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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
Whew. Talk about an epic. I felt like this book really lost steam at the end, or it would have had 5 stars - also Ash's lifelong friendship with Zarin terminated too quickly and cleanly for my enjoyment, and Wally and the final battle for the Mission just dragged on and on.
Enjoyed the audio very much. The reader very effective.
This was a re-read for me, having first read it in the 1990s. Held up pretty well, although it has more romance in it than I remembered. Still, well crafted story, with a plot that keeps moving, and much character growth.
This was a re-read for me, having first read it in the 1990s. Held up pretty well, although it has more romance in it than I remembered. Still, well crafted story, with a plot that keeps moving, and much character growth.
Truthfully I think that the story may have gotten interesting, but it falls into the same trap, for me at least, that most historical fiction does: if you aren’t invested/interested in the historical context of the book it’s just not that good. And that’s what happened for me. The story just fell a bit flat because I really was not invested in the characters or the struggle they were in. Not a bad book, just not for me.
This is an excellent performance of a magnificent novel. I'd been putting off 'The Far Pavilions' for years, disregarding my own dictum that it's better to read one long, great book than four mediocre, shorter ones. I was wrong to do so, because 'The Far Pavilions' is the kind of beautiful, compelling novel that makes the reader want to get back to it, and that makes the reader sad when it's over. This isn't just some long meditation on beauty, however. Like the very best novels, 'The Far Pavilions' is exciting, heartbreaking, rousing, and a real page-turner.
As narrated by Audie award winner Vikas Adam, the story comes alive through his skillful use of accents, pitches, and cadences to help the listener distinguish between the all the voices speaking through this novel. Even on double speed, his diction is clear and the action easy to follow. I absolutely loved this audiobook, and I can't wait for my wife to listen to it so we can discuss it together.
As narrated by Audie award winner Vikas Adam, the story comes alive through his skillful use of accents, pitches, and cadences to help the listener distinguish between the all the voices speaking through this novel. Even on double speed, his diction is clear and the action easy to follow. I absolutely loved this audiobook, and I can't wait for my wife to listen to it so we can discuss it together.
I think this was the longest book I have ever read. At least it felt like it. Parts were fun, but the book didn’t have to be that long.
About halfway through this 950 page book I started making notes. This is always a bad sign. I noted sentences like "an invisible current swept between them, linking them together so they did not need to touch each other or speak or even smile to prove that two people can at times be truly one." Which brings us to the
love story" there is insta-love, and then you basically never see Juli again. She just follows Ash around, while he forgets about her. Actually, he's fairly horrible to her before that.
Tis book is full of weird racial statement like "the prescience that is so often a part of the Irish heritage stirred in him". You what now? It's also full of characters who have "bad blood".
The final quarter is a battle. It's a boring imperialist battle, where the British shouldn't have been there in the first place, so I was barracking for our heroes to loose. First you get the battle from Wally's viewpoint, and then the same battle from Ash's.
The ending is an anti-climax.
I'm not sure if this books biggest offence is that it could have told the same story in half the time, or that it made what was sold as an epic love story into a boring slog. The front cover (all the front covers I've seen for this book) was nice.
love story" there is insta-love, and then you basically never see Juli again. She just follows Ash around, while he forgets about her. Actually, he's fairly horrible to her before that.
Tis book is full of weird racial statement like "the prescience that is so often a part of the Irish heritage stirred in him". You what now? It's also full of characters who have "bad blood".
The final quarter is a battle. It's a boring imperialist battle, where the British shouldn't have been there in the first place, so I was barracking for our heroes to loose. First you get the battle from Wally's viewpoint, and then the same battle from Ash's.
The ending is an anti-climax.
I'm not sure if this books biggest offence is that it could have told the same story in half the time, or that it made what was sold as an epic love story into a boring slog. The front cover (all the front covers I've seen for this book) was nice.
Another excellent novel by M.M. Kaye. Another love note to India and all of her inhabitants. While, to my mind, not as great as Shadow of the Moon it is a truly wonderful experience. Do not, however, under any circumstances, rent the movie version of this staring Amy Irving and Ben Cross. It almost made me cry it was so retched.
Palast der Winde ist ein wunderschönes Buch, ein indisches Märchen, eine Geschichte voller Krieg und Geschichte.
Im Gegensatz zu vielen neuen Büchern entwickelt sich Palast der Winde sehr langsam, M. M. Kaye hat sich Zeit gelassen, ihren Charakteren Raum zu geben, um sich zu entfalten. Und das haben sie getan! Mein Vater las mir dieses Buch vor, als ich gerade mal 7 war (und wahrscheinlich habe ich kein Wort verstanden) und vor einiger Zeit hat er es mir in die Hand gedrückt und ich habe es nochmal selbst gelesen. Es ist eines der Lieblingsbücher meines Vaters und jetzt auch eines von meinen, auch wenn da vielleicht der sentimentale Faktor, dass es mich mit meinem Vater verbindet, mit reinspielt.
Das ändert jedoch nichts daran, dass dieses Buch die Liebe zu einem Land weckt, von der man nicht wusste, dass man sie überhaupt besitzt. Indien stand nie oben auf meiner Liste der Länder, die ich in den nächsten Jahren sehen will. Jetzt tut es das, denn auch, wenn vieles nicht (mehr) so ist, wie in dem Buch beschrieben, so hat es doch meine Neugierde auf dieses Land geweckt.
Die Charaktere? Nun, was soll man zu ihnen sagen; Ashs Freunde sind bewundernswert. Ja, sie sind zum Teil sehr aufopferungsbereit, aber es ist ein MÄRCHEN und ich fand keine Charakterentwicklung unlogisch. Jeder hatte seine Schwächen und Stärken, auch Ash. Ash war auf jeden Fall ein Protagonist, in den ich mich sehr gut hineinfühlen konnte und ich muss sogar sagen, dass ich am Ende des Buches ein paar Tränen in den Augen hatte...
Im Gegensatz zu vielen neuen Büchern entwickelt sich Palast der Winde sehr langsam, M. M. Kaye hat sich Zeit gelassen, ihren Charakteren Raum zu geben, um sich zu entfalten. Und das haben sie getan! Mein Vater las mir dieses Buch vor, als ich gerade mal 7 war (und wahrscheinlich habe ich kein Wort verstanden) und vor einiger Zeit hat er es mir in die Hand gedrückt und ich habe es nochmal selbst gelesen. Es ist eines der Lieblingsbücher meines Vaters und jetzt auch eines von meinen, auch wenn da vielleicht der sentimentale Faktor, dass es mich mit meinem Vater verbindet, mit reinspielt.
Das ändert jedoch nichts daran, dass dieses Buch die Liebe zu einem Land weckt, von der man nicht wusste, dass man sie überhaupt besitzt. Indien stand nie oben auf meiner Liste der Länder, die ich in den nächsten Jahren sehen will. Jetzt tut es das, denn auch, wenn vieles nicht (mehr) so ist, wie in dem Buch beschrieben, so hat es doch meine Neugierde auf dieses Land geweckt.
Die Charaktere? Nun, was soll man zu ihnen sagen; Ashs Freunde sind bewundernswert. Ja, sie sind zum Teil sehr aufopferungsbereit, aber es ist ein MÄRCHEN und ich fand keine Charakterentwicklung unlogisch. Jeder hatte seine Schwächen und Stärken, auch Ash. Ash war auf jeden Fall ein Protagonist, in den ich mich sehr gut hineinfühlen konnte und ich muss sogar sagen, dass ich am Ende des Buches ein paar Tränen in den Augen hatte...