The Constant Gardener

by John Le Carre

Hardback Edition, 508 pages

Originally published 2001

“I’m an Oswald man, Justin. Lee Harvey Oswald shot John F Kennedy. Nobody helped him do it. There comes a moment after all the fantasising when we’re reduced to accepting the obvious… “

Like most John Le Carre film adaptions I’ve seen, the Constant Gardener is a good one. In fact i don’t believe I’ve experienced a bad Ralph Fiennes or Rachel Weisz film so congrats on the casting choices.

The plot isn’t the usual cold war/international spy story like his novels of the past. The Constant Gardener is set in Kenya and follows the fall out of the murder of Tessa Quayle, the activist wife of British Diplomat, Justin Quayle. What initially appears to be a thoughtless murder soon turns into a conspiracy involving the shady dealings of a Big Pharma Corporation and corrupt Government officials. The story is told lineally but there are flash backs of Tessa before she was killed.

The research effort for this book was clearly extensive and comes through brilliantly in the writing. I’d never considered Kenya or corrupt pharmaceutical deals before but this was an eye opener and in his afterword John Le Carre describes the events in the book as childs play compared to some of the findings of his research. I will definitely be exploring this subject further.

The main focus is Justin’s investigation into Tessa’s death as he isn’t willing to accept the official government version. He acquaints himself with Tessa’s research and contacts and digs up some skulduggery that reaches beyond Kenya and England. For the majority the story is a page turner as the more Justin uncovers the more intriguing it becomes and bizarrely enough it was only toward the end when it starts to become clear what really happened that i began to lose interest. The ending is a mix of uncovering the truth and some random ‘waffle’, which he could have left out. I also didn’t get enough emotional loss out of Justin. When he’s talking about his grief to other characters i didn’t really believe him. Other than these two minor gripes it’s a good book and i’ll certainly be reading his other non-cold war novels.

My score is 3.5/5

The Shadow Rising (Wheel of Time #4)

by Robert Jordan

Paperback Edition, 1031 pages

Originally published 1992

“Begone from among the living, and do not haunt us with memories of what is lost. Speak not of what the dead see…”

At 393,000 words this is the biggest chapter in the grandiosely epic Wheel of Time. I consider books 1-3 an introduction into the fantasy world Robert Jordan created. The history of the world and its environs are slowly revealed to the reader to increase the familiarity of the various cultures, feuds, politics and who’s sided with who. Everybody is searching for purpose and spends the majority of the first three parts running toward something but ultimately aren’t sure where it lies. In The Shadow Rising, the story begins to settle with the main characters split into three groups each headed for their own destiny.

Rand, Mat and Egwene head for the Aiel waste and the mythical city of Rhuidean to further explore the prophecies of the Dragon Reborn. Perrin returns to the Two Rivers to intervene in the invasion of both the Whitecloaks and Trollocs and Nynaeve and Elayne pursue the Black Ajah all the way to Tanchico.

There isn’t a great deal to say that i haven’t already written about in the three previous reviews. The story is gaining in depth and complexity and the three main protagonists continue to develop. I’m particularly liking Rand as he isn’t the sniveling ‘Chosen One’ i was expecting and is a genuine badass. Perrin is also given a good chunk of the book to do his own thing without being overshadowed by Lan or Morraine.

This felt like the biggest chapter and seemed to take an age to finish. It is too long and surely could have been reduced during the editing process and I’m thankful the proceeding books aren’t as lengthy but ultimately it was worth the hours I put in, especially as it ended on a bit of cliff hanger and made me want to read The Fires of Heaven straight away but I restrained myself; to fully appreciate these books i believe a sizable break is required in between.

My score = 4/5

Norwegian Wood

by Haruki Murakami

Paperback Edition, 389 pages

Originally published 1987

“Writing from memory like this, i often feel a pang of dread. What if I’ve forgotten the most important thing? What if somewhere inside me there is a dark limbo where all the truly important memories are heaped and slowly turning into mud…“

The narrator is a bit of a loner, who philosophises on life, death and love and during our time with him meets an array of odd characters. It’s a familiar tale in the fictional world of Murakami.

Toru is aboard a plane when he hears ‘Norwegian Wood’ by The Beatles, which stirs up memories of his 19 year old self when he was a student at University and involved with two girls at different ends of the personality spectrum. There is Naoko, who has been slowly losing her mind since the suicide of her long term boyfriend, who also happened to be Toru’s best friend. She is finding life a depressing affair and spends the majority of the book in an institution. Her complete opposite is Midori, who is overly enthusiastic about everything bordering on maniacal. Toru meets her whilst out on his own and the two strike up a bizarre friendship.

