Customer Reviews

Sea of Poppies: A Novel

5 star:		(64)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

When the former slaving ship, the Ibis, sails off from America to India, Zachary Reid enlists as a ship's carpenter to escape his American fate as a son of a freed slave girl and her master. Little does he know, how much his life will actually be transformed by this decision...

The year is 1838, and Asia is on the eve of the Opium Wars. The fates of several people become intertwined, as they make their way onto the Ibis. Deeti is a peasant who grows crops of opium, and a wife of the opium factory worker, addicted to the drug. When her husband dies, grey-eyed Deeti has to escape the attention of her vicious brother-in-law. Her only idea is the sati - but unexpectedly, she is snatched from the funeral pyre and becomes an outcast together with her savior, Kalua, the village strongman from the caste of untouchables. They decide to become indentured workers ("coolies") and seek their happiness in the Mauritius. Paulette Lambert, the daughter of a French botanist, is orphaned and cannot bear the strange behavior of Mr Burnham (who happens to be the owner of Ibis), and his family, when he takes her under his protective roof. Neel Rattan, the Raja, finds himself unable to adjust to the changing ways of the colonial world, and, bankrupt, is send to exile. In jail, he meets the half-Chinese Ah Fatt, convicted for robbery. Baboo Nob Kissin (the funniest and probably the most tragic of the main characters), the company's accountant, filled with religious spirit, is overcome by the need of establishing a shrine. All of these original, hilarious characters come to see the overseas trip as an escape. And so their journey is the new beginning.

Amitav Ghosh wrote a great, magnificent, epic novel, a beautiful, complex story revolving around central characters, original and colorful, a great choice of the representatives of the nineteenth-century society in colonial Asia. There are also many great secondary characters (the ship's first mate, Jack Crowle; Jodu, the peasant turned lascar; Serang Ali - the lascar's boss with the gloomy past; the flirtatious girl Munia; and many others), who add a lot of flavor.

The historical details are thoroughly researched - for me, coming from Europe and ignorant of the most part of Asian history, it was a great lesson. The global problems tackled by the author, colonial politics, wars, caste and race, remain significant even today. The geography and landscape descriptions, from India, Calcutta, Mauritius (real and imaginary) to the Sundarbans , one of Ghosh's favorite locations, are also alluring.
The incredibly rich language adds the whole other dimension to the novel. I have to admit that at the beginning the linguistic peculiarities characteristic for each character made the novel difficult to read and I needed to adjust for a while. The sea pidgin, Bengali, Hindi and other dialects of India incorporated into English, with some French added on top of all that, create a unique mix of idiolects. There is a lovely bonus at the end in a form of meticulously done appendix containing Neel's dictionary of sea pidgin, called Chrestomathy.

Fate also plays an essential part in this novel - there are characters, like Deeti, who has a vision of the Ibis, or Baboo Nob Kissin, obsessively devoted to Krishna and his female guru so that he sees signs and omens everywhere, who follow their fate, and there are those who try to run away or do not believe in it... It is intriguing to observe how the fate is present in everyone's story.

I loved the flow of this novel and was completely immersed in the plot, so that I laughed laud at Baboo Nob Kissin and could not repress melancholy and anger when I read some passages. If I could compare it to any other book, it would probably be Barth's "The Sot-Weed Factor" - a picaresque novel of the sea and sailors, which, although set in a very different point in time and space, came to my mind when I was reading "Sea of Poppies".

The open ending left me a little disappointed, because I yearned to know more about the fates of the characters I got to know so well. Therefore, I was very happy to learn that "Sea of Poppies" is the first novel of the planned "Ibis" trilogy. I will await the second one impatiently, hoping that the author can keep up with the first one and will not disappoint the readers!

(4.5 stars) When the Ibis, a "blackbirder," leaves Calcutta and sets out across the Bay of Bengal carrying "indentured migrants," the seas darken and become stormy. As the ship tosses and conditions deteriorate, the ship becomes a microcosm for life on land, full of tumult and unexpected twists of fate, as each person's heart is laid bare. Everybody aboard is escaping from something, so anxious to put their problems behind them that they see no choice but to submit to the atrocious living conditions and sometimes sadistic overseers.

