Product Description

Bruno Salvador, known to friends and enemies alike as Salvo, is the ever-innocent, twenty-nine-year-old orphaned love-child of a Catholic Irish missionary and a Congolese headman’s daughter. Educated first at mission school in the East Congolese province of Kivu, and later at a discreet sanctuary for the secret sons of Rome, Salvo is inspired by his mentor Brother Michael to train as a professional interpreter in the minority African languages of which, almost from birth, he has been an obsessive collector.

Soon a rising star in his profession, he is courted by City corporations, hospitals, law courts, the Immigration services and – inevitably – the mushrooming overworld of British Intelligence. He is also courted – and won – by the all-white, Surrey-born Penelope, star reporter on one of our great national newspapers, whom with typical impulsiveness he promptly marries. Yet even as the story opens, a contrary and irresistible love is dawning in him.

Despatched to a no-name island in the North Sea to attend a top-secret meeting between Western financiers and East Congolese warlords, Salvo is obliged to interpret matters never intended for his re-awoken African conscience.

(20060917)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27053 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Review
"* 'A literary master for a generation' - Observer on ABSOLUTE FRIENDS * 'Complex, often sardonically funny, always galvanically written. In fact his best book in years' - Daily Express on ABSOLUTE FRIENDS * 'Richly detailed, full of righteous fire to offset its desperate prognosis, THE CONSTANT GARDENER is a very impressive piece of work.' - The Times Literary Supplement * 'A page-turner which reminds us that the master storyteller of the Smiley books has lost none of his cunning' - Daily Mail on THE CONSTANT GARDENER"

Review

'Le Carre's eye is undimmed, his passion for his craft as strong as it ever was. He delivers a tale that few could equal and none will surpass.'

(Observer 20060917)

'THE MISSION SONG is meticulously researched, and the tricks and tactics of being a top interpreter are convincingly rendered. You're left with the uncomfortable feeling that perhaps politicians, journalists, civil servants and the businessmen really are the lying, amoral bastards portrayed here. Perhaps it isn't only in le Carre's world, but in the real world too, that we're unwise to believe what we are told.'

(Independent on Sunday 20060917)

'It is a fast-paced and entertaining book. Le Carre has constructed another one of his meticulous plots that satisfies in terms of theme, suspense and style. One is delighted by its satire, and moved by its insistence on the importance of doubt and the necessity of choosing responsibly at every moment.'

(Times Literary Supplement 20060917)

'le Carre shows no sign of slowing up or losing touch.'

(Spectator on THE MISSION SONG 20060917)

'I imagine this is the first time that le Carre has been mentioned in the same breath at Updike and Roth. They, after all, are Literary Novelists with a capital L and N, whereas Le Carre is . . . well. what is he? Actually he is sui generis. Or, rather, he is his own genre. Quite an achievement that.'

(Sunday Telegraph 20060917)

'Exquisitely crafted'

(Daily Mail 20060917)

‘A literary master for a generation’ (Observer on ABSOLUTE FRIENDS )

‘Complex, often sardonically funny, always galvanically written. In fact his best book in years’ (Daily Express on ABSOLUTE FRIENDS )

‘Richly detailed, full of righteous fire to offset its desperate prognosis, THE CONSTANT GARDENER is a very impressive piece of work.' (The Times Literary Supplement )

‘A page-turner which reminds us that the master storyteller of the Smiley books has lost none of his cunning’ (Daily Mail on THE CONSTANT GARDENER )

‘Another classic narrative. Nobody writing today manipulates suspense better. Nobody constructs a more tantalisingly complex plot. A powerful, moving novel that stands with le Carré’s best. It is, in other words, essential reading’ (Sunday Telegraph on THE CONSTANT GARDENER )

'This thriller exhibits his familiar strengths: superbly realised characters; a succession of knockout scenes nobody else could produce; and a distinctive ability to fuse social comedy and moral anger . . . Mesmerising.'

(Sunday Times )

'Bold, vigorous and extremely funny.'

(Evening Standard )

'I think it's very good'

(John Sutherland, 'Front Row', BBC Radio 4 )

'A formidably sophisticated work of fiction, full of energy, rage and great humour. All the qualities for which le Carre's fiction has been admired - his descriptive powers, his electrifying dialogue, his cynicism in the presence of coporate greed and government power - are visible in THE MISSION SONG. That this great English novelist continues to produce work of this calibre with such frequency is simply astonishing.'

(Charles Cumming, Mail on Sunday )

Evening Standard
'Bold, vigorous and extremely funny.'

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Customer Reviews

What colour is a zebra?
It's easy to think of translators as robots. Words of one language go in and those of another language come out. In the middle, however, there resides a human being with intellect, feelings and beliefs. Bruno Salvador, "Salvo", insists that there are "translators" and there are "interpreters". The latter, he contends, has to think fast and detect the nuances of speech from both sides of a bi-lingual conversation. Mistaking the one for the other leads to loss of essence in what's being conveyed. In this tale, Le Carre, who's clearly lost nothing in the passage of years, demonstrates with eloquent skill, the differences in the two terms and what can result when mistakes are made in using a competent interpreter as a mere translator.

