Play Book Tag discussion

I’m sorry this is such a negative review, but I was so disappointed by this book. I selected it as a possibility for one of several reviews I agreed to write for books set in Africa from the perspective of foreigners. I have no love lost for Big Pharma so I was prepared to be sympathetic and, of course, Le Carre has a reputation as a fantastic novelist. My dislike of this book was on several levels and I confess I dnf’d it (hence the one star) around the 30% mark. I was surprised and frankly offended by Le Carre’s lack of cultural knowledge of Kenya – sure, he got out a map and had some geography correct, but there is nothing in this book to indicate that Kenya is in any way distinct from any other country on the continent; his broad-brush approach holds whether he’s discussing culture, politics, “the rains,” legal systems, business – it’s all “Africa.” My impression is that he has no, or very limited experience on the continent, and I wish he hadn’t tried to set a book in Kenya. He’s fed all the stereotypical negatives – poverty, crime, corrupt government, brutality, helplessness. A second thing I disliked, purely personal, was immersion in the smug, upper class, arrogant, public-school-educated world of the English elite – especially repugnant (and ridiculous) when they clump together abroad. Le Carre does a great job describing their world -- the “gels” and “old boys” with their stiff upper lips, their “drinkies,” and their assumed superiority to everything local – but it’s a world I’ve had to deal with and don’t want to read about. With all this going against the book, I also found it hard to follow the plot. I confess I was unable to follow the plots in other of his books decades ago but I imagined I might be smarter now. I guess I’m not, as I found it just as difficult to figure out what was going on in this one. I conclude that this author, certainly this book, is not for me. I know I’m an outlier as his writing is renowned by many. I won’t use it for the purpose I read it, as there are already too many bad, stereotyped stories set on the great, diverse continent of Africa.

I agree - I think I started this book because of the author - how could he mess up like this? Thanks for the reminder. peace, janz