Set in India in 1838, at the outset of the three-year Opium War between the British and the Chinese, this epic novel follows several characters from different levels of society who become united through their personal lives aboard the ship and, more generally, through their connections to the opium and slave trades. Deeti Singh, married as a young teenager to a man whose dependence on opium makes him an inadequate husband and provider, is forced to work on the family's opium field outside Ghazipur by herself, though she fears her sadistic brother-in-law. Zachary Reid, a young sailor from Baltimore has left America because his status as an octoroon has led to constant harassment by other American sailors.

At the opposite end of the scale is Benjamin Burnham, who owns the Ibis and engages in the opium trade. Formerly a slave trader, Burnham now transports exiled prisoners and coolies, and he has acquired enormous wealth and a lavish lifestyle impossible for him in England. Among his acquaintances is Raja Neel Rattan Halder, the zemindar of Raskali, who, accustomed to the unimaginable opulence that upper caste Brahmins assume is their right by birth, has paid little attention to his dwindling resources, and he has now accumulated debts.

Ghosh depicts the lives of these characters and their acquaintances in extravagant and thoroughly researched detail, bringing to life Deeti's misery, the expectations for her within her husband's family, and the customs which she must honor, for example. He fully describes buildings, their contents, bath facilities, dining customs, religious practices, the inside of a slave ship, and even the importance of omens, but he never forgets his obligation as a story-teller, continuously presenting one highly dramatic moment after another. Stories of piracy and cruelty, often growing out of the opium trade, exist side by side with more personal stories of love and nobility. Ghosh's use of local patois creates a rich and colorful atmosphere, and episodes of humor live side by side with episodes of terror. The first book in a projected "Ibis trilogy," this historical novel pulses with life, and as the novel comes to a satisfying close, Ghosh keeps several doors open, suggesting the direction he will take with this novel's sequel. n Mary Whipple

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It's good to hear (though it's unconfirmed,) that "Sea of Poppies," is part one of a projected trilogy, because although it's a beautifully styled (I'd say extravagantly written,) completely engaging, well researched work of historical fiction, it closes without a satisfactory end. Three stars as a stand-alone, (despite its many merits, and because of the ending;) five stars if it is, indeed, installment one.

Beautifully styled - extravagantly written. I've not read other works by Amitav Ghosh, so I'm not familiar with his stylistic strategies, but "The Sea of Poppies," is written with the love of language I've come to expect from Indian novelists. Mr. Ghosh has captured both the English and the "Hing-lish," of the Victorian Age, and enriched it with a delightful and descriptive patois and pidgin. I don't know how much Mr. Ghosh has invented whole cloth, and how much is a result of research, but it's hugely entertaining, and perhaps near genius. Yes, it does leave you slightly at sea in terms of full understanding, but I find that to be part of the charm. (I've nodded my head in befuddlement in many countries.) It reminds me of the language recorded in the Booker Prize winning, Sacred Hunger" by Barry Unsworth, another beautifully written novel about fretful times.

Well researched. Even as a student of India, the scenes and details of "The Sea of Poppies," were new to me. Village life, city life; the tics, prejudices, and beliefs of the hoi polloi as well as the ruling classes; the facts and lore of the opium trade, the merchant life, and life at sea are all well limned and thoroughly convincing - and enchanting, though not in the whimsical sense that word is usually employed to describe. The description of a walk through an opium refining plant is worth the price of admission. Mr Ghosh engages all the readers' senses in his detailed portrayals of character as well as location. You can smell the ship, "Ibis," not pleasant, but...

Totally engaging. I can't say as I experienced a dull moment. It's a romance, an adventure, a history all combined with a colorful cast of characters and exotic settings.

Amitav Ghosh's books create an ambience that doesn't belong to this era.

