The Glass Palace

I have been reading 'The Glass Palace' by Amitav Ghosh as leisurely as possible. Finished it over the weekend. I think I wanted to do the book some justice, after all Ghosh took five long years to write this book. However, I liked 'Shadow Lines' better. Ghosh pays attention to every single detail to the point of driving the reader crazy with so much information. This novel spreads over to Malaya, Rangoon, Calcutta and over three to four generations, prior to post independent India.

It is a good read, no doubt, but it is difficult to start reading this book and develop interest. But once you start, there is no looking back. There are so many characters, so many stories inter-twined, and so many coincidences ( sounds quite "filmy" to have so many coincidences).At the beginning of the book, Rajkumar, a "kaala" , and Indian in Rangoon seems to be the protagonist, but by the end of the novel, he is removed from his "heroic" characteristics.Leaving me unsure whether he was the "hero" of the novel or not. A young soldier in the Indian Army who almost till the fag end of the novel refuses to accept that he is working for the British and not for India or it's independence, the realisation of which does him no good.

Ghosh has done a brilliant job of describing Rangoon, Malaya , and other smaller and less known places. Gives a detailed picture of teak plantation and the crucial roles elephants play in these plantations. Also, the prominent aspect of the book seems to be independence, to be free, on a national level , or a personal level.

The Glass Palace is the second novel of Ghosh which I have read, and again is a special gift, and hence will be cherished by me forever.