Le Carre aside, though, I asked others who are Le Carre fans and they said they did not care for this book either and prefer his spy novels.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
A master chronicler of the betrayals of ordinary people caught in political conflict, John le Carre portrays the dark side of unbridled capitalism as only he can.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 110 more book reviews
This was a great book.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 9 more book reviews
JUST LIKE THE MOVIE
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 2 more book reviews
A young woman is killed in Africa and her husband tries to find out who killed her. This book has been made into a movie.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 39 more book reviews
Le Carre is as clever as always
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 7 more book reviews
Loved this book, a real page turner.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 588 more book reviews
Very good.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 7 more book reviews
Brilliant story, loved it!
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 26 more book reviews
A powerful novel.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on
Exciting all the way through. I found myself cheering for Justin through the entire book.
MMG avatar reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 17 more book reviews
Another Le Carre thriller, this time with an eerily contemporary twist.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 2 more book reviews
After several hundred pages, I realized I didn't care what happened to the characters, or how the story ended. I stopped reading.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 29 more book reviews
Simply brilliant. LeCarre at his best.
PIZZELLEBFS avatar reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 331 more book reviews
British diplomat Justin Quayle, complacent raiser of freesias and doting husband of the stunning, much younger Tessa, has tended his own garden in Nairobi too long. Tessa is Justin's opposite, a fiery reformer, "that rarest thing, a lawyer who believes in justice," whose campaigns have earned her a nickname: "the Princess Diana of the African poor." But now Tessa has turned up naked, raped, and dead on a mysterious visit to remote Lake Turkana in Kenya. Her traveling companion (and lover?), the handsome Congolese-Belgian doctor Arnold Bluhm, has vanished. So has Quayle's complacency...
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 50 more book reviews
I wanted to love this book, but I had a really hard time getting into it. Not sure why. I liked the movie and this has to be one of the very few times I liked the movie better than the book. The book feels dry and disconnected from the characters.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 813 more book reviews
An aging, soon to be passed over, embassy bureaucrat evidently does more gardening than he does his young, brilliant wife. She traipses around Kenya with a do-good doctor attempting to nail to the wall a major pharmaceutical conglomerate that is systematically reducing the overpopulation with a new wonder drug. They get murdered and away we go. Hubby jumps on the trail to take all guilty parties to task. Good luck! Lets see, whos involved: a major international conglomerate pharmaceutical corporation, their monster African distributor, the corrupt Kenyan government, the do-nothing British Embassy in Kenya, their superior counterpart in merry old England, government political criminals, a myriad of corrupt aid agencies, local warlords, mercenaries, killers for hire. Had enough, or should I keep adding to the sewage. Typical Honest John. You may not appreciate the reality of the ending.
elusivemuse avatar reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 3 more book reviews
Wonderful story!
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 107 more book reviews
While nearly all of le Carre's books are excellent, this one stands head and shoulders above the pack. I had it on my paperback bookshelf at home for a long time and had seen the movie twice when I finally got around to reading it the last few months. I enjoyed it so much I acquired a new hardcover copy (through PaperbackSwap) for my personal collection.

Although there is an intelligence agent in this book it is so much more than a spy story or adventure story; like "The Perfect Spy" it can stand alone as a great novel. It speaks eloquently about human relationships, the British diplomatic corps, the pharmaceutical industry, and great power treatment of third world countries.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 18 more book reviews
All LeCarre books are very good.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on
Very good, a bit confusing at first. Liked it even better after seeing the movie!
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 28 more book reviews
A story of betrayal and ordinary people caught in political conflict.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on
I really enjoyed this book. John le Carre is a master!
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 244 more book reviews
Much better than the movie...
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 517 more book reviews
intrigue and murder, good book
evelyn0309 avatar reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 84 more book reviews
Le Carre at his best.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 53 more book reviews
Le Carre does it again.
queenofeverything avatar reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 33 more book reviews
I found the book a lot better and much more interesting than the movie. His wife was fascinating, flawed and I could see why he was so attached to her.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 32 more book reviews
I don't think I will see the movie, I don't see how it could be as good as this book. I could imagine the way the characters sounded, smelled, looked. An excellent book from a really great writer.
Puddnp avatar reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 111 more book reviews
A good book, requires a slower read. But will eventually grab your attention.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 579 more book reviews
a magnificent exploration of the new world order by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our times
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 7 more book reviews
This was a really good book. It's not something that you can get through quickly - it's pretty involved.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 308 more book reviews
started alow but once i gave it a chance it caught my attention and kept it.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 11 more book reviews
It is a great book. Everyone should have a chance to read such good book.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 55 more book reviews
One of le Carre's best. The political conflict, the well drawn characters, the intrigue held me captive till late hours. See the movie, but read the book, too!
reviewed The Constant Gardener on
I was glad I read the book long before I saw the movie. In my opinion this book is 100 times better than the movie. John le Carre has always been one of my favorite author of thrillers. This one should be required reading on Civics Classes in this country.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 43 more book reviews
Tessa Quayle, the lovely wife of a member of the British Foreign Service based in Nairobi, is killed in a mysterious car accident near a lake in Kenya. Tessa was an activist who had recently come across sensitive documents exposing an international corporate conspiracy to exploit Kenya's poor. Tessa's husband, Justin, has been a mild-mannered official for decades, but when he decides to get to the bottom of Tessa's death, he discovers that he has an unexpected capacity to go against the grain. He'll need it, as his journey to the truth takes him through many levels of corporate and diplomatic intrigue in Kenya, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, and Canada. This novel by master of the spy thriller John Le Carre was adapted into a 2005 film starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 113 more book reviews
John LeCarres exquisite new novel opens in Northern Kenya with the gruesome murder of young and beautiful Tessa Quayle. Her husband, Justin, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 4 more book reviews
Loved this book.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 53 more book reviews
Excellent book! Can't wait to see the movie!
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 13 more book reviews
I started this book but it's not my thing so stopped.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 911 more book reviews
When the young and beautiful wife of a much older embassy worker and amateur gardener is found murdered near Northern Kenya's Lake Turkana, his personal pursuit of the killers not only sets him up as their next target, but as a suspect among his embassy colleagues.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 191 more book reviews
An excellent book. Well-written, good story. I liked it.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on
The Constant Gardener was a good read that involved learning about "government watch organizations." It was a good mystery read.
reviewed The Constant Gardener on + 19 more book reviews
great storie by john le carne.