This books deals with the genesis of the opium trade, the way it grew and how it helped the East India Company use the riches generated by it to control not just India but also others. Ghosh's ability to create a highly detailed picture of those times at various societal levels and their interactions (with all their polictical intrigues and social interactions) points to well done, in-depth research on the subject. His maturity as a writer is evident since the book never becomes judgmental.

The book involves the reader at various levels - as an engaging story and as a historical novel.

I wouldn't like to reveal much of the story and rob you of your enjoyment but this is one book which is sure to leave you with a sense of fulfilment. It is like a rich, royal literary feast.

I see this novel has received stellar reviews, so I am the only one, so far, to disagree. The problem for me was the frequent use of foreign language or jargon that was impossible to follow. Example from Page 45: "This was India, where it didn't serve for a sahib to be taken for a clodpoll of a griffin: if he wasn't fly to what was going on, it'd be all dickey with him, mighty jildee. This was no Baltimore - this was a jungle here, with biscobras in the grass and wanderoos in the trees. If he, Zachary, wasn't to be diddled and taken for a flat, he would have to learn to gubbrow the natives with a word or two of the zubben." Throughout the book there is much use of language that is simply incomprehensible. There is a glossary, but after a while, reading this book became too much like work and too little like pleasure, having to constantly look up meanings. Guess I'm just too lazy, but perhaps there's such a thing as being too authentic. Also, when the story strays into too much detail about sailing and ship jargon, I grew somewhat bored. I never was able to finish but, perhaps, I'll give it another try sometime when the electricity goes out or I'm held captive by a kidnapper with only this book to read.

The tile of this review may sound like an invitation, but is actually an indictment. I have a great regard for Sh. Amitav Ghosh's powers of observation and his subtle approach to his subject, and was therefore surprised to see extensive use of explicit swear-words, mostly in Hindustani (a mix of Hindi, Arabic and Persian). This can be sometimes a strain, as it is unpleasant and often difficult to understand. Mixing colloquial Hindustani with English makes it even worse. Nevertheless, Sh. Ghosh has done a lot of research on this, and there are quite a few nuggets here for those interested in language and etymology.

The plot of the book (part of a trilogy) revolves around a woman displaced by British colonisation of India. Mr. Ghosh adds several characters, from different social and economic backgrounds, develops them, and then brings them together on a voyage to Mauritius through a set of coincidences, mostly unfortunate. The backdrop is the forced cultivation of opium (poppy) in India, and the economic deprivation that it caused. The British East India Company apparently earned huge profits from the trade, and eventually went to war with China for the right to sell opium there. To visualise the irony, imagine Afghanistan invading USA to ensure that its traders are able to sell cocaine (a modern derivative of opium) there. And through this story, Mr. Ghosh brings to the surface an important point: the root cause of West's distress with drugs lies in its own past excesses in the East.

The five central characters so far are a high-caste but impoverished, yet charismatic widow, a low caste fugitive with enormous physical and moral strength, a young, unconventional French woman, an American of mixed parentage, and an Indian rajah who has fallen on hard times. Each of the three Indians is going through a social and economic ordeal, which helps bring out the best in him/her. The French woman and the American provide a kind of contrast with the British, who are mostly presented as rapacious and warped in various ways.

While there is very little explicit sex in the book, it always hangs around in the air, and is mostly of the 'forbidden' variety, in the sense that it goes against social norms of the time or of present times. This adds to the difficulties of each of the characters at various times. Curiously, it also appears that people often had a more relaxed attitude about sex and 'depravity' in private.

As can be expected with Mr. Ghosh, the book is not fast-paced, and it is mostly difficult to figure out how the story will turn. Yet Mr. Ghosh manages to keep the reader engaged, by tying him/her up with the fate of protagonists. And as always, the historical insights are injected so smoothly in the plot that one does not even notice when one's view of history has changed!

The edition I read was published by Penguin India, had a decent hardcover binding, and good printing. The typeface was large and comfortable to read even for those over forty. However, the paper was a little coarse and tended to absorb ink. The book is a little on the thicker side and therefore somewhat of a lug on journeys.

