Customer Reviews

The Splendor of Silence: A Novel

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being a big fan of her two previous books, I was looking forward to Sundaresan's new book. I wasn't disappointed. She is an amazing storyteller. This story takes you to a fictional region of Northwestern India, in May 1942. Sam Hawthorne is a US soldier on mission in Burma, who goes to Rudrakot to search for his missing brother. There he stays at the political agent's house, where he meets Mila. Mila is in love with Jai, the prince of Rudrakot, and is sure to marry him. Sam's presence in Rudrakot does not go unnoticed and causes a stir within the political and military circles, as well as within Mila's house and Mila herself, and it will have repercussions long after the 4 days are over. This whirlwind of a story tackles many topics, all relevant to understand the period and the conflicts within the characters: the effects of the British presence in India, the nationalist movement, politics, racism, young people coming of age, family relations, the social system in India and between Indians/ British, history. Sundaresan does a great job with this story which will stay with you a long time after you finish the last line. Highly recommended.

In 1942 in the Kingdom of Rudrakot in Northwest India, U.S. Army Captain Sam Hawthorne comes to this desert environs to recuperate from an injury he received while working a rescue behind Japanese lines in Burma. However, to the local desert people, Sam's claims as to why he is here seem odd. Truthfully, Sam is an espionage agent of the recently formed OSS, but his secret assignment is personal. His brother Mike vanished while voluntarily serving with the Rudrakot Rifles in an independence from the Britain movement.

Though he knows better, Sam cannot resist a tryst with Mila, engaged to a prince and the daughter of the kingdom's Indian political agent, who took the American into his home. He learns that his brother is a prisoner at a detention center and that Mila's brother Ashok has joined a group planning to assassinate the British representative in Rudrakot. If he stops the plot, he loses his chance to free his sibling.

Though the myriad of subplots can become difficult to follow though needed to emphasize the complexity of India in WW II, Indu Sundaresan provides historical fans with A FEAST OF ROSES as the deep look at Rudrakot enables readers to understand the war effort vs. the quest for independence. The story line is character driven by the locals who bring to vivid life the time and place. Sam is an interesting protagonist as he knows better, but cannot resist the lure of Mila. Fans will appreciate this strong historical tale.

Harriet Klausner

For avid readers of historical fiction, Indu Sundaresan's latest book is a jewel. With elements of adventure, espionage and romance weaved into the story, you are left wanting more and yet, satisfied with the story's ending. The book paints a vivid picture of a world war two era city in India where an American soldier goes to look for his missing brother and in the course of a few days comes away with much more than he expected and leaves behind consequences that reverberate years after.

This book is decent, but definitely pales in comparison to either "The Twentieth Wife", or "A Feast of Roses", both of which are among my favourite books ever. While the book is written well and eventually captivates a reader, the plot takes a while to unfold, and at times seems a little dull. Sundaresan however, still strikes me as a wonderful author and I look forward to reading her books for years to come!

This book is simply fantastic. I couldn't put it down. Sundaresan is a brilliant novelist, with an eye for observation. Her prose is lush, her analogies wonderful, the story and characters heartbreakingly endearing. It was very well executed, the plot moving seamlessly through different story lines. The reader is taken on a breath taking tour of India, the sights and sounds brought to you in vivid details thanks to Sundaresan's writing. The love story is beautiful, handly delicately yet with passion. I highly recommend this novel, especially for a vacation.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The captivating story is excellently narrated with so much ease by the author! I could not keep aside the book until I finished it. It's long since I have read such an intriguing historical novel based in India.

This is a Wonderful book,unexpected and compelling.A great deal of patience is required,as the author spends a great deal of time painting the backdrop,much like a screenwright.The structure of the story with flashbacks also gets a little getting used too.However half way through the book I was abssolutely immersed.Infact the book could have taken so many different paths in its mini-plots that made the final ending so very Tantalizing.I must confess that I used a audio book whose presentation is excellent and did all my listening on my way to and back from work.This broke the book up into little episodes and made it all the more suspenseful.Perhaps this is the best format for this graceful story.The story is set in India before independence and such a diffrent world than we know now.A love affair that breaks all the rules,impossible and doomed,yet intense,complete and true.It is only now that we see the Raj from the side of the natives and not from the Anglophile aspect.It has taken 50 plus years and the observation and insights are so fair and balanced that this always remains a historical novel.

The Splendor of Silence by Indu Sundaresan starts off when Olivia Hawthorne receives a trunk from India containing a bunch of items that used to belong to her mother. Tucked inside the trunk is a letter that aims to tell Olivia about her mother's past....specifically about her life in India and how she and Olivia's father got together.

The main story that begins to unfold is then supposed to be a sort of flashback as generated from Olivia's reading of the letter. However, the point of view often switches from the third person (ie the letter writer) to the first person (one of the subjects of the letter). This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that some of the first person accounts that occur the letter writer would have no knowledge of so it stretches the believability a bit. Another stretch to the senses comes from the fact that the great love story of Sam (Olivia's father) and Mila (her mother) occurs over four days. Why the stretch you might ask? Well, the book numbers at over 400 pages. That's a lot of words for a short span of time and it shows in the book. I found the story to be very slow moving. Because of this plodding pace I soon stopped caring about all the characters. After getting to about the half-way point of the book I decided to just call it quits.

Another aspect of the book that I didn't like were the quotes that appeared at the start of each chapter. Normally I love this sort of thing because I am a hopeless quote addict. But all the quotes chosen had no interest to me nor did they add or reveal anything about the chapter to come. Instead they mostly gave odd bits of Indian history in a short and choppy way. In the end, they only served to break up the rhythm of my reading.

As originally posted on my blog Ticket to Anywhere

I love India and books about India so this was very interesting to me. Splender is a romantic novel set in 1942. The lovers are a young Indian woman and an American soldier who comes to her city looking for his missing brother. The author really did excellent research to make the place, time and people live. The details show the relations between the Indians, hindu and moslem, and the British. Shocking prejudice on all sides.

The Splendor of Silence was a book that I could not put down and at the same time I did not want to end. Indu Sundaresan weaves historical information into a beautifullly written novel that has you truly caring what happens to the characters. I highly recommend this book along with the Feast of Roses.