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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of this book. The story was interesting and engaging. The strength of Kaye's narrative is in her ability to tackle, and thus cause the reader to think about, issues related to colonialism, religion, race, gender, and human nature in general. I found myself thinking about how lucky I am to be a woman who has gotten the chance to choose my own destiny.
That being said, I checked-out during the final 1/3 of the novel. After Ash reunites with Juli the story seemed to lose its focus and continuity. I was no longer waiting eagerly to see what would come next. I found the final two parts of the book, which focused on Afghanistan, to be tedious; I was rather disappointed. These issues at the end of the book may simply be the result of the book being too long.
I also had a hard time keeping minor characters straight. This issue, may, however be due to my own ignorance and lack of understanding towards the social ranks and culture of the military and Hindi society.
Still well worth reading though!
That being said, I checked-out during the final 1/3 of the novel. After Ash reunites with Juli the story seemed to lose its focus and continuity. I was no longer waiting eagerly to see what would come next. I found the final two parts of the book, which focused on Afghanistan, to be tedious; I was rather disappointed. These issues at the end of the book may simply be the result of the book being too long.
I also had a hard time keeping minor characters straight. This issue, may, however be due to my own ignorance and lack of understanding towards the social ranks and culture of the military and Hindi society.
Still well worth reading though!
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was the one book from my 12 books from 12 friends challenge that I did last year that I didn’t get to. I ordered it and when it came in the mail and I realized it was almost 1000 pages with teeny tiny print I put it off. The book was written in the 1970s by an English author born and raised in India. The book follows a young English boy born in India in the 1850s during the British occupation, who is orphaned and raised by an Indian woman. The story of Ashtok and his life was very enjoyable. Parts of the Indian history and descriptions of different parts of the country were interesting to a degree but I do think the book was severely over-written. This could have been a fantastic book at a third of the length. There were whole sections that seemed superfluous to the story. Overall I am glad that I read it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
For non-book records, review text and ratings are hidden. Only mood, pace, and content warnings are visible.
This is a very well-written, epic historical fiction novel. There's a love scene, long heart-wrenching relationships of every kind, court intrigue, espionage, religious commentary, and geopolitics. The history is exceptional and carefully researched.
The structure is off-putting because it shifts focus. Each of the books within it is quite different, and the decades-long writing process shows in this. I would have preferred each book to have had an explicitly different main character. Ash is nominally the main character, but is only central to the first few. He is also overly generic, presumably to have him shift between many roles. I regret that the more interesting character of Anjuli is present for so little of the novel, and apparently forgotten for the last 200 pages.
The theme is surprising:
I'm impressed at the sensitivity and cultural understanding shown for the nearly impossible task of depicting situations in which nobody is truly virtuous or right.
There's a lot more war than peace, let alone love, in the novel. The battle scenes are electrifying and that solitary love scene is bodice-ripper steamy. The depictions of endless travel across the region are beautiful.
Having read several other novels by Kaye, I'm certain that she knows Ash is immature and jerk most of the time (which, given the situation and the fact that he's a teenager with no role models most of the time...is pretty realistic). Although from those other novels, she does like slightly cruel and borderline misogynist leading men. She is also quite clearly anti-colonialist as well as equally opposed to religious bigotry from anyone. In general, believe that most of the things various modern readers might find offensive in the novel are shown that way intentionally to provoke disgust, and that Kaye was a woman well ahead of her time in calling out these excesses. Several of her other books have clearly feminist and modern viewpoints, even close to half a century after their publication. So, I find this to have aged very well.
The structure is off-putting because it shifts focus. Each of the books within it is quite different, and the decades-long writing process shows in this. I would have preferred each book to have had an explicitly different main character. Ash is nominally the main character, but is only central to the first few. He is also overly generic, presumably to have him shift between many roles. I regret that the more interesting character of Anjuli is present for so little of the novel, and apparently forgotten for the last 200 pages.
