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guybrarian133's review against another edition
4.0
This was everything that I want in a historical fiction read - writing that not just merely exposes me, but immerses me in particular places and times the likes of which I barely even knew of, if it all.
avasoccasionalreads's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.25
Had all the components of a good book and still managed to be boring. Kind of impressive.
caitpaige's review against another edition
4.0
This book is much more than the synopsis suggests - it's not just the story of a couple in late-19th century Burma, but a family saga that stretches from that time to the present day, weaving a complex cast of characters through the historical events that affected India and Burma in the 20th century. It is nicely written, with vivid imagery, and dynamic characters (I think a family tree diagram would have been more helpful than the map at the front of the book though). My only complaint is that the last part of the book seemed very rushed. After setting a steady pace through 400 pages, the story suddenly sped up, rushing through a few generations of the family and swiftly killing off characters that were no longer needed. My impression is that the author suddenly realized he could not spend another 400 pages addressing the second half of the 20th century and panicked. Still, it was a good story and the very end had the clever little play that I enjoy in a book and found redeemed the rushed ending.
retharogo25's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this book. I really liked that it gave me a lot of insight and information about India, Burma, and Malaysia in the late colonial period. It isn't a topic I know much about. However, just as you get into a storyline, the plot moves on. I wasn't enamored of any of the characters but could appreciate the realistic glimpse of a variety of people's lives as they are entangled in their circumstances and eras.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in that part of the world, that period of history.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in that part of the world, that period of history.
dely_dd's review against another edition
4.0
4,5
This is the story about Burma from the British colonisation till the years after WWII and some hints to modern times. But it is also the story about the exile of the last Burmese king and his family and their life in India; it is the story of the British colonisation of Burma but with some hints also to its colonisation in India and Malaysia; it is the story of Rajkumar, an Indian orphan that lives and works in Burma, of his family and several good friends of him and his wife. Reading this book the reader knows also more about the Indian National Army and why some Indian soldiers decided to mutiny from the British Army. The story is set in Burma, India and also Malaysia.
There is really a lot in this book though the main focus is on Burma, its history and Rajkumar's family.
I liked this book because I didn't know a lot about the colonisation of Burma, and it was also a real pageturner. I was never bored by the story.
Despite this I can't rate it with 5* because the story about the Burmese king and his family's exile, and therefore also the story about Rajkumar's and Dolly's youth, was very long and detailed, while the last part of the book (about the second and third generation of Rajkumar's family) was shorter and there were some time leaps. I would have liked this second part, both about the history of Burma and the family members, to be more detailed even if I should have read several additional pages. I would have liked also to know more about the Burmese princesses and what happened to them once married.
It is a very engrossing and interesting book and I like Ghosh's writing style. It is a pity that the first part was very detailed and the second part was too concise.
This is the story about Burma from the British colonisation till the years after WWII and some hints to modern times. But it is also the story about the exile of the last Burmese king and his family and their life in India; it is the story of the British colonisation of Burma but with some hints also to its colonisation in India and Malaysia; it is the story of Rajkumar, an Indian orphan that lives and works in Burma, of his family and several good friends of him and his wife. Reading this book the reader knows also more about the Indian National Army and why some Indian soldiers decided to mutiny from the British Army. The story is set in Burma, India and also Malaysia.
There is really a lot in this book though the main focus is on Burma, its history and Rajkumar's family.
I liked this book because I didn't know a lot about the colonisation of Burma, and it was also a real pageturner. I was never bored by the story.
Despite this I can't rate it with 5* because the story about the Burmese king and his family's exile, and therefore also the story about Rajkumar's and Dolly's youth, was very long and detailed, while the last part of the book (about the second and third generation of Rajkumar's family) was shorter and there were some time leaps. I would have liked this second part, both about the history of Burma and the family members, to be more detailed even if I should have read several additional pages. I would have liked also to know more about the Burmese princesses and what happened to them once married.
It is a very engrossing and interesting book and I like Ghosh's writing style. It is a pity that the first part was very detailed and the second part was too concise.
krwalks's review against another edition
2.0
It seems the author gets so caught up in relaying his research that he forgets that his readers are shifting around in their seats for lack of story.
amymarietruax's review against another edition
2.0
Ok so the first two thirds of this book are like 1-2 stars and the last third is more like 3-4, so I'm meeting in the middle. It *finally* got interesting towards the end, so I really wish the entire book had been about that part of the plot: the role of Indian soldiers fighting for Britain in WW2. The entire huge part about the Burmese royals was just..... not that interesting or well-written. Honestly the entire thing just felt like a sort of soulless recitation of events, with gruesome, tragic deaths being talked about in the same way as mundane daily life for the royal family. Overall, not a fan.
macloo's review against another edition
5.0
The fall of Burma to the British, and what happened after that. If you are interested in colonialism or Southeast Asia or India (or the British Indian Army), it's a must-read. Although I've read a lot of books about Malaya (later Malaysia), this is one of the first books I ever read about Burma (now Myanmar).
Wonderful writing, strong characters, a sweeping geographical scope, but pretty much tracking the course of one man's life, from his youth in Mandalay to his old age.
Wonderful writing, strong characters, a sweeping geographical scope, but pretty much tracking the course of one man's life, from his youth in Mandalay to his old age.
fictionwriter's review against another edition
2.0
I'm about to give up on this novel halfway through, an act of abandonment that as a fellow writer, I don't do lightly. In the beginning, I was drawn in and involved in the lives of his characters, the Indian boy living in Burma, his mentor, the Burmese King and Queen sent into exile by the British, the servants in their house. But as these characters became woven into each others' lives, I felt more and more the hand of the author manipulating them like chess pieces in order to serve his dramatic needs, his desire to lay out the history of India and Burma in the 20th Century. Because of this, I lost interest in the characters. The best works of historical fiction put the characters first, rather than molding their lives to fit what the author wants to tell us about history.
thaths's review against another edition
2.0
I've read other works (Calcutta Chromosome, In an Ancient Land) by Amitav Ghosh that I really liked. I picked up this book thinking it would be along similar lines.
I simply did not like the writing style. And the plot with its characters getting tangled up with every change happening in the region at that time seems too pre-arranged to me.
I simply did not like the writing style. And the plot with its characters getting tangled up with every change happening in the region at that time seems too pre-arranged to me.