A very good book - I would have given five stars, but for the extensive swearing which I found quite jarring.

I await the sequel eagerly.

About a decade ago, after years of reading only 'serious' literary fiction, I'd finally had my fill. All those well-reviewed and book-clubbed books began to seem like beautifully written exercises in navel-gazing produced by people who apparently only knew life through having been a child, an adolescent and a participant in the Iowa Writer's Workshop or Stanford. So I decided to explore genre fiction; primarily crime novels and science-fiction/fantasy. Lo and behold, I found a number of wonderful writers: James Lee Burke, China Meiville, Joe Lansdale, Donald Westlake, George Pelecanos, M. John Harrison...you get the idea.

Then one day, while browsing in a chain retail bookstore, I stumbled across 'Sea Of Poppies' and decided to give it a go, even though it seemed to be pretty 'serious' literature. I'm so glad I picked it up. It is one of the finest novels I've ever read and a great, rich stew of language. The really lovely thing about it is that the extraordinary language doesn't get in the way of the story. Neither does the extensive research that must gone into the preparation for writing the book. So I've now dropped my prejudice against literary fiction (without, mind you, re-prejudicing myself against the genre writers). I'm now reading Mr. Ghosh's first novel, 'Circle Of Reason,' and I'm loving that one as well. I have come to value great storytelling over great writing and it is rare that I find both qualities in the same book. 'Sea Of Poppies' has both...in spades. I hope Mr. Ghosh does not make us wait too long for the next installment in this superb and stunningly-written story.

Other reviews can give you a good idea of the book's plot, and the wonderful quality of the writing. I was especially struck that nearly every character misunderstands someone else's language, motivations or both -- you can almost pick any two of the main characters at random, and find some example of a miscommunication between them. Don't worry, the same Anglo-Indian or lascar (Asian sailor) slang that puzzles you is puzzling some character in the book. Even the communication between the American hero and the young French woman who seems to be his romantic interest is a comedy of errors. Having spent a big chunk of my life in a multicultural environment at work and at home, it was easy to identify with what they were going through. If you haven't yet had that experience in real life, the novel provides is a very colorful illustration of it.

As others have noted, if you weren't familiar already with the British opium trade, this book will open your eyes (or at least start to; opium's impact on the Chinese population is touched on only briefly in this part of the story). I'm not sure that, as one reviewer suggests, opium is intended to be a metaphor for oil today, but the opium story *is* a good example of how free trade and globalization dogma affect people. Ghosh's Ph.D. in social anthropology no doubt helps him with this aspect of the plot structure.

At the time of the novel, as now, many people in English-speaking countries believed in the idea that each country had a "comparative advantage" in selling something, and that more trade was better. Ghosh briefly alludes to this theory, put forward by economist David Ricardo, through the mouth of one of his characters. The British wanted to buy Chinese tea, silk and porcelain -- China's comparative advantage. Problem was, China wasn't interested in buying anything from the British. They refused to trade unless the British paid in silver. The British regarded this as a block on free trade. Since opium could grow well in British India, the British hit on the idea that the Chinese should buy Indian opium, paid for with trade in Chinese goods. The fact that opium is addictive made this arrangement all the more brilliant, from the British point of view. Ultimately (and after the action in this novel), the British would attack China with military force, to "enforce" the principle of free trade.

Ghosh shows that being an opium trader (or one's wife) didn't prevent you from being pompous, self-righteous and moralizing. He also vividly describes how this trade created hardship for local farmers in India -- the British required that growing opium be given higher priority than growing food crops. Something like that happens in modern globalization, too. A poor country borrows money from the World Bank or IMF. The loans are in dollars or euro, but almost inevitably the country lacks the foreign currency it needs to make payments on the loan. So the IMF requires the country to prioritize growing crops for export, rather than for feeding its own people, since export sales generate foreign currency. (BTW, that same 19th Century comparative advantage theory is still taught today in Econ 101, too, though the 2008 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded for work that showed it's not so accurate.) Ghosh's novel is an easy but affecting lesson in the modern global economy, and an important one for its portrayal of globalization's impact on individual lives.

