Saturday’s Book: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

This is a good book.

And then it gets better.

This is the fourth book I have read by this author, despite the fact that this particular one is his very first book. **** (Added note – my mistake! See comment section!) “The Hungry Tide” and “The Glass Palace” were really good, and better than this one. But not by a lot. Like those books, this one is also a historical novel, rich in detail. However,  the only problem in the first part of the book was that it was a bit too didactical, trying to explain everything to the reader. But once the author assumed you already knew what was what and who was whom, things really get rolling. It is the author’s first book, after all.

I couldn’t put it down once I hit the middle part. I must go and get part two now – River of Smoke.

All the books that I have read by Ghosh were historical novels, though actually the book “In an Antique Land” is not a regular novel. It’s about the author, who is from India (a Buddhist) spending time living among villagers in Egypt (Moslem), researching ancient manuscripts about a Jewish Merchant from the 12 century.We learn of the tale of this merchant’s life.  One of the things I like about Ghosh is that he seems to show that people of different castes, religions and countries are basically all the same.

4 thoughts on “Saturday’s Book: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh”

  1. Thanks Naomi,
    Looks like an author for me to look for. Have you also read ‘The Namesake’ by Jhumpa Lahiri, another Indian author. I loved it and still think about it although I must have read it some three or four years ago.

    1. Thanks for pointing this out to me, Baiba! I thought it had said on the cover (I already returned the book) “Ghosh’s debut book”! I’ll add a note to the post.
      I hope you enjoy his books too!

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