Unlike other books I’ve read by Marakami, Norwegian Wood is straight forward fiction with no elements of fantasy or the supernatural. ‘Kafka on the Shore’ and ‘Killing Commendator’ were marred by weirdness so a normal ‘slice of life’ story was a blessed relief. The main plot is the love triangle between Toru, Naoko and Midori but it is somewhat unconventional. Toru is unable to see Naoko because she had herself committed and Midori’s appearances are sparse depending on her mood, which means Toru spends a lot of time on his own, reflecting on the suicide of his friend, life and death in general and any other subject that causes sadness.

There were times when i felt i could read 100 plus pages in one sitting, which reflects how good Murakami can be. His writing is so interesting and philosophical and unlike any author I’ve read but what let this novel down was the sheer amount of graphic sex. Even though Toru is a bit of a downbeat loner he’s certainly a hit with the ladies and barely has time to put his manhood away before someone else is stroking it. I’ve come to expect sex in Murakami’s books but some of the scenes in Norwegian Wood are borderline ridiculous and after a while i was sick of reading about ‘semen’, ‘breasts’ and how ‘wet she was’. It become a bore.

Norwegian Wood is a good book but due to the sex, most of it unnecessary, i can’t go above 3 stars.

My score is 3/5

The Ten Thousand

by Paul Kearney

Paperback Edition, 465 pages

Originally published 2008

“By the sea, Rictus had been born, and it was by the sea that he would die…“

I’ve toyed with reading this before but was never fully committed until recently when i read a 10/10 review on a fantasy fiction website.

Based on a real campaign way back when just after the dinosaurs died out, The Ten Thousand is a retelling of when Cyrus the Younger attempted a coup on his brother who ruled the Persian Empire in 401BC. In the book Brother ‘A’ hires a mercenary army from across the sea to aid in his attempt to overthrow his King brother. Brother ‘B’ learns of the impending attack and takes his even bigger army to meet them half way. What follows is a brutal, bloody and dirty war. The Macht mercenaries could give Gerard Butler and his 300 a run for their money as they carve up the opposition as if they were Star Wars droids.

There is very little depth to the story. The hiring of the Macht and the invasion all happen within the first hundred-odd pages with little regard for character development, emotional interest, world building and no back story of the two brothers. I understand one wants to overthrow the other to reign supreme but a bit of family history would have been nice. So instead of a deep, intriguing plot the book is full of battles, rape and manly banter which becomes repetitive. I found The Ten Thousand a tedious read, which struggled to hold my interest. I won’t be bothering with the other two books in the series.

My score is 1.5/5

2666

by Robert Bolano

Paperback Edition, 898 pages

Originally published 2004

“This morning I drove past the Santa Teresa prison and I almost had a panic attack. Don’t be shocked by what I’m about to say, but it looks like a woman who’s been hacked to pieces. Who’s been hacked to pieces but is still alive. And the prisoners are living inside this woman….”

After finishing Underworld by Don DeLillo i searched for other tomes that were as acclaimed and could hopefully leave me in as much awe as the aforementioned did. I checked a few lists and 2666 appeared on all of them and sounded the most appealing.

Released posthumously, 2666 by Robert Bolano is split into five sections all with names that sound like episodes of Friends. Each part centres around the oppressive, violent city of Santa Teresa located on the Mexican/USA border.

We open with The Part about the Critics, which tells the tale of four friends who met via their interest for elusive author Archimboldi, who sounds like a literary genius. There’s never been any public sightings of the author so the four friends make it their lifes obsession to track him down and the rumors all point toward Santa Teresa.

Part 2, The Part about Amalfitano, is the shortest and best section of the whole book as it tells the tale of one mans decent into madness since moving to Santa Teresa. The Part about Fate is next, which follows the aptly name journalist Fate as he travels to Santa Teresa to cover a boxing match. Whilst there he hears about the brutal slaying of over a hundred women, which nobody seems to care about and decides to pursue this instead.

Up until part 4, The Part about the Crimes, i was enjoying 2666. Chapters 1-3 were intriguing because they all had there own separate story with the murders lurking in the background. We are given snippets about the crimes but never delve fully into them, which compelled me to keep reading. I anticipated part 4 to cement this books brilliance but instead my intrigue turned to boredom. The title of the section is very literal; the deaths of 112 women are described in detail. I do like a bit of murderous gore in fiction but after the 20th death is recounted i started to find the whole thing monotonous and no where close as interesting as the chapters before. All of the mystery is sucked out of the story as the whole section is a brutal death list, which gradually becomes a chore to read. I even skimmed the last thirty pages due to no longer caring.

Due to the nose diving direction the book took during Part 4 i didn’t bother with Part 5, The Part about Archimboldi. I read a couple of pages and decided to waste no more of my time on 2666. Instead I visited the Wikipedia page to see how it ended and i was glad i didn’t bother with the last section.

Despite sections 1-3 being good i can only score this 1/5, due to skipping close to a third of the book. It was a brilliant idea for a story but the execution was lacking. Perhaps a 500 page book as opposed to 900 pages may have been better.

My score is 1/5