Borrowed from Jane, Dummer Book Club read.This book took ages to read (approx 2months), largely due to move etc. but also because there was nothing in it that grabbed me & compelled me to read on. It's an easy book to put down & I can understand why some people in Dummer book club gave up on it. The names are hard to follow for two reasons: 1. they're foreign to me 2. There are many many characters.Thoughts on book changed as I read it. Started off thinking it's going to be a gripping historical novel that will tell me much of places on my travel list. Then began to think it was just a looooong drawn out, elaborate love story telling the tale of various couples starting with the main couple Rajkumar & Dolly then followed by the love stories of their children etc. I do normally enjoy books that tell of historical events in a story because I usually learn something & this was true here too except I am told by those who know more of this region's history that much of it is vastly inaccurate, although descriptions of places apparently do the reality justice. Of course this too could just be a result of the historical slant taught in England. As such I've chosen to learn, instead, the general tale told by the historical back drop, especially as in reading the 'Author's notes' at the end, it is made clear the story was put together from many tales heard by the author from people who lived through some of the atrocities. Everyone has a story to tell and I love to hear from people about their experiences, admittedly, preferably first hand over a cuppa. In a way this book was that, it just needed to be written in a way that kept one going, otherwise I appreciate the highs, lows, trials, tribulations & experiences these people's endured and respect their versions of remembered events, as indeed such tumult can only ever be intensely subjective. The author tries to give multiple view points and commentaries on the socio-political state of places in the book but in his attempt to show all sides fails to impart any sense of conviction to the reader. I didn't feel outraged or goaded into a sense of action, justice or injustice by the end of it. I just felt sad. This book should have been written as three separate books. The first covering Rajkumar & Dolly's story, but leaving it on a cliff hangar, the second telling the middle part of the book (beginnings of the war story), again leaving on a cliff hangar and the third tying up all the loose ends. Amitox Gosh's main talent is imagery and 2/3rds through the book it appears he realised that the book was dragging on a big and so less and less imagery and detail was put in, skimming over things that would have carried more emotional weight had they been afforded the same level of detail as the first half had. Perhaps its more fair to say the book was poorly edited as I'd have thought its the editor who will guide the author on things such as detail, pace, splitting the book, etc.
Covering the period of time between the mid-19th century to the present, set mostly in Burma, The Glass Palace is a story of two Indian/Burmese families over a period of generations during times of vast political and social changes in Burma. It is a fascinating account of the large Indian migration to Burma in the 19th and early 20th centuries, first to harvest teak, then to work the rubber plantations. The Indians imported into Burma--and imported is a euphemism for economic slavery--were mostly exploited by other Indians, who were able to become wealthy by contracting to supply labor for the teak and rubber plantations mostly (but not entirely) owned by foreigners, especially the English. [return][return] Rajkumar Raha enters Burma in the late 19th century as an illiterate worker. He is present during the British invasion of Burma in 1885, when teh English deposed the Burmese royal family, ousting them from the Glass Palace, and forcing them into exile in India. Rajkumar sees and is immediately obsessed by Dolly, a young Burmese attendant of the Queen; many years later as a wealthy man, he pursues Dolly into India and persuades her to marry him and return to Burma.[return][return]The story line follows Rajkumar and his family, along with those of his mentor Saya John and his family. Their fates follow that of Burma and India, as the rising movement for Indian independence, one of whose factions is led by Gandhi, affects the politics of Burma as well, with its large Indian laboring class.[return][return]One of the best sections of the book covers the Japanese invasion of Burma in World War II. It is impossible not to compare it with J.G. Farrell s The Singapore Grip, which covers the exact same event, since it led to the invasion and fall of Singapore. Farrell, an Irishman who had no love for the British colonial policies in any part of the Empire, and Ghosh, writing from the Indian point of view, tell almost exactly the same story, differing only in the details of separate events in Burma and Malaya. Of the two, Ghosh is the more forgiving of British military blunders and failures, simply because his point of view is that of the Indians caught up in the invasion; Farrell is far more scathing, given his British protagonists.[return][return]The best way I can describe Ghosh s writining is that is is old fashioned, far more formal than that of most contemporary Indian writers. This serves very, very well for the story up until the present day, including the military coup that took over Myanmar (Burma). Perhaps because Ghosh was not that invested in the modern story, the tale loses momentum and impact at the end. However, the contemporary section is not that long--it's almost an epilogue-- and should not deter anyone from reading what is a very fine historical novel. Highly recommended.
What do You think about The Glass Palace (2002)?
The first part of the novel, set during the English conquest of Burma and the exile of the Burmese royal family was fascinating, introducing interesting characters and an exotic setting. But, sadly, then the story began to drag. Later characters did not seem real. Historical novels should be mostly about character, with history as a backdrop. Instead, this story lacked compelling characters and the events seemed strained and unrealistic. Too many vital things happened "suddenly" without explanation or reason. The author shared lots of information about logging, photography, elephants.... but little insight into the characters inner lives. The Glass Palace taught a lot about the culture and history of Burma and of India. It raised important questions about patriotism, cultural identity, colonialism, and the concept of freedom. But I felt that the plot was forced in an attempt to introduce too many historical events. So read this book for the history, but not for the story or characters.
—Mom
Amitav Ghosh has been a favourite of mine ever since I picked up The Calcutta Chromosome in a Singapore bookshop many years ago. This is the first book of his that has disappointed me.It begins well, with the story of two unrelated orphans who survive the British invasion of Burma and the deposition of King Thebaw. One is a servant-girl at the royal court; the other is a Bengali street boy. Many years later, in India, they marry. The first part of the story, which tells of their adventures and exploits up to the time of their marriage, is excellent – the best portion of the book. But the story carries on, following the lives of their descendants through two further generations, growing tangled, hard to follow and often dull. The historical backdrop – the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Burma, the Indian independence movement, the horrors of modern Myanmar – is full of potential that the author never seems to fulfil. After a while even he seems to get bored; that's when he starts killing off characters to move the plot along. There are several parallel stories being told by this time and Ghosh still comes up with a corker of a scene now and then, but one feels oneself growing less and less interested in the characters and their stories as the book plods along, ever more somnolently. When it ends at last, it does so with a revelation that surprises no-one. The author then subjects us to an afterword that reveals what was obvious to a perceptive reader from very early on; that The Glass Palace is a fictionalization of events that actually happened to the author's forebears. This makes the revelation one has just read acutely embarrassing in retrospect, and one blushes in vicarious shame.A noble failure, perhaps, but a failure all the same.
—Palmyrah
Page 107:May I remind Your Highness that while Alexander the GReat spent no more than a few months in the steppes of Central Asia, the satrapies he founded persisted for centuries afterward) Britain's Empire is, by contrast, already more than a century old, and you may be certain, Your Highness, that its influence will persist for centuries more to come.Page 292There were quotations from Mahatma Gandhi and a passage that said: "Why should India, in the name of freedom, come to the defence of this Satanic Empire which is itself the greatest menace to liberty that the world has ever known?"Page 518"Did we ever have a hope?"..."We rebelled against an Empire that has shaped everything in our lives; coloured everything in the world as we know it. It is a huge, indelible stain which has tainted all of us. We cannot destroy it without destroying ourselves...."What a magnificent book, the story of three generations that starts in Mandalay....
—Laura
