The Raj Quartet - the Jewel in the Crown: Omnibus: 'Jewel in the Crown, 'Day of the Scorpion', 'Towers of Silence', 'Division of the Spoils' [Import] [Paperback]

Paul Scott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1584 pages
• Publisher: Mandarin; New Ed edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0749336854
• ISBN-13: 978-0749336851
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best novels ever written, October 23, 2001

By 

Smallchief - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Jewel in the Crown (The Raj Quartet, Book 1) (Paperback)

The Raj quartet -- which begins with the Jewel in the Crown -- is a meticulously thorough and detailed examination of the last days of the British empire in India. All four novels in the quartet circle around a single event -- the rape of an English girl by persons unknown in 1942.

This is not an original novel. Scott borrows his story from Forester ("A Passage to India") tosses in a little Kipling, injects a Mother Teresa clone (Was Scott influenced by Mother Teresa or was she influenced by Scott?), Gandhi, and "Freedom at Midnight." He has the usual British obsession with social class. But nobody has ever examined so minutely the British Raj. In fact, the main criticism of the novel might be that Scott tells far more than you wanted to know about the British in India.

Scott's characterizations are marvelous and always changing as he shifts viewpoints. Mildren Layton is despicable in the third book of the quartet, but rehabilitated slightly in the fourth. The policeman Ronald Merrick is fascinating: menacing, pathetic, courageous, cruel, and brilliant in turn. An American would portray him as a flawed hero who rose above his humble origins through hard work and diligence. To the British, he is a villain for exactly the same reasons.

The Raj Quartet is not for everybody. It presumes that you have knowledge about India and the British empire. It's a little tedious in places. I thought the fourth novel in the quartet was a bust, until it redeemed itself with a dynamite conclusion about the last days of British India, the horrific communal violence between Muslim and Hindu, the fate of Ronald Merrick, and the return to the story of Hari Kumar, the tragic Indian boy who loved and lost the English girl raped in the Bibighar Gardens in 1942.

I don't read nor enjoy much of what is considered "good" literature, but the Raj Quartet is an exception. This is an exceptional novel by any standards.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfidious interpretation?, April 28, 2001

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Jewel in the Crown (The Raj Quartet, Book 1) (Paperback)

Hari Kumar's father made every effort to ensure his son would grow up to become the perfect Anglo-Indian executive. Hari was raised in England and was attended by a governess and later a tutor. He attended Chillingborough a top school known for its production of British Civil Servants. Eventually, Hari was to return to India to work for the Indian Civil Service. Unfortunately, external forces disrupted his life and although he returned to India, it was not in the circumstances his father had planned. THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN is the story of Hari's life.

THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN is Book I in the series written by Paul Scott known as the Raj Quartet. JEWEL is a complete novel, but it also lays the groundwork for the three other books in the series. The later books elaborate the story laid out in Book 1. Although Hari is absent from large sections of the text in Books 2-4, he is the main character from the beginning to the end. He is the invisible presence who haunts the other characters. He may symbolize India, but As Daphne Manners says in her journal, he is his own simile.

JEWEL takes place in 1942, mostly in India. Hari's story is a composite developed from many viewpoints--court depositions, recorded hearing proceedings, journals, and the personal remembrances of those who him. The narrator piecing the story together appears to be a writer or reporter describing the so-called Mayapore riots of 1942 and their aftermath in the years following. Pandit Baba, an Indian scholar, says in a Book 2 that the word "riot" is a misnomer. The English say it was a riot but the Indians say it was a lawful protest by a people who had suffered outrage and wanted Independance.

The Raj Quartet reminds me of Jane Austin's novels --especially her later books MANSFIELD PARK and EMMA. Like Austin, Scott has a keen understanding of human nature. His characterizations of Harry and Daphne are flawless. He builds them one fine layer at a time until the reader is convinced they must have been "real" people. Scott also describes an historical place and the people who lived in it with what the reader can only believe is verismilitude. Like Austin, Scott brings an exquisite sense of timing to his storyline. The near misses and plot twists leave the reader breathless. And,like Austin, Scott's sense of irony is so deftly incorporated one can only wonder at the various possible interpretations of the text.

JEWEL like India is difficult to understand. Scott has written his book in English, and as Hari Kumar's father said, English is a beautiful language but "it cannot be called truthful because its subtleties are infinite. It is the language of a people who have probably earned their reputation for perfidy."

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant work, December 28, 1999

By 

Debbie Terrill - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jewel in the Crown (The Raj Quartet, Book 1) (Paperback)

This is an absolutely brilliant work. Read all 4 volumes -- don't stop with this first volume. Scott begins this volume with "...this is the story of a rape..." As the work progresses the rape, and the people involved in it, become symbols of India, of the Raj - and become much larger than mere characters.

That said, the characterization is incredible -- even minor characters who appear only briefly are cunningly sketched. The stories are gripping. I read all 4 volumes in about a month. I just couldn't put it down. Finishing it, I was left knowing more -- and knowing less -- about India during the decline of British rule. I think that is what Scott intended.