Customer Reviews

The Far Pavilions

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is at once a sweeping romance, a gripping adventure story, and a tale about identity and belonging. I just love it, and re-read it regularly. M M Kaye is simply the most marvellous story teller, and her descriptions of India are breath-taking too.

It is the story of Ashton/Ashok - an English boy brought up by a peripatetic father in the foothills of the Himalayas - he is about 6 years old when cholera strikes the camp and kills everyone but himself and his nurse. She takes him down into India to give him back to the safety of the English - but this is 1857 and India is in mutiny against the English. Ash, having been brought up amongst Indians can speak their languages fluently, and he is the right colouring to pass as one of the races from the North where they are paler. So his nurse escapes from the troubles with him and brings him up as her own son. This sets the stage for many of his later problems, the key one being that of his identity - for when he must later seek safety with the English and his true birth is revealed he finds it difficult to know who he truly is for he is at once Indian and English. While a boy Ash meets Anjuli, a princess in the court where he is working. She is the daughter of an Indian/Russian mother - and because of her birth, and her mother's death in the court, she is also never really properly accepted.

MM Kaye sets this story against the grand displays of Indian courts, the British army (which Ashton later joins to return to India), teeming bazaars, and the different cultures and religions of India.

Its an enormous book to get through but it is well worth pretty much every page. I've never been one for long descriptions of war, and the scenes of the siege in Afghanistan towards the end I always find a bit of a trial. That is really such a small piece of the whole novel for most of it Ash and later Anjuli too, try to work out who they are and how they fit into India, or perhaps England. Their relationships and identities are tested against their friends who enter their lives and for various reasons leave them again. It is at once incredibly tragic and wonderfully romantic. I fell in love with India the first time I read this book and subsequent readings haven't changed my opinion.

MM Kaye wrote two other real epics. Shadow of the Moon which I also really love, although it is a bit more romantic than this one - and Trade Winds which is set in Zanzibar as I remember - but the heroine in that just doesn't gel for me. The Far Pavillions is simply the best epic novel ever written (I think)

_The Far Pavilions_ is a sweeping tapestry of a novel encompassing numerous characters and situations set against the cultural clash of British India. The clash of cultures is embodied in the main character, Ashton Pelham-Martyn. Born in India and raised by a Hindu woman after the death of his parents, he later learns that he is actually English. He's sent to his father's family in England to be brought up "properly" and returns to India as an officer in the military, but soon discovers that his early experiences have made it impossible for him to be truly English, just as his English training has made it impossible for him to be truly anything else. Along the way he meets and falls in love with the half-caste Hindu princess, Anjuli, another whose mixed birth causes her much tribulation and pain in a land rife with bigotry from all sides and built on traditions that make it all but impossible for people of different cultures to meet and accept one another in purely human terms.

M. M Kaye does a magnificent job depicting the various cultures and systems of thought prevalent in India and the surrounding areas at the time. For the most part she does so without giving any value judgement, but she is not timid about pointing out that every culture has its fanatics and that these can cause many problems for the bulk of the population who just want to live their lives in peace. She also excellently conveys the inherent sadness of a situation where caste laws and religious differences come between people who otherwise love one another. By placing her protagonist squarely between two dominant cultures, she illustrates the loneliness of a person who cannot see things in terms of black or white, or adhere to an ill-advised policy merely because it is advanced by people of the same race and beliefs.

_The Far Pavilions_ is really two books in one. First it is the story of Ash and Juli; second it is the story of British military policy in India and Afghanistan, culminating in the Second Afghan War and the disastrous attempt to establish a British Mission in Kabul. Where the book fell flat for me was in the last two or three hundred pages, where the second story took so much precedence over the first that it seemed to belong in another novel all together and the main characters were virtually lost in the uproar. While the events in Afghanistan were necessary to Ash's making his ultimate decision about how he wanted to live his life and thus had to be presented in some detail, I still experienced the whole section as something of a let down. For me, it was not as gripping as earlier parts of the book, despite the events. I also found the ending itself a little disappointing; I would have liked it to have gone farther, as it seemed to me that Ash and Juli's story was just left dangling.

