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Title: The Glass Palace: A Novel by Amitav Ghosh ISBN: 0-375-75877-1 Publisher: Random House Trade Pub. Date: 12 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.04 (46 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Finely Crafted Work
Comment: Be prepared to learn about a part of history and an area of the world about which you know next to nothing. Ghosh has done a great deal of research to give his novel lush detail and historical accuracy, and then provides a rich family saga around which he delivers the fruits of his laborious work. More than that, he makes us think about the evils of empires, and the implications of personal decisions to serve masters other than those of our own making. He tells the story of displaced peoples, manipulated by the British not just physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. One final comment: The book is damn entertaining, and will stay with you long after you've read the last page. Instead of what most novels do, which is fade out after the first 100 or so pages, this book builds on itself and expands in richness as it draws closer to the present day. I highly recommend it as a work in which you can lose yourself and come away entertained as well as highly educated about a part of the world you may never have thought about.
Rating: 5
Summary: An incredible story, completely engaging.
Comment: I love historical fiction, and, in general, can be somewhat picky about what I read. The Glass Palace is one of the finest works of its kind I have ever read. From the first page, I was totally engaged. Ghosh is a master story teller. He has done a very impressive job of providing an exciting historical background of Burma, Malaysia, and India over many decades, interwoven with well developed characters across generations. I will read this book again someday. I very highly recommend this book.
Rating: 5
Summary: A magnificent historical drama
Comment: This book is a giant amongst English language Asian novels and must surely elevate Amitav Ghosh to the heady heights where Rohinton Mistry and Vikram Seth already sit.
The saga begins in 1885 with the British expulsion of the last king of Burma from Mandalay to permanent exile in Ratnagiri on the west coast of India. It continues through to the very end of the twentieth century and the fortunes of modern day Myanmar and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The story is entwined with the life and times of Rajkumar, his wife Dolly, their children and grandchildren and various lifelong friends. Aged only eleven when he first sets his eyes on ten year old Dolly, he falls in love and that love forms the main thread of the story. Dolly leaves Mandalay to continue her service with the exiled royal family and is destined for spinsterhood until Rajkumar leaves Burma to track her down exactly two decades later.
The story unfolds against the backdrop of the living political history of Burma, Malaya and India over some 120 years. The challenging issues of colonialism, racialism, independence movements and the two world wars are entwined with the family fortunes. Rajkumar, from a penniless orphan, becomes a giant in the Burmese timber industry winning major supply contracts in the face of competition from established western businesses. Meanwhile the last few years of the royal family's exile is described with such detail that you almost imagine Ghosh was a fly on the wall.
He clearly did much research to be able to describe so graphically the Burmese timber industry - one section describing the death of a working elephant from anthrax was quite an eye opener - the Malayan rubber plantations, the evolution of the motor car, the devastating impact of the second world war on the innocent population, the Indian Independence army and especially the overland exodus of many thousands of expatriate Indians from Malaya through Siam and Burma to the relative safety of Calcutta in 1942.
I was hardly able to put this book down such was its grip. It is a magnificent historic and romantic tale and is worth at least 6 stars!
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Title: In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh ISBN: 0679727833 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Calcutta Chromosome: A Novel of Fevers, Delirium & Discovery by Amitav Ghosh ISBN: 0380813947 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 23 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason ISBN: 1400030382 Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Twilight over Burma: My Life As a Shan Princess by Inge Sargent ISBN: 0824816285 Publisher: University of Hawaii Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Trouser People: A Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire by Andrew Marshall ISBN: 1582432422 Publisher: Counterpoint Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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