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prateekdwv 's review for:
The Glass Palace
by Amitav Ghosh
The book took me on a journey—a journey of life. It started with a boy running around in a city of Myanmar (formally Burma) to find some odd job for himself and ends somewhere in Kolkata with him being now more than 80 years of age listening to an old radio on his bedside. A slow journey where Amitav made sure that the reader gets attached to everyone the boy meets and made connections with; personal as well as emotional.
Now that necessarily may not be the endpoints of the book. There was a tale from the previous generation of the King of Myanmar. And a story of two generations after him of his kids and grand-daughter. Then there were wars, turmoil in relationships of characters, tranquillity in the end. It was complicated, but the things were taking shape like a jigsaw puzzle; individually, the characters matter a little, but together they frame the story.
Historical fictions are challenging to execute. As a well-researched book 'The Glass Palace' does not bring just the historical events as a fact with itself but also historical emotions. The way people think and make their decisions while things around them were turning into long treasured history - like a war, bringing more learning than just knowing those facts.
Now if only I could explain any better the feeling of bliss in reading a well written historical fiction in a review, we would probably not respect the author like Amitav Ghosh. If you are planning on reading this book, I would recommend you to start with it without a second thought.
Now that necessarily may not be the endpoints of the book. There was a tale from the previous generation of the King of Myanmar. And a story of two generations after him of his kids and grand-daughter. Then there were wars, turmoil in relationships of characters, tranquillity in the end. It was complicated, but the things were taking shape like a jigsaw puzzle; individually, the characters matter a little, but together they frame the story.
Historical fictions are challenging to execute. As a well-researched book 'The Glass Palace' does not bring just the historical events as a fact with itself but also historical emotions. The way people think and make their decisions while things around them were turning into long treasured history - like a war, bringing more learning than just knowing those facts.
Now if only I could explain any better the feeling of bliss in reading a well written historical fiction in a review, we would probably not respect the author like Amitav Ghosh. If you are planning on reading this book, I would recommend you to start with it without a second thought.