This is not a "Happy-Ever-After" kind of story, so if that's what you're looking for you might be disappointed. It is, however, a marvelous depiction of a fascinating piece of history. If you like historical novels, you can't do much better.

This is a book that I have been recommended countless times and always declined reading. I can no longer really remember why, except that the first page always seemed a stiff and confusing. But this year, upon seeing the number of pages the book was (1200 pages in mass market paperback) and being recommended it one more time I decided to give it a shot.

All I can say is wow! This is one of those historical epics that ranks right up there with Gone With the Wind in terms of scope, romance, and underlying issues. It's just an amazing novel.

This is the story of Ashton, who is raised from birth by a Hindu foster mother while his father treks around Indian on linguistic missions. When his father dies and the sephoy mutiny happens, his foster mother Sita (a women with real courage) discuses the already dark skinned Ash as her own son and takes him to a remote state where the violence against the British has yet to spread. Here he becomes the servant/playmate of the heir to the throne and the boy's half-sister, Juli. But the heir is in danger from his wicked stepmother who wants him dead so her own son will be heir and when Ash prevents this one to many times he and Sita must flee for their lives. It is then that Sita revels Ash is really British and sends him off to find his own "people."

Of course later Ash will find Juli again-when he is assigned to escort her and thousands of others to her wedding in a far away state. You can guess what kind of turmoil this turns up.

While a great deal of this book is a romance, an adventure, a war story and a exploration of a culture, it is also about the search for identity for poor Ash, who is really neither British no Indian but "two men in one skin-which is an uncomfortable thing to be."

There's also fantastic (and quite sensitive towards Indian considering it was written by a Brit) descriptions of the imperialism of the British and the stupidly of them in some situations (like the Afghan wars.) and a truly touching sentiment about finding a place in the world free or prejudice or danger where you can just be whatever you turn out to be.

Anyway, this is an amazing book. The absolute only thing I didn't love was the ending, which seemed a little out of place with the main plot, but the last few pages tied it back in and then it was just perfect.

Five stars. I should have read this long ago, and look forward to reading others by the author.

The Far Pavilions is not a fairy tale. Too many people die for it to be called that. But if you have ever believed in a love that conquers all, and a life of glossy glamour, with the exotic backdrop of silks and snakes, you have to read this book. Kaye has a talent for bringing you close enough to the main character that you can feel the heat of an Indian summer, and the sting of the cold wind in the Himalyan mountains. I read this book when I was eleven, and in the seven years that followed I collected a copy of every fictitious book she wrote. I searched many different countries, all around the world, and they were worth it, because no matter how many times you read it, the magic in any one of M.M.Kaye's books never fades away. And The Far Pavilions is her best work.

This review is purely a little tribute to my Mom, who would have been 76 today (9/21/2007).

My folks loved to read, and that rubbed off on me. I was surrounded by books in every room of the house, and I can't think of a better, more long-lasting gift for a parent to give a child. Books have made my life so beautiful in so many ways. I will always love and thank my parents both so much for that.

My Mom loved historical fiction above all other genres, especially Victorian and Raj tales. M.M. Kaye was one of her most cherished authors. The Far Pavilions must have been her favorite, because she had every book Kaye ever wrote, and The Far Pavilions was the one that seemed to show up now and then on the coffee table and on her nightstand, year after year. I guess she read it a number of times. I think she savored it like a fine wine, pulling it out every few years to see how the vintage was moving along. I saw her reading thousands of books when I was a kid, and this was one of the only ones that showed up repeatedly.

