Sea of Poppies: A Novel | Amitav Ghosh | A rich epic saga anyone will enjoy.

Sea of Poppies: A Novel | Amitav Ghosh | A writer you have to know; a tale you'll want to read

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Sea of Poppies: A ...

	Sea of Poppies: A Novel Amitav Ghosh Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008 - 528 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean; its purpose, to fight China?s vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts. In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a freespirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship-brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races, and generations. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, the exotic backstreets of Canton. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, that makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive?a masterpiece from one of the world?s finest novelists.

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A rich epic saga anyone will enjoy.

I have to say I was genuinely surprised by this book. The story is phenomenally detailed, and the writing is simply superb. I didn't know that people wrote books like this anymore. Yes - it's that good.

The story is set during a blossoming relationship many people would rather forget - the love affair with that painful mistress opium at the beginning of the 19th century. "There would be chaos without it!" It was considered a drug of the civilized world, and the pursuit of its wealth is little-studied but full of rich and fascinating history.

Ghosh draws upon this all to create a feast of ambiance and beauty of the written word. It is both bleak and filled with hope. Even as the characters are all consigned to their fates, they generally play out their assigned parts with grace and dignity, despite the turmoil and bleakness around them.

If you're looking for some good historical fiction, this is an excellent book, and a surprising gem.

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A writer you have to know; a tale you'll want to read

Sea of Poppies: A Novel
The first of a trilogy, in a silly mood I'd subtitle it Moby Opium, but silly wouldn't do it justice.

What an incredible tale to satisfy many kinds of appetites. A broad array of interesting characters, as far apart in caste and location as can be at the start, come together as if drawn by a force of nature.

Set in 1830s India to start, it's rich with historical background at the level of daily lives. From a raja to workers of the opium fields, from the owner of a shipping fleet to a part-black lascar (sailor), with other oddly assorted lives mixed in to this tower of Babel. Throw in a Chinese prisoner, some pirates, a feared male who transmogrifies in a startling manner, and you have just some of the intriguing characters who you have to take seriously in their various plights. Sea of Poppies is an old time adventure on land and sea that promises to keep you invested in long-term outcomes.

This is the first of a promised trilogy that is destined for the Opium Wars in China. The first volume ends like the Perils of Pauline and I don't know how long I can bear to wait for volume two. I really want to know what's next

Pick it up if you're at serious about broadening your experience and want entrancing writing. I got hooked on Amitav Ghosh through his The Hungry Tide and The Glass Palace. Wonderful, wonderful.

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Excellent read!

This book gives and idea of what life was like in the 1800's in India under British rule. Poor farmers were forced to grow opium poppies for the English for the China trade. It vividly portrays the caste sytem as well as the patronizing attitude of the English. The main characters are developed quite well and the transition from their former lives to their new ones is fascinating.

The one drawback to this book is that is is inter-spaced with Indian words and you either have to turn to the glossery or to try to understand it in the context of the sentence.

For those of us who like historical fiction, this book is highly recommended.

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Ripping Good Yarn Redeems Obscure Dialog

Set in nineteenth century India, Sea of Poppies is a picaresque novel with intellectual aspirations. The story is centered on the Ibis, a former slave ship sailed to Calcutta by a polyglot crew of lascars under the charge of Zachary Reid, a newly minted second mate. The Ibis has been purchased by British merchant Benjamin Burnham, who intends to use it to run Indian opium to China. The Chinese emperor has halted the opium trade, though, so Zachary and the crew are directed to load the hold with prisoners and indentured laborers and then transport the lot to Mauritius.

The Ibis brings together a multinational cast of jahaj bhais, or ship brothers. Zachary is a mulatto American freedman. The ship's bursar, Baboo Nob Kissin is a Bengali who believes his body has been inhabited by his dead guru. Plucky Paulette Lambert is a Frenchwoman seeking to escape from the prospect of an undesirable betrothal to an older man. Deeti and Kalua have fled their poppy growing Indian village hoping to find a a better life. Then there's Neel, a former maharajah brought down by debt and the collusion of Burnham and the British legal system.

All of their fates are brought to a boil as the Ibis makes its way across the "black water" to Mauritius. Every one of these characters is engaging, and the historical detail, from the shape of the Ibis' sails to the inside of Calcutta's Lalbazar jail, is extremely fine grained. Ghosh goes to great pains to use the correct terminology of the time, from the pidgin spoken by Indian villagers to the slang of British military men to the nautical terms bandied about by the multinational lascars. This slurry of language is what binds together the polyglot British Empire and the mini-nation assembled on the Ibis. Even if his obscure wordplay does illustrate the struggle for clarity that the characters go through in their interactions with one another, Ghosh's "abawans" and "puckrows," tossed liberally onto every page, make for tedious going at times.

The novel is rescued from its linguistic excesses by the energy, humor and intimacy with which Ghosh embraces his characters. Even though the climax of the story feels abrupt - this is the first book of a projected trilogy - it does leave us wanting to know more about the fate of the Ibis' crew and passengers.

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The story was wonderful up until the end

I found the story really enjoyable and informative up until the end. It just was a disappointment to me, to many loose ends at the end of a story. To much left to the reader to make up in their own mind as to the out come of the characters. With such a wonderful story, I was really sad that the end left so much to be desired.

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