Customer Reviews

The Holder of the World

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Holder of the World by Bharati Mukherjee is a novel that sets itself apart from contemporary novels. Readers are accustomed to reviewing traditional Western literature, which operates according to an often unnoticed set of assumptions. Mukherjee takes a critical step and calls attention to these assumptions that most take for granted. Whether or not readers agree with her redefined notions of history and art, it is an enlightening experience to be introduced to these other, non-traditional processes of thought. Mukherjee takes a number of popular Western texts and proceeds to raise and question the assumptions upon which they are based. Revolving around a Puritan girl who travels to India, the text as a whole is a twist on Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. For instance, Mukherjee centralizes characters such as the American-Indians who were marginalized in Hawthorne's novel and decentralizes its main characters, such as Hester. Mukherjee goes on to rewrite the Puritan alphabet, claiming "I" represents Indian lover and independence. Furthermore, while witch-like powers are condemned in Hawthorne's novel, they are presented in a new, positive light in this subversive novel; Hannah, the main character of the novel, has seemingly magical powers that are crucial to the survival of a number of the characters. Mukherjee goes on to question another text that has long-been a pillar of Western literature, Keat's "Ode to a Grecian Urn." While this poem testifies to the frozen nature of beauty and truth, Mukherjee asserts that the beauty of art depends upon the viewer and is constantly expanding. Finally, Mukherjee refers to a number of texts in passing, including Hannah's Memoirs and London Sketches by an Anonymous Colonial Daughter. What is interesting to note here is that a few of the texts she mentions do not exist at all, while others are real texts, however obscure. Her point is to encourage the reader to question how she or he determines what is real and what is not. Mukherjee also questions the manner in which her audience defines history. Contrary to popular opinion, she asserts that history is always mediated, that it is necessarily subjective. Perhaps the best illustration of this is the fact that Hannah's story is told through the eyes of Beigh, the narrator of the novel. Even when she manages to virtually participate in Hannah's time period through a computer program, she cannot participate as Hannah, but only as Hannah's friend, Bhagmati. Mukherjee further uses the mythological story of Sita to highlight the interactive nature of history. She emphasizes how the ending of Sita's story always changes to match the mood of the times. Continuing with the theme of questioning, Mukherjee disputes the way in which people usually confine identity to a single plane. Instead, she emphasizes the multiple planes of Hannah's identity, who has a "Christian-Hindu-Muslim" self and an "American-English-Indian" self. Hannah is further described as "a woman, a pregnant woman, a pregnant white woman," highlighting the limitless nature of identity

If someone told me that an author could transplant a seventeenth century female Protestant from Salem, Massachusetts, to the excesses of southern India and have the character enjoy that life, I might raise an eyebrow at its improbability. If someone told me that the vividly bloody action of King Philip's (Indian) War in Massachusetts and a Muslim-Hindu holy war near the Coromandel Coast in India were connected, I might look askance in disbelief that such atrocities on opposite sides of the world, committed for totally different reasons, could possibly be related. If that someone then told me that a narrator might locate a missing three hundred year old jewel by using a virtual reality program developed by her MIT researcher/lover, I'd be picturing a bodice-ripper with Fabio on the cover. And if that someone still had the nerve to suggest that all the above could be combined seamlessly, knowledgeably, and totally successfully in one astounding novel of fewer than 300 pages, I absolutely would not believe it. I still don't. Yet that is exactly what Bharati Mukherjee has done in The Holder of the World. In doing so, she manages to create a true literary bridge between East and West, reaching so far back to the roots of our respective cultures and thinking that for the first time in the dozen or so novels I've read by Indian authors, I feel as if I'm beginning to understand how and why we and they became who we are

Bharati Mukherjee emigrated from her Brahmin family's insular compound in India to study at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and her abiding literary yantra ever since has been inter-cultural dislocation, transplantation and rebirth -- in particular the collision of intransigent tradition with the chaotic possibilities at freedom's edge. In "The Holder of the World," she does not merely turn her personal experience on its head, but she does dizzying somersaults with full twists in midair. The context and model for her treasure-hunt mystery is one of the fascinating artistic traditions of the Indian subcontinent: Mughal miniature painting. The unexpected depiction of a fair-skinned Western woman in one of these 17th-century paintings launches the narrator on detective work she expects to lead to material treasure, but what she exhumes as virtual reality and historical truth converge is both tantalizingly less tangible and inestimably more valuable. The particular virtuosity of this slender volume is Mukherjee's determined compression of plot, narrative, character and information that makes reading something akin to aerobic exercise. Brief phrases and gestures become complex characterizations; sketches and outlines evoke transcontinental adventures; narrative whizzes by in a blur that somehow suggests rich detail; well-placed smudges and squiggles expand into vast landscapes. "The Holder of the World" is a sprawling, wide-screen historical epic, painted in miniature with a one-hair brush.

This novel was first described to me as a rewrite of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, so I was a little surprised when I read Mukherjee's book. It is not simply another version of Hawthorne's work, but rather a complex story that combines elements of history, romance, time-travel, mystery, and adventure. Though it was not exactly what I expected, I thoroughly enjoyed The Holder of the World. The large cast of characters and the intertwined plots were at times a bit confusing, but the central story of Hannah was fascinating. In addition to constructing an interesting narrative that takes place on three different continents in two different periods of history, Mukherjee skillfully leads the reader to question what we consider to be the canon of literature and the "Truth" of history. She achieves the latter in part by convincingly citing various primary sources, some of which do exist and others that don't. I found some of the most intriguing characters to be on the margins of Mukherjee's narrative-Hannah's mother Rebecca, Henry Hedges, and the Marquis de Mussy, to name a few. The Holder of the World also shows many connections between the New World of America and the Old World of India, something not traditionally thought of in conjunction with colonial North America. I especially appreciated the way Mukherjee associated Asian Indian influence with American Indian influence on the colonies and showed both to be much more important than we might assume. I highly recommend this book, but also offer one piece of advice: to enjoy this book, read it slowly and thoroughly. If you skim it, then the plot will only be confusing.