To be honest, it's not a genre I know much about, and I haven't read any Kaye at all (might be time!). But I know that if Mom were alive and was asked about her favorite books, The Far Pavilions would be at or near the top of the list. So, I just thought I'd share these thoughts, and maybe, if they have a good broadband connection in heaven, she'll read this and remember how much I loved her.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

This is without doubt one of the best books I have ever read... and judging by the other reviews I'm not the first to feel this way. I was completeoy transported to the time and place of the story, I fell in love wioth Ash, I lived though all Anjuli's agonies. It's one of those books that live forever in your heart. The characters simply walk off the page and into your life, and when its over you grieve for them. I have read it three times. Generally I love books set in India and read them all, but they are of variable quality. Kaye's "Shadow of the Moon" is almost, but not quite, as good. Another novel with "Far Pavillions" effect is "Of Marriageable Age" by Sharon Maas, a love story to die for!

M.M. Kaye's "The Far Pavillions" depicts nineteenth-century India with vivid--and occasionally tugid--language, displaying the struggles of its peoples through a omniscient viewpoint that chances along all spectrums of class and creed, Hindi, Muslim, British, and a score of "lesser" viewpoints. Often this technique can overwhelm an author of lesser talents, leaving his or her work a mess of conflicting POV with little balance. M.M. Kaye handles such difficulties with appearent ease--but in the end, it overcomes her novel.

The first 3/4ths of the book is captivating material. Through the eyes of Ashton, "The Far Pavillions" gives the reader an intimate portrait of India, detailing the various climate and culturial differences between the nothern and southern latitudes. Yet the last 300 pages almost totally concentrate upon the British mindset in the invasion--and attempted colonization--of Afganistan. Though the battles are bloody and at times breath-taking, one cannot help but wonder why the main protagonist--who's 600-page slew of tragedies and triumphs have come to dominate our perspective of this work as a whole--is set to the side for a few officers whose intentions, well meaning but flawed, serve to exemplfy the worse of European attitude toward foriegn civilization. The last 1/3 of the book is not bad, just ill-suited as the book careens into a far-too-abrupt ending.

Personally, I believe Kaye should have finished "The Far Pavillions" with a more satisfactory conclusion for the main character (the books hints throughout that it will detail his life as a whole, not the twenty-three or so years is actually covers) and used the other 300+ pages as a "companion" novel. Both books would have been better served as two than craming such meticulous sub-plots and tangents into one convoluted whole.

That critisism aside, "The Far Pavillions" is still more than worthwhile for the time and money spent. Highly recommended.

The Far Pavilions is an epic story of one man's effort to straddle two worlds. Caught between the British Raj, into which he was born, and the indigenous peoples of India, by whom he was raised, Ashton Pelham-Martyn lives a paradoxical life. At an early age, Ash finds himself living within the walls of the Hawa Mahal, a court plaything for the heir to the throne of Gulkote. Royal intrigue compels a hasty departure and Ash subsequently finds himself in England, the charge of his British relations. But, his return to India is inevitable and from this point the juxtaposed interests of rulers and ruled power this story as Ash, with competing loyalties, attempts to find his place in the middle.

The Far Pavilions is, simply put, outstanding. It is historical fiction at it's finest. From the Gujerat region of India to Kabul, Afghanistan, M.M. Kaye transports the reader to time and place with ease. I read this book as a very young man and have just read it again some 25 years later. It has not lost it's power. I will accept the end of any book after 1,100 pages [hardcover], but with what might be the grandest final line ever written, M.M. Kaye summons a palpable yearning for more. 5 stars.

This is my all-time absolute favorite book--- read over and over and over again. My old copy got so dog-eared and worn that I have had to purchase another. Never has another book captured my imagination so fully with its realistic characters, rich (but not exhaustingly detailed) scenery and captivating plot. This book educated me about intricacies of life in the Indo-Afghan-British world of that time period better than any history text ever could. Fabulous read. I suggest you buy two-- you'll need a spare when the first one wears out.

I read this book first when I was 15, and it has got to be one of the best that has ever been written. The honesty, love and wonderment with which M.M. Kaye writes about India is magnificent. The characters of Ashton and Anjuli are unforgettable, and more than just magical - there is too much pain, anguish and struggle for that. It can leave you shaken as well as elated at times! This book, its characters and the whole experience is something I would wish everyone, who loves reading, share and enjoy. I promise you that it will stay with you for the rest of your life.