sea of poppies (Ibis Trilogy)

Although wether a book has been nominated or won an award doesn't generally matter to me when choosing or reading a book, I have to say I'm surprised this was shortlisted for the Booker prize. Although this has some interesting passages I found this disappointing. I really like historical fiction as a genre and I have read and enjoyed books based around boats, opium, trading and the people that inhabit those worlds but I found this to be lacking in fully fledged characters and I found the book as a whole slightly lacking in depth, indeed in places I found it all a bit melodramatic. Oh, and the historical language ghosh uses, just doesn't work as for the lay person it makes no sense and it's impossible to find out what these words mean, the only effect this has therefore is to make these passages unreadable. I did debate whether to give this a two star rating or a three but I'm going to give it the benefit off the doubt as I'm feeling generous.

This is the first epic instalment of the IBIS Trilogy. The story starts in 1838 on the eve of the first opium wars. Deeti is the initial character introduced to the story and she is the widow of an opium-addicted husband and avoids the immolation pyre (a tradition she should have undergone) to follow a vision of a journey on an ocean-going ship. The IBIS is that ship and she escapes, with help, to avoid her fate and establish a new destiny. On the Ibis' travels to bring coolies from Calcutta to the sugar estates of Mauritius, it assembles a group of characters, with Deeti, joined by Kalua a low-caste servant, Raja Neel Rattan a bankrupt landowner, Paulette a young French botanist and her Indian foster-brother Jodu, Zachary an American sailor, Benjamin Burnham an unscrupulous British merchant, and his agent Baboo Nob Kissin. The group face all sorts of adventures and trials and the caste system in India is challenging, especially with the Western world colliding with the native Indian culture. With the Raja, there is a wonderful erosion of his position as he becomes bankrupt and his social standing starts to disintegrate. How will other now see and deal with him, especially the low-caste Indians? The story is a powerful and dramatic tour through mid 19th century British-Indian history with fictional characters. The insight into the opium trade and the British global plantation and slavery trade are brought to life and are really quite shocking. The range of characters is diverse and creates great opportunities for very interesting clashes of culture and perspective. The details and language are incredibly authentic and a lot of research has gone into the traits of dialects and slang language from sailors to servants, and from merchants to Rajas. For many, the dialogue is what makes this book really stand apart. With dialogue such as “‘Malum had cuttee he head?’ He said ‘What you wanchee this-piece boy? He blongi boat-bugger – no can learn ship-pijjin. Better he wailo chop-chop.’” I can appreciate the authenticity of the language and terms associated with sailing and Indian colloquialisms, but for me, it does interrupt the story so much that it slowed my reading considerably. Others may find this a real positive – but now you know.

Meaning no disrespect for Mr. Gnosh, but I liked the story very much, but I doubt that I will be the sequel for reasons following. I did not like the "pidgen" English that was used throughout the book. Very, very difficult for me to understand and greatly reduced my reading speed and comprehension. I understand the fact that this is a period book, 1830's India, but saw no advantage on the broken English along with East Indian terminology. To write the words in Hindi and then in English, did not make any sense to me. I would have welcomed a glossary as opposed to "The Ibis Chrestomathy" that was at the end of the book. Half the time, the pidgen and Hindi words were not used again and most of the time, I just skimmed over those areas and kept on reading rather than get bogged down with trying to translate the words, phrases and sentences. When I read a book, I like to read ALL of the book, not bits and pieces here and there. Also, sometimes Mr. Gnosh did not use dialog between the characters talking. He just explained what they were saying to each other in a paragraph or two and in some other places in the book, there was actual dialog. There wasn't any consistency to the dialog between the characters. As for the characters they were hard for me to grasp what they were all about due to the language and how they were presented. Lots of characters with names sounding the same with little description on who or what the were and how they iteracted with each other. The liked the storyline and only wish that I could read a "translated" copy without the pidgen English and Hindi language. I'm sure I would have given this book a 5 star rating. But as it is written, all I could give it was 3 stars. I will not be purchasing the rest of the books of this trilogy.

There are four main reasons why Amitov Ghosh’s “Sea of Poppies” is an excellent book: the time period, the characters, the language, and storytelling. The book takes place in 1839. Although the Opium Wars are mentioned only in passing, it is their coming that sets the book in motion. All the characters’ lives revolve around opium in one way or another, whether it is growing poppies, working in processing factories, owning the land in which the poppies are grown, or running the trading companies that move opium into China. This is a time period and setting rarely explored in fiction. The story takes place on Ganges and Hooghly Rivers before moving to the Bay of Bengal. Historically, this is clearly an important region in world politics, but I know little about it. The characters are all real and believable. They are all strangely and plausibly pulled into one another’s lives. They span a diverse gamut: from an American carpenter whose mother was a slave to lower caste Hindus, from colonial entrepreneurs to sailors of murky origins. Even when their backgrounds are shown in the narrative, many of the characters remain mysterious. The language of the book is just beautiful. Ghosh mixes any number of foreign languages along with period words and slang to keep the book moving. Using context clues, it is very easy to see what each word or phrase means. The language serves to give the book color and depth. It is not necessary to understand every single word, although it is possible, because the characters always act in character, with logic according to their situation. Lastly, the storytelling is spellbinding. It is cliché to say that Ghosh “weaves” storylines together, but he does. He runs with one storyline and only in its last paragraph does the reader realize the connection with another story or character. This is artful, modern, and very poetic. I have recently tried to branch out and read more fiction. Ghosh shows exactly why I should be reading more fiction. I look forward to reading the next two books in this series.

SEA OF POPPIES, BY Amitav Ghosh (2008)........................A First let me get my frustration out of the way as one needs to understand that this most excellent book is the first of Ghosh's "Ibis" trilogy. The Ibis is the name of the ship that is at the center of the story. My frustration being that this book has no closure at all in it's ending. It is a cliff hanger like an old Saturday matinee movie serial. Ending concern now duly noted I can also claim I am looking forward to rejoining this multitude of characters in volume 2. I expect that one day the many future readers of this trilogy will want to sit down and read all three books from beginning to end. For that the rest of us we will have to wait till the next volume is published. I have been a fan of Ghosh's book, THE GLASS PALACE and looked forward to reading POPPIES since I learned it was to be published. Ghosh has not disappointed as he has in SEA OF POPPIES created a grand, multi-character epic adventure story which is both historical fiction as well as a grand overview of culture, diversity, and at heart a vast plea for understanding. I doubt any resent book of my reading has featured such huge number of characters. Each character so clearly drawn with their own detailed history and back story contributes to the whole texture of the overall narrative as each character is drawn by fate and circumstances to sail on the Ibis. The time is the 1830's and China has begun to push back on the opium trade forced on it by the British. The setting of the book is India which was one of the major growers and suppliers of this demon export. All make for a compelling and vivid read. Ghosh is a masterful writer. And let me add one more positive on a subject not often mentioned in a book review. The publisher here, Farrar, Straus and Giroux have created a high quality book using an excellent paper stock and clear text. The book is a joy to hold while reading and surprisingly thin for a book of almost 500 pages. I recommend you read and enjoy this volume and savor every intricate morsel.