At my age there are few ( if any ) distractions . It was , therefore, easy to keep to my resolution and plod through to the last sentence "Hope is the beginning " of this 450 plus pager of a novel.
The problem (for me, not the writer) is that when authors like Amitav Ghosh ( Rushdie and JK Rowling come to mind) achieve the envious goal of a supreme command of the the English language , they are also able to command the readers mind. Not for them the "literary" route of a Naipaul or a Coetzee- not for them the Noble Prize . They would rather take us through a wonderland and unconsciously replace our reasoning rational intellect with one that is willing to spare hours and days amongst characters that can only exist in the authors fertile cauldron of a bubbling inventive mind.
Amitav Ghosh reminds me of another author of the 60's ( of the literary genre though) , JG Farrell who in a brief span penned works or art, a few on India too. "Phrenology" ( I needed Google to help me understand the word) is of common interest to both , as also the ability to keep the readers hold over 300 plus pages.
There is no need to introduce you to the story.. for it is not the story that is the attraction. It is the opportunity to appreciate pages of gripping english language, the sudden turn of the narrative the unconscious submission of the intellect into a dreamworld of enchanting characters defying odds and tugging at our hearts as they face adversity in fairyland.
If you are the kind of reader wanting a book to get the grey cells thinking or to sit back to be able to enjoy the feeling of having perused a "classic", then perhaps you need to stick with Coetzee and Naipaul. But if you desire to emerge into the harsh world of reality after having sent hours in one of wonderful fantasy, willing to let Amitav's magic drag you into the plot as one more character in his narrative, then welcome...!
30JUL19
