Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
A classical mystery of the best kind, fully-bodied, that you can almost bite in like a pastry or a ripe fruit. It's the only way I can describe the profound satisfaction that comes from both familiarity and good execution.
The crime itself wasn't obvious, but the narrative was fairly traditional, so do not expect too many gasps.
A Rising Man is the kind of straightforward mystery you can simply let yourself get lost in. I would gladly consider reading more in the series.
It was very interesting to have a story set during the Raj written by an Indian-British man. Without the book being particularly political, political topics and undercurrents of the time are unavoidable. Mukherjee gives his characters believably varied stances on the matter, many treated with equal respect in the context of the era.
The crime itself wasn't obvious, but the narrative was fairly traditional, so do not expect too many gasps.
A Rising Man is the kind of straightforward mystery you can simply let yourself get lost in. I would gladly consider reading more in the series.
It was very interesting to have a story set during the Raj written by an Indian-British man. Without the book being particularly political, political topics and undercurrents of the time are unavoidable. Mukherjee gives his characters believably varied stances on the matter, many treated with equal respect in the context of the era.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
this is a slower going crime mystery set in 1919 in calcutta and while it’s a crime book it’s also a huge study of the time, place and people more so than an actual crime book - or at least that how it felt to me.
we have those characters that all have personal issues they are fighting through and i enjoyed reading those personal struggles a lot - which sounds horrible! but what i mean is that there author did such a fantastic job with making those character so human so blood-and-flash feeling because of how issue heavy they all where!
i only wish we would have also gotten some sections of the sergeant who was called “surrender—not” because his real name was too hard to pronounce for the english.
which wow i felt that!
having people come to you country and being to lazy to try and pronounce your name? such a small and seemingly insignificant detail but so true and so horrible at the same time. there are very few other things someone can do to show how truly little they care for you as a person when they don’t even try to pronounce your name but rather just give you a easier to pronounced “nickname” of your real name to make their life easier!
such a small detail but so important and such a true and realistic aspect of history!
was it the best crime mystery i ever read?
no not at all!
it was very clear what was going kn very, very early on!
but was it still a fanatic book to read even though the mystery aspects weren’t the best?
absolutely!
for me it was more a historical fiction read with such great historical facts and details and i highly recommend it!
we have those characters that all have personal issues they are fighting through and i enjoyed reading those personal struggles a lot - which sounds horrible! but what i mean is that there author did such a fantastic job with making those character so human so blood-and-flash feeling because of how issue heavy they all where!
i only wish we would have also gotten some sections of the sergeant who was called “surrender—not” because his real name was too hard to pronounce for the english.
which wow i felt that!
having people come to you country and being to lazy to try and pronounce your name? such a small and seemingly insignificant detail but so true and so horrible at the same time. there are very few other things someone can do to show how truly little they care for you as a person when they don’t even try to pronounce your name but rather just give you a easier to pronounced “nickname” of your real name to make their life easier!
such a small detail but so important and such a true and realistic aspect of history!
was it the best crime mystery i ever read?
no not at all!
it was very clear what was going kn very, very early on!
but was it still a fanatic book to read even though the mystery aspects weren’t the best?
absolutely!
for me it was more a historical fiction read with such great historical facts and details and i highly recommend it!
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed 1919 India at the end of the Raj when the cracks are beginning to show. Interesting characters. Plenty of action.
“It seems everything we’ve done since the Battle of Plassey has been with a view to keepin’ the natives in their place, convincing them they need our guidance, and our education. Their culture must be shown to be barbaric, their religions built on false gods, even their architecture must be inferior to ours. Why else would we build that bloody great monstrosity the Victoria Memorial out of white marble and make it bigger than the Taj Mahal?
Christ we don’t even let facts get in the way if it might harm the image we want to maintain. Take a look at any Indian primary school atlas. They put Britain and India next to one another, each takin’ up a full page. We don’t even show them to scale, lest little brown children realise how tiny Britain is compared to India!
The problem, Captain, is that over the last two hundred years, we’ve come to swallow our own propaganda. We do feel we’re superior to the bastards we rule. An’ anything that threatens that fiction is a threat to the whole edifice.”
Christ we don’t even let facts get in the way if it might harm the image we want to maintain. Take a look at any Indian primary school atlas. They put Britain and India next to one another, each takin’ up a full page. We don’t even show them to scale, lest little brown children realise how tiny Britain is compared to India!
The problem, Captain, is that over the last two hundred years, we’ve come to swallow our own propaganda. We do feel we’re superior to the bastards we rule. An’ anything that threatens that fiction is a threat to the whole edifice.”
3.5/5 stars! The beginning part I'll admit took me a while to truly become invested, and even to the end I wasn't super intrigued by the whole mystery, though it was interesting, it just didn't grab my attention. Though I did like the end! I did suspect the certain someone as the pages turned, but it was still a nice revelation! Also I liked Wyndham and Banerjee as an investigatory duo, but I hope there is more focus on Banerjee in later books as he seems like a very cool dude.
Also the investigation itself seemed a bit strange to me, as certain important suspects weren't touched upon until a lot later in the book and it would seem to me that they should have been prioritised more, but I guess it worked better for the narrative? And Wyndham seemed to have a lot of breaks while this whole top priority case was going on, but that was perhaps just his character!
