While waiting and watching at the Suzuki Institute I plowed through two mysteries.
The first was The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre. The movie was impressive, if depressing, and I wanted to see how closely it had followed the book. It concerns first world big business and politics conspiring together to the detriment of poor Africans and the deadly consequences to people trying to bring their activities to the attention of the world at large. We have acquaintances who work in the Kibera slums in Kenya and friends who work in Africa, so both book and movie were of interest. But both without redemption at the end, the wicked status quo wins. Although in the movie there was an intimation that the press would prevail. It was a Hollywood movie, after all. Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz did a wonderful job in the movie.
The second was Fallen Into the Pit by Ellis Peters, of Brother Cadfael fame. This book is set in rural England just after the end of WWII. Fantastic writing, a good plot. So many good insights into human nature, wrong and right, good and evil, love and hate that I am reading it to my children. A main protagonist is a 13-year-old boy.
