sea of poppies

Amitav Ghosh has a number of books, but I don't recall reading any of them. I came across Sea of Poppies in a library book sale and decided to give it a whirl. Its an historical novel that takes place in India in the early 1800s when the English colonizers there were running an opium trade between there and China. After looking this up for a link, I found that it is the first in a Trilogy know collectively as The Ibis Trilogy. The other books are River of Smoke, and Flood of Fire.

There is a wide cast of characters, but they come from three major groups: the local Indians, the western colonists, and a sort mishmash of transplanted folks who end up being on the outside to both of the other parties. Its this group of people, who intermingle with the locals and the colonizers, whose perspective I ended up identifying with and thereby viewing the story from. I suppose, depending on where you're from, or where your sympathies lie, your viewpoint may be different, but perhaps its Ghosh's multicultural lifestyle* that allows us to see the story from each side. I felt the plight of the local folks who were being forced to grow poppies to feed the opium machine, even to the point that they weren't allowed subsistence crops to feed their families.

The story is epic in its story arc, but ended abruptly for my taste, but perhaps knowing as I do now that its the first of a trilogy, makes the needle lifted from the record ending a little more understandable. I do like books, part of a series or not, that have a beginning, a middle and an end. This one does, to be sure, but the ending was a little abrupt.

I'll keep my eye out for the others, but I won't be seeking them out at the store or the library.

 

Note: I'm trying to post about a few of the recent books I've read. I've fallen out of the habit of writing about them as I finish them, but I did manage to record what books they were. You can find a list of them on the Books page here, linked on the tab above.

* According to the book jacket, Ghosh lives in India and New York.

bear over the mountain

I picked up William Kotzwinkle's The Bear Went Over the Mountain * at a library book sale on the South Shore. I don't recall reading any of Kotzwinkle's work in the past, but it looked like it might be fun and the price was right. and, we get to help out the public library, right?

Kotzwinkle has written a bunch of children's stories and novels, he has also written a couple of screen plays, and has also written novels based on movie scripts. I wouldn't put this book in the realm of hilarious books I've read, but it was amusing. He certainly seems to have nailed down some of your typical New England archetypes. The suspension of disbelief on this one requires are fair amount of work, and probably tips this book from humor to outrageous.

I don't think I'm giving much away if I tell you that the bear put on a suit and went to the city--it shows as much on the book cover--what I had trouble with is that apparently, no one noticed. Maybe that's an editorial on forced ignorance, political correctness, or perhaps even the narcissistic self-absorption of city dwellers. Maybe its just zany. Who knows. We've all seen crazy things in the city, but come on, you're asking a lot from your readers. 

Perhaps this started out as a children's book, and only became an adult book when the bear's animal allure eventually leads to women not being able to resist him. And then, yeah, banging. Nope, not a guy in a bear suit; ** its all Sodom and Gomorrah up in here. I assume the intent was humor. Again, just outrageousness. Sometimes outrageous is funny, but like an SNL skit with an outrageous shtick isn't funny if it goes one minute too long, this novel is the full English breakfast version of that skit.

Myeh. Not for me.

* You may recognize the title, which is taken from a children's nursery rhyme of the same name.

** Yes, I know the character in The Hotel New Hampshire is a woman. I haven't read a ton of books with people in bear suits. Sue me.