The theme is surprising:
Spoiler
it is better to live nobly and bravely by your own culture's stupidly xenophobic ideas than to strive for true fairness and understanding. Ash becomes increasingly obnoxious. In contrast, the British, Muslims, and Hindus are often shown to to have horrifying ideas, but be noble, self-sacrificing, and brave in following them. (The Sikhs are portrayed solely as noble soldiers.)I'm impressed at the sensitivity and cultural understanding shown for the nearly impossible task of depicting situations in which nobody is truly virtuous or right.
There's a lot more war than peace, let alone love, in the novel. The battle scenes are electrifying and that solitary love scene is bodice-ripper steamy. The depictions of endless travel across the region are beautiful.
Having read several other novels by Kaye, I'm certain that she knows Ash is immature and jerk most of the time (which, given the situation and the fact that he's a teenager with no role models most of the time...is pretty realistic). Although from those other novels, she does like slightly cruel and borderline misogynist leading men. She is also quite clearly anti-colonialist as well as equally opposed to religious bigotry from anyone. In general, believe that most of the things various modern readers might find offensive in the novel are shown that way intentionally to provoke disgust, and that Kaye was a woman well ahead of her time in calling out these excesses. Several of her other books have clearly feminist and modern viewpoints, even close to half a century after their publication. So, I find this to have aged very well.
On the whole a great story that truly sparks the imagination. On the down side, at least for me, the book suffers from a lack of merciless editing. There are great parts that are a real page turner but these are interspersed by long and and incredibly boring sections where I found myself scanning and turning pages in order to arrive at the next good part. All-in-all this 1000 page novel is actually about 400 of really good reading.
This is a big novel, part romantic fantasy and part a gritty history of invasion and war. It has to be big, to combine the two. Historically, it’s fascinating and very real. Romantically, it’s pleasurable and escapist, with dashing heroes and rescued princesses. It never gets overly sentimental, and the writing is both precise and dynamic. The close description of a suttee chilled me to the bone.
What holds the history and the fantasy together is a detailed understanding of India and Afghanistan, and of Britain’s relationships with these two countries in the late 19th century. The relationships between many religions, practiced by people living at close quarters with each other, is an ongoing theme of this novel. It’s really about the intersections between cultures. The geography of this novel is amazing too, beautifully and lovingly described.
What holds the history and the fantasy together is a detailed understanding of India and Afghanistan, and of Britain’s relationships with these two countries in the late 19th century. The relationships between many religions, practiced by people living at close quarters with each other, is an ongoing theme of this novel. It’s really about the intersections between cultures. The geography of this novel is amazing too, beautifully and lovingly described.
Fun insights into living as an Indian during the Raj, the position of the British. Way too long spent on the battle in Afghanistan. We get it in the first couple of pages, but it goes on and on. First 2/3 of the book are the best.
When this book is good, it is *so* good. On the edge of your seat, unputdownable good. The middle of this book literally raised my hair!
But it's a long one. I skimmed the last quarter because the author just seems to give up. She switches subjects from India to Afghanistan, from suttee to a massacre in a British Mission. The tone of the book changes for the worse and I was bored of the detailed descriptions of the location. I understand that Kaye is drawing on the experiences of her grandfather, to whom the events happened, but I think she found it a bit more interesting than I did.
But it's a long one. I skimmed the last quarter because the author just seems to give up. She switches subjects from India to Afghanistan, from suttee to a massacre in a British Mission. The tone of the book changes for the worse and I was bored of the detailed descriptions of the location. I understand that Kaye is drawing on the experiences of her grandfather, to whom the events happened, but I think she found it a bit more interesting than I did.
An amazing saga of an Indian boy raised by an English father, the conflicts and perspective this brings to his life in Britain-controlled India.
Okay this book is 49 hours on audio and when I got to the end thought "What? That's IT?" It felt a little abrupt. You would think at that point I'd be like "WRAP IT UP, KAYE" but I was left wanting more. In a good way.