The opium scenes and some others are harrowing. But Ghosh leaves hints here and there that some of the most sympathetic characters do find their way to happy endings. After I finished the book, I had to take a break of a couple of days before I could start another book of fiction. The characters were so vivid, I found myself thinking about them during the day, and then realizing with disappointment that the book was over. It's the vivid plot and great characterizations, more than any economics lesson, that make this book so much fun. Like everyone else, I eagerly await the next installment.

Year 1838. Opium war is about to begin in China. British colonialism is spreading its tentacles all over Indian society; the halcyon days of Indian aristocracy is crumbling under the greed the East Indian Company; the traditional social fabric is changing rapidly; plantation activities in far flung lands have given rise to rising demand for indenture laborers. These are the changing times, the society is in a state of flux.

'Sea of Poppies' unfolds in such a milieu. But the characters who inhabit the universe of the novel are truly global. While we have rustic characters like Deeti, and her poppy growing family in Ghazipur, we have glob trotting, sweet-tongued sea-farer Serang Ali. Commercial minded and ruthless Burnham is cast beside broad-hearted but gullible, pleasure seeking Aristocrat Raja Neel Rattan. Racially slurred due to his mixed birth but humane Zachary Reid is juxtaposed with `daughter of Nature,' orphan Paulette. Low-born but vigorous and resolute Kalua is presented along with Jodu, the diminutive boy with iron will. We have still more colorful characters such as Ah Fatt, funny Babu Nobo Kissan with his antics, Elokeshi, the schemeing prostitute and so on.

However diverse may be their backgrounds and far flung their origins, all of them are guided, as if by an invisible hand of fate, to the ship Ibis, which "had been built to serve as a `black birder' for transporting slaves", now pressed into service to carry indentured laborers to Mauritius. Once inside the ship, the lives and fortunes of all the passengers get entwined into a complex knot, mysterious yet inseparable. As the ship slowly trudges towards the sea the symbolism becomes more compelling. Like different streams merging into a big river and flowing onto the vast ocean, the destinies of the passengers of Ibis merge and flow onto the great unknown. Their life in the ship is just an extension of the lefe they have left behind: uncertain, treacherous, full of trickery, deception and repression. During the journey Kalua is whipped in public--a punishment meant for natives in British India--which he bears with silence, as is his wont as a low-born.

The description of the ship's shaky movement evokes the trepidation `crossing-of-sea' had for Indian society. The swaying of the giant vehicle, the dark black waters of the sea below, the fearful heights of the mast, all these make the somber proceedings still murkier. The pidgin of the Serang Ali, the leader of the lascars (the seamen) enlivens matters to some extent. When Zachary Reid started doubting ability of his lascars, Serang Ali replies `Malum Zikri think lascar-bugger can do sail ship?..Lascar-bugger savvi too muchi sail ship, you look-see'.

Don't lose heart, things will soon fall in place. If not, refer the comprehensive guide at the back. If you still find difficult some of the words used by Serang and others in the book, never mind, take it on your stride, for you have for company, most of the characters of the book, who populate a half-comprehensible world of brutal uncertainty.

Chinmay Hota
Author of 'Hits and Misses'

First of a trilogy. India, 1838. Multiple story lines converge, 2/3 of the way through the book, on a ship headed across the Indian Ocean. Some are crew; two are convicts; the rest are "coolies," to become indentured servants. All are fleeing. There is a bankrupt raja, an orphan, a woman rescued from a suti, a second mate who is a mulatto American, an ex-pirate, a dying captain, the first-mate from Hell, and a middle-aged clerk harboring the spirit of a dead woman. A great deal of the dialogue is in the crew's language; they are "Lascars." They were various parts, formed a crew with a chief and worked together. Their knowledge of the sea and ships was hard-earned and invaluable. There is a glossary of terms at the end of the book; I found it unnecessary. The Ibis is a major character in the book; a former slave ship soon to be involved in the Opium War. Well-written and well paced, I look forward to the sequels.