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A review by christynhoover
Flood of Fire by Amitav Ghosh
adventurous
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
It was informative but I was also ready for this long trilogy to end. As I've previously mentioned, there are lots of characters. Several characters are of mixed ancestry and are basically not accepted by any of the cultures/locations they find themselves in. It was no doubt an honest representation of the milieu of Victorian-era China and India, but still
There are some deaths too. Very sad.
There are some military maneuvers which I failed to carefully follow --just wasn't interested in those details.
There were some almost mystical/magical occurrences here and there. Sexuality again plays a big part for some characters. In particular I'm remembering a married European woman who seduces an American laborer but she's also very sexually curious and the author goes to lengths to detail the "couple's" developing and then crashing forbidden relationship.
--So many societal rules in play for each of the cultures. It being 1840-1841, many restrictions on behavior are in play officially. But where there are "expectations", people will find ways around them!
The historical South Asian man (Indian, good with languages, eventually living & working as ~ translator in China) --it's this man's collected papers (the ones that were ~smuggled out of China by his descendents) that informed and inspired the author. Now that historical figure is a person I'd like to read a biography about if there ever is one. It wasn't clear to me whether the man's additional diaries were destroyed by govt (?) in China or are locked up somewhere in China or perhaps have been lost.
There are some deaths too. Very sad.
There are some military maneuvers which I failed to carefully follow --just wasn't interested in those details.
There were some almost mystical/magical occurrences here and there. Sexuality again plays a big part for some characters. In particular I'm remembering a married European woman who seduces an American laborer but she's also very sexually curious and the author goes to lengths to detail the "couple's" developing and then crashing forbidden relationship.
--So many societal rules in play for each of the cultures. It being 1840-1841, many restrictions on behavior are in play officially. But where there are "expectations", people will find ways around them!
The historical South Asian man (Indian, good with languages, eventually living & working as ~ translator in China) --it's this man's collected papers (the ones that were ~smuggled out of China by his descendents) that informed and inspired the author. Now that historical figure is a person I'd like to read a biography about if there ever is one. It wasn't clear to me whether the man's additional diaries were destroyed by govt (?) in China or are locked up somewhere in China or perhaps have been lost.