A review by nomadjg
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh

4.0

This is an absolutely fascinating novel which was meticulously researched so as to give it authority. It really tells the story of British colonialism in a intimate and very honest way. I picked it up after I visited Burma and had been amazed to find how much Chinese and Indian people and cuisine and religion existed in Yangon. This book explains it well really. Therefore, I would recommend it to anyone vaguely interested in the region. As much as I enjoyed it, it wasn't a 5 because the style of the writing didn't really grab me, though I really loved his use of Hindi, Burmese, and Malaysian languages in the descriptions. Secondly, some of the connections between the main characters seemed a bit too convenient. However, the main happening where a man finds a woman he had loved since boyhood was pretty logical. Finally, too much happened at the end too fast which disturbed the general flow of the storytelling. Otherwise, it is a book that honestly looks at the effects of colonialism in a way that Said would like, so it is really important.