What I did really like though was the whole political side to it, and the setting of India in the 1910's. That colonisation affected India is no surprise, but I haven't read many works that focus on that topic so it was very interesting to see that. I also just really like when books tell the facts like how they are regarding British colonisation; that it was super shitty; so I throughly enjoyed those parts of the book where the superior morality that British people pushed was shown to be a complete and utter facade. The discussion of race was really interesting to me, and I thought it was fairly realistic of Wyndham's part, as he wasn't outright racist, which is nice, but he definitely was complacent in racist behaviour (and the book made no attempt to cover that up), which I would consider fairly realistic for the time. Crime fiction hasn't been known for being overtly political, and I think Mukherjee plays with that with Wyndham's statements about not wanting to be political and focus on the case, but it is definitely true that politics play a huge role in investigations, especially in this context, and I really admired the inclusion of that.
Also! I really liked the political aspect in terms of class too and the corrupt nature of the police force, bc it was hella corrupt! Also I didn't know just how awfully Indian people were treated back in the day, of course I knew it was bad, but I didn't know they were not even given a proper trial! Disgusting!
I also really loved the parts where they would talk about how Britain were like 'oh we're here to help you and educate you bc we're really superior and awesome' and then when Indian people were like 'o thanks, we've got it now tho, so maybe we should take on your values and stuff and become our own country run by ourselves!' and then Britain was like 'hmm, no! now u are bad bc u are too clever for ur own good, even tho that's the whole reason we came here in the first place :)'. Thought that was very good.
I just really enjoy colonialism being called out on it's bullshit, bc it was a whole heaping smelly load of bullshit!
So yes, overall, twas pretty good read! I might pick up the next one, but I'm not sure yet... we shall see!
Also the investigation itself seemed a bit strange to me, as certain important suspects weren't touched upon until a lot later in the book and it would seem to me that they should have been prioritised more, but I guess it worked better for the narrative? And Wyndham seemed to have a lot of breaks while this whole top priority case was going on, but that was perhaps just his character!
What I did really like though was the whole political side to it, and the setting of India in the 1910's. That colonisation affected India is no surprise, but I haven't read many works that focus on that topic so it was very interesting to see that. I also just really like when books tell the facts like how they are regarding British colonisation; that it was super shitty; so I throughly enjoyed those parts of the book where the superior morality that British people pushed was shown to be a complete and utter facade. The discussion of race was really interesting to me, and I thought it was fairly realistic of Wyndham's part, as he wasn't outright racist, which is nice, but he definitely was complacent in racist behaviour (and the book made no attempt to cover that up), which I would consider fairly realistic for the time. Crime fiction hasn't been known for being overtly political, and I think Mukherjee plays with that with Wyndham's statements about not wanting to be political and focus on the case, but it is definitely true that politics play a huge role in investigations, especially in this context, and I really admired the inclusion of that.
Also! I really liked the political aspect in terms of class too and the corrupt nature of the police force, bc it was hella corrupt! Also I didn't know just how awfully Indian people were treated back in the day, of course I knew it was bad, but I didn't know they were not even given a proper trial! Disgusting!
I also really loved the parts where they would talk about how Britain were like 'oh we're here to help you and educate you bc we're really superior and awesome' and then when Indian people were like 'o thanks, we've got it now tho, so maybe we should take on your values and stuff and become our own country run by ourselves!' and then Britain was like 'hmm, no! now u are bad bc u are too clever for ur own good, even tho that's the whole reason we came here in the first place :)'. Thought that was very good.
I just really enjoy colonialism being called out on it's bullshit, bc it was a whole heaping smelly load of bullshit!
So yes, overall, twas pretty good read! I might pick up the next one, but I'm not sure yet... we shall see!
adventurous
funny
informative
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
My first read of the Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant 'Surrender-Not' Bannerjee was really a wonderful experience.
Set in Calcutta India in 1919 this book is a thrilling jaunt thru Indian life and society when the British were its rulers. I'm not one for historical novels bit I have to tell.you, I loved it so much, Abir's writing is poetic at times and so well described was the setting that I felt I was there! This book is the first in the series and we see the relationship between Sam and Surrender-Not blossom and grow as the book goes on. There's political thrills, crime, heat, humidity and bad food in this book.
I'm so glad I was recommended to read this series. I'm super impressed by this book as it has also taught me about a way of life I'd never known, but I've always had a fascination for India, and I will admit I've been Google good Indian history and learning as I was reading.
A brilliant 5 Star read and I'm looking forward to book 2 in the series.
Set in Calcutta India in 1919 this book is a thrilling jaunt thru Indian life and society when the British were its rulers. I'm not one for historical novels bit I have to tell.you, I loved it so much, Abir's writing is poetic at times and so well described was the setting that I felt I was there! This book is the first in the series and we see the relationship between Sam and Surrender-Not blossom and grow as the book goes on. There's political thrills, crime, heat, humidity and bad food in this book.
I'm so glad I was recommended to read this series. I'm super impressed by this book as it has also taught me about a way of life I'd never known, but I've always had a fascination for India, and I will admit I've been Google good Indian history and learning as I was reading.
A brilliant 5 Star read and I'm looking forward to book 2 in the series.