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A review by marilynsaul
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
3.0
Half-way through this book, I was vacillating between one or two stars. I pride myself about being adept at keeping multiple characters with unfamiliar names recognizable. I've mastered Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo - all of the greats who are renowned for their confusing (to others) casts of characters. But Ghosh has me stymied in The Glass Palace. The problems I am having have to do with 1) total lack of character development; 2) use of characters solely for the purpose of flitting among countries and historical periods; and 3) there's no character upon whom to latch, no one to like, love, hate, follow.
That being said, the second half proved to be an in-depth description of the political upheavals in Burma, beginning with the British Empire colonization through the post-WWII-Japanese occupation and subsequent coups. I feel that I have learned much about the turmoil in this area of the world, and I certainly, at least, now know the geography of the area, thanks to the detailed map supplied in the book.
But I wish there'd been a genealogy chart of characters, as even through to the end I found myself asking "now who was this person and how do they fit in - a son? brother? cousin?....".
That being said, the second half proved to be an in-depth description of the political upheavals in Burma, beginning with the British Empire colonization through the post-WWII-Japanese occupation and subsequent coups. I feel that I have learned much about the turmoil in this area of the world, and I certainly, at least, now know the geography of the area, thanks to the detailed map supplied in the book.
But I wish there'd been a genealogy chart of characters, as even through to the end I found myself asking "now who was this person and how do they fit in - a son? brother? cousin?....".