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A review by mili_2021
The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
3.0
Amitav Ghosh is a crisp writer, if I may say so, and that becomes quite apparent in this book, which for me was quite unputdownable - I ended up finishing it in a day! Spanning across decades, countries and generations, the novel is filled with beautiful descriptions, especially about the teak business. It is quite clear that Ghosh did his research and as a student of anthropology, I expect no less. When it comes to the characters and their arcs however, he is found to be lacking. The first couple of parts of The Glass Palace keeps churning out characters very rapidly but also doing away with them equally speedily. My grievance is especially with the female characters - once they get married their entire identity gets subsumed by their husband and kids.
Amitav Ghosh is also quite obsessed with breasts and that becomes apparent throughout. In fact almost every female character, irrespective of necessity, have had their boobs described, even a random dancer who is introduced for quite literally three pages. He has thankfully rectified this in his later works.
The character arcs themselves are quite predictable at various moments, especially the romances. Ghosh builds archetypes for characters and slots each of them into those neat boxes - Rajkumar, a good businessman (with incredible luck) and therefore has to be a bad father to at least one of his kids, Dolly, the mother figure, overwhelmed by domestic life, Uma, the chaste widow, Allison, the manic pixie girl figure who finally chooses the good artistic boy, Dinu, the artistic one, prone to tragedies, Arjun, the macho bad boy who has moral dilemmas, etc. What kept me hooked was in fact this predictability, although I hated it, because I simply wanted to know whether what I am thinking ends up being true or not. What does not become true is the amount of times homosexuality is hinted throughout the book and not one of the man holding another man tenderly ends up kissing each other.
I am curious as to why the moment of Partition is glossed over entirely, an erasure to finish off the book perhaps? Also a lot of things in the book remain unanswered - Even the time skips are bizzare, because years have passed and we are practically seeing the same people with their same idiosyncrasies.
All in all, it was an interesting read but I am glad I am done with it.
Spoiler
Yes one might argue that Queen Supayalat is portrayed as an incredibly decisive character, but she enters the book married. The shift is especially noticeable for characters like Dolly and Manju, who prior to their introduction to a potential suitor are seen as having aspirations, as people with strong opinions. With their weddings come incredible docility.Amitav Ghosh is also quite obsessed with breasts and that becomes apparent throughout. In fact almost every female character, irrespective of necessity, have had their boobs described, even a random dancer who is introduced for quite literally three pages. He has thankfully rectified this in his later works.
The character arcs themselves are quite predictable at various moments, especially the romances. Ghosh builds archetypes for characters and slots each of them into those neat boxes - Rajkumar, a good businessman (with incredible luck) and therefore has to be a bad father to at least one of his kids, Dolly, the mother figure, overwhelmed by domestic life, Uma, the chaste widow, Allison, the manic pixie girl figure who finally chooses the good artistic boy, Dinu, the artistic one, prone to tragedies, Arjun, the macho bad boy who has moral dilemmas, etc. What kept me hooked was in fact this predictability, although I hated it, because I simply wanted to know whether what I am thinking ends up being true or not. What does not become true is the amount of times homosexuality is hinted throughout the book and not one of the man holding another man tenderly ends up kissing each other.
I am curious as to why the moment of Partition is glossed over entirely, an erasure to finish off the book perhaps?
Spoiler
The rapid deaths of most of the second generation towards the end was however incredibly shocking, it was not at all well paced.Spoiler
why does Dinu randomly stop contacting his family in the middle of the war? Why does Dolly feel so much for the First Princess' child and then suddenly not at all once Rajkumar enters the scene? What about her interest in Buddhism?All in all, it was an interesting read but I am glad I am done with it.