Bruno, the product of an African mission school, is also the product of an errant priest. He's developed a dual identity - he's trying to become a realistic element of British society, while his knowledge of African culture remains deeply imbued in his thinking. It's the perfect situation for an interpreter properly used. One user, British Intelligence takes him up for his talents in a special task. He's to act almost as a "front" when warring African leaders confer with a newly rising messianic figure. Whisked off to a remote location in the British Isles, he is thrown into a tangle of intrigue. Drawing on a store of knowledge about African conditions, Le Carre weaves threads of personal self-interest and corporate machinations to produce a grim image of how imperialism works in the 21st Century. That the focus of the story is the situation in the ravaged Congo makes the picture immeasurably poignant.

Salvo's domestic situation adds additional complications, since he's married to a beautiful, British Establishment journalist, but in love with a Congolese nurse. As with so many Africans in Britain, Hannah hasn't shed her roots by passing through the processes of the British Immigration service. Britons don't hyphenate as is the practice in the US, and identity remains a murky burden. Anything that might alleviate conditions at home might well lead to a mass return. Hannah kindles in Salvo a desire to return to the Congo, fuelled by the slights both have endured in the racist society of Britain. Salvo has been referred to as a "zebra" neither black nor white. There's a chance to end both tribal strife and neo-colonialism. But the circumstances in the Congo can be manipulated to corporate advantage, as the creation of the Syndicate that hires Salvo displays. Manipulation is the key to divide and rule - except rule is less important here than profit. Hannah's hopes and Salvo's desire to support them are stacked against powerful forces.

Le Carre has always written of matters of concern. Although always depicting his characters with skill and precision, he leads them into events beyond their control or their ken. We are never in doubt of the reality of characters like Salvo or Hannah, but they must fulfill the sometimes-bizarre roles he makes them play. They must respond to challenges most of us would find overwhelming, but he grants them the strength to soldier on, even when the odds seem stacked against them. Moral issues are never easy, but Le Carre keeps them at the forefront of his work. Maintaining that level of intensity would erode a lesser writer, but Le Carre, even after all these years, is clearly equal to the task. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Little action and rather introspective
I'm no expert on Le Carre, but The Mission Song does seem to struggle to pull a novel out of very thin ideas.

The star of the piece is Salvo, a mixed race translator. The first third of the book sets out some of his background. The middle third follows Salvo translating at a mysterious hot-house negotiation on the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The final third presents the aftereffects of that negotiation. In theory, this is jolly good.

But the truth is, Salvo is a rather self-absorbed individual who seems unable to maintain relationships with others - whether romantic, social or contractual. Moreover, interpreting is a rather mechanical process. There is vicarious interest in the subject matter being translated, but the process itself is mundane - even if it is being done in varying degrees of clandestineness. So we have a large cast of characters who brush up against Salvo - none of them deeper than a sheet of veneer - and quite a bit of technical explanation of the process of translating. Along with some token attempt to create a passion for an African heritage.

The negotiations are supposed to be key to the plot. But the setting (chiefly a table in a house on a no-name island) offers limited scope for action. Moreover, without background knowledge of Congolese politics, the characters are hard to tell apart - despite being given very different body shapes, dress styles, and a handy limp. And the revelation that the multinational corporations did not have entirely benevolent motives was an outcome that would not surprise a schoolboy. Thus, getting to the end of the negotiation meeting is rather a slow and claustrophobic process.

The final third does pick up and offer a bit of intrigue, but it is hardly on a par with Le Carre's cold war classics. And the eventual outcome - although similar to many of Le Carre's endings - results in the merest shrug of the shoulders. The truth is, Salvo was not engaging enough for the reader to care much about his ultimate destiny.

Three stars for the latter third - and partly in deference to Le Carre's reputation. But this really isn't a classic spy story, and neither is it engaging enough as a personal drama. Just rather introspective.

Whats it all about Salvo???
I have read the book and heard the CD. Le Carre changes over time, and why not? so the fact that this book differs from the others is fine by me as long as essence of le Carre comes through, and it did. BUT as I really was brought up nearby the mansions Salvo lived in and now live in a road with so many ethnic minorities in it I should get an honourary degree in ethnic studies it seemed to me that this book was more about Salvos identity crises than anything else. He does go on about being half and half rather than a "Salvo" whole, me thinks he does protest to much. Yes we all know that some high class white women like a black "handbag" but in real life they go the whole Salvo. Then there is the incident on the stairs when the neighbours asks Salvo for sex. Now this bit is in the book but severly cut on the CD. Why? Was this put in for the sake of titivation in a film? Genuine le Carre fans dont need this sort of titivating in the books. The scene has no relevance to the story line so it has to have relevance to Salvo. I think the book was about Salvo having severe psychological problems re an identity crisis due to the fact that he is half and half, i.e., a zebra. Of course it is all the fault of the English establishment who find out Salvo is no way connected to GB so he gets deported? COME OFF IT LE CARRE. If le Carre wants to write about my side of the street he should try living it first.