Scan barcode
mollymccall's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
chrisam's review against another edition
1.0
Save yourself the time.
"Big Pharma is really evil. Like, evil right? No, it's worse than that, it's like, really, really evil."
And so on. For hundreds of pages.
You begin to think straw pharmacist had a point.
Now we don't have the Cold War any more we have to think up some more ("Ain't gonna study war no more" doesn't really work in the thriller business).
Somehow my old review of this got lost. It involved Alice Liddell and the Cod War somehow.
"Big Pharma is really evil. Like, evil right? No, it's worse than that, it's like, really, really evil."
And so on. For hundreds of pages.
You begin to think straw pharmacist had a point.
Now we don't have the Cold War any more we have to think up some more ("Ain't gonna study war no more" doesn't really work in the thriller business).
Somehow my old review of this got lost. It involved Alice Liddell and the Cod War somehow.
bioniclib's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked the plot: a pharmaceutical company tests a new TB drug on destitute Africans while the governments of both Kenya and England look the other way. The plot stats when the wife of a British Foreign Service officers gets murdered. The plot was great but the execution wasn't.
Mr. Le Carre's style is obtuse, intentionally so. What's happening is never really spelled out. Which is the point. It worked...for a while. But not almost 500 pages "a while". I enjoy the Justin Character but did not enjoy Woodward or his wife. There were other characters that were introduced too late on for me to care about.
I might try another, perhaps the more famous "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" but not for a while.
Mr. Le Carre's style is obtuse, intentionally so. What's happening is never really spelled out. Which is the point. It worked...for a while. But not almost 500 pages "a while". I enjoy the Justin Character but did not enjoy Woodward or his wife. There were other characters that were introduced too late on for me to care about.
I might try another, perhaps the more famous "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" but not for a while.
etinney's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 out of 5 stars
This took me a very long time to read mostly because of school. However, the pacing of this novel did not help.
I picked up this book because we had watched the movie in a cinema studies course. While the premise was interesting, and political thrillers are a subject that I enjoy, this novel just did not interest me. I felt it was entirely too long with seemingly pointless dialogue that dragged the story. There were too many characters, and I was not interested in most of them. There were only a few likable characters, so I was only really interesting when reading from Justin or Ghita's POV. I really enjoyed reading about Justin's investigation into the pharmaceutical company, but all of the diplomacy plots, especially those staring Sandy, were infuriatingly boring. Gloria was a very weak female character, so her point of view was frustrating as well.
Overall, Le Carre did a great job exploring the issue of the abuse of poor nations for research, but the story was bogged down by its length.
This took me a very long time to read mostly because of school. However, the pacing of this novel did not help.
I picked up this book because we had watched the movie in a cinema studies course. While the premise was interesting, and political thrillers are a subject that I enjoy, this novel just did not interest me. I felt it was entirely too long with seemingly pointless dialogue that dragged the story. There were too many characters, and I was not interested in most of them. There were only a few likable characters, so I was only really interesting when reading from Justin or Ghita's POV. I really enjoyed reading about Justin's investigation into the pharmaceutical company, but all of the diplomacy plots, especially those staring Sandy, were infuriatingly boring. Gloria was a very weak female character, so her point of view was frustrating as well.
Overall, Le Carre did a great job exploring the issue of the abuse of poor nations for research, but the story was bogged down by its length.
matteo_of_eld's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sky1um's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
marysues's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ranflanflana91's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
gadicohen93's review against another edition
3.0
Mixed. Clearly an excellent writer, especially loved a few of the comedic breaks where the narration focuses on Sandy and Gloria and satirizes the British diplomatic workers who are clearly more invested in the trappings of the office and the spoils of their neocolony. Yes, they were entertaining foils to Justin and his rather anemic quest for.. Justice. Even then, gosh, pages 100-200 were a slog, and the whole plot did not include any of the satisfying whodunnit sleights of the pen that I expected.