The Constant Gardener

St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 7th March 2019.

The constant gardener. John le Carre.

Everyone agreed that John le Carre is a very good writer, and we generally like reading his books (though not everyone finished this one), but we often find the subject of his writing quite horrifying – this was the case with this title.

We discussed the author in some detail (as he is a personal friend of one of our reading group). We thought that his research is exceptional, and the characters he writes about are very convincing and very accurate.

The disturbing element of this book is the alleged behaviour of the pharmaceutical industry, or parts of it – the way it exploits vulnerable populations, using them as uninformed guinea pigs for drug trials and ignoring side effects, so that the drug in question may be sold at a huge profit to developed countries when the research is complete. Those questioning these processes, or complaining about them or trying to expose them, are silenced. This is the plot of The Constant Gardener, but John le Carre mentions in his afterword that this is merely fiction – the reality is far worse.

John le Carre's civil servants and diplomats are complicit in this unethical scenario, being either compromised in some way or else merely uninterested and aiming solely for a quiet retirement or a peaceful next posting. Justin, the hero of the story, we agreed was doomed from the outset as he pursued the people who had murdered his wife and her friend for finding out too much about the new drug Dypraxa, a supposed cure for TB.

We discussed Justin's death, and whether or not he invited it by travelling to the site of Tessa's murder – we decided that he did. We debated whether Tessa and the African doctor were lovers or not and decided that they were not, and that the doctor was probably gay. And we asked ourselves whether Tessa married Justin for love, or solely as a tactic for her philanthropic work, and we decided it was for love.

We concluded by talking about the film of The Constant Gardener, which some of the group had seen, and how it differed from the book; and about John le Carre's other titles, particularly A Naive and Sentimental Lover.