This is one of those books I recommend to people if they want a book that has EVERYthing. Romance, scientists, a historical mystery and detective chase, a prince and his mistress, culture clash, the search for freedom, and an amazing set of locales for contrast. You can't get any different from the palaces of India than 1700's Pilgrim America.

I can't describe how much I love this book. The ending is phenomenal, ingenious, genre bending stuff. Totally unexpected and deservedly earns to me the bestowed crown of reviews: one of the best endings of any book I have ever read. The prose is thick, it is not a quick read, but this is a detail oriented book. It is very smartly written, and I would recommend it to any professor looking for a great multicultural studies course novel. The romance of the book is sweeping but also restrained. Mukherjee is an expert at making us patiently wait for a deserved outcome. I can't say any more without giving too much away. Holder of the World is a huge accomplishment of a novel, it is something utterly unique in the number of directions it takes and the number of places we go in it makes us realize that love, however brief, is truly the greatest treasure.

The more I ponder this book, the more intriguing I find the story. Beigh Masters is an "asset-hunter" in search of a legendary diamond from India, The Emperor's Tear. Her research leads to a connection with a distant relative, Hannah Easton, who lived in Salem, Mass., in the 1670's. Now fascinated by her own familial ties, Beigh traces Hannah's life from New England to the Coromandel Coast and the powerful East India Trading Company. Most extraordinary, Hannah becomes the "Salem Bibi", the white lover of a Hindu Raja, carving herself a place in history.

But there is more: the novel is so brilliantly themed, the premise so unique, that this reader was guided through a journey of staggering originality. Beigh's lover/companion, Venn, is developing a computer program that would allow an individual to experience a few moments in the past, set to a specific time frame, with pertinent information entered into the program. Beigh provides the structural facts, creating the opportunity to ......? Is it really even possible? This is not "time-travel" as usually written, but Virtual participation in real time. Mukerjee actually ties the threads of history together, from one side of the world to the other, suggesting infinite permutations. Not your traditional historical novel, Mukerjee fashions an ending worthy of any mystery-adventure devotee. Experiencing this story is an adventure in itself.

This book held me in thrall page after page. The story is truly unconventional and offers the satisfaction of conventional, topnotch plot construction added to highly unusual events.

If someone told me that an author could transplant a seventeenth century female Protestant from Salem, Massachusetts, to the excesses of southern India and have the character enjoy that life, I might raise an eyebrow at its improbability. If someone told me that the vividly bloody action of King Philip's (Indian) War in Massachusetts and a Muslim-Hindu holy war near the Coromandel Coast in India were connected, I might look askance in disbelief that such atrocities on opposite sides of the world, committed for totally different reasons, could possibly be related. If that someone then told me that a narrator might locate a missing three hundred year old jewel by using a virtual reality program developed by her MIT researcher/lover, I'd be picturing a bodice-ripper with Fabio on the cover. And if that someone still had the nerve to suggest that all the above could be combined seamlessly, knowledgeably, and totally successfully in one astounding novel of fewer than 300 pages, I absolutely would not believe it. I still don't. Yet that is exactly what Bharati Mukherjee has done in The Holder of the World. In doing so, she manages to create a true literary bridge between East and West, reaching so far back to the roots of our respective cultures and thinking that for the first time in the dozen or so novels I've read by Indian authors, I feel as if I'm beginning to understand how and why we and they became who we are.

This a wonderfully thought-provoking book that looks simultaneously at two seventeenth century English territories--New England and India--and draws some fascinating parallels between them. I was particularly fascinated by the comparison of Mary Rowlandson's capture by the Indians to the Hindu legend of Sita.

The resemblance of Mukherjee's characters to people I know and love was almost disturbing. The Maritime Museum curator with his earmuff of white hair and the elegant Indian gentlemen who comport themselves with a self-protective haughtiness, demanding "How dare you presume to say you know?" leapt off the page at me. Yes! I KNOW these men.

I was absolutely blown away both by the scholarship that went into crafting this work of fiction, and by the author's extraordinarily beautiful choice of adverbs and adjectives describing both worlds. Mukherjee's settings are so superbly drawn that I found myself looking online several times for related historical documentation.

Although I rarely read fiction, I will definitely seek out more books by this author.

Kim Burdick
Stanton, Delaware

At the beginning of the story Beigh, an assets hunter, is searching for a long lost diamond that she believes has deeply rooted ties to her family. She goes on a world-wide search for this gem, through which we come to know Hannah, a woman also destined for a world-wide journey. These two women, seemingly tied together only through genes, come to be mirrors of one another. This novel uses elements of history, science fiction, and romance to tell a story of beauty, strength, and bravery that transcend the limits of what "a novel should be". Readers are sure to find the making of a hero in the life of Hannah, beginning with her birth in Puritan America to her feats of strength in battle in India.

This book spoke to me not only as a woman, but also as a young adult, who is on her way into a life unkown, much like Hannah and Beigh. I highly recommend this book to any reader who is looking for a smart and exciting journey into another world.