Customer Reviews

The Sun in the Morning: My Early Years in India and England

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

 

 

I read this book when I was around 9 or 10. Now I am 45 and have never forgotten it. All the adventures or rather misadventures of three young girls and their life in India was fascinating and funny. Even though these girls grew up in completely different environment than I did, in a part of the world I knew nothing about, I could still identify with the thoughts and views expressed by the author. This is a book I couldn't put down and never have.

This woman led a fascinating life. I read a quote from her somewhere lamenting the fact that she lived through the very tail end of a particular era and that no one coming after her would have been able to see -- and record in historical fiction -- the things that she had seen. It's a bittersweet thought. I have always loved her books not only because of her stories but also because of that feeling that I'm peeking around the curtain to see a time that was before, and the only place I'll find it is in one of her books. The start of her autobiographical series reinforces that feeling. She notes where incidents in real life gave her inspiration for things that happened to her characters. Some of her anecdotes are quite humorous. The only caution I'll make is that it's dense reading. You won't whizz through it in an afternoon. The other thing that can be a little offputting is that some things are hard to read with 21st Century sensibilities. You get the sense that she didn't think British Colonialism was at all a bad thing, and that the colonized countries benefited to some degree from the "civilizing" influences of the West. Perhaps so. But I would bet people from those colonized counties would be more likely to say, "Perhaps not."

In any event, I'm trolling around hoping to find the next two volumes in this series.

This woman is such a wonderful writer I enjoyed all of this book. She can describe things in a myriad of ways and I nevrer tire of her colorful descriptions. I've read several of her books and all are good in my estimation.

Having visited India earlier this year, I was anxious to read as many books as I can about the Indian Raj, in order to understand the heritage left by the British. So I was very keen when I started to read this book. However, after a never-ending stream of "I remember when" anecdotes, I am half-way through and having to egg myself on to see if I can finish the book.

Yes, it's great to share someone's deeply-felt nostalgia for past times, especially when they are evocative of childhood magic and are presented in well-written prose. However, using disconnected anecdotes as the basis for the structure of a book becomes tiring after a while. At least some more photos (beyond those already in the book) would have been useful in maintaining my interest and bringing to life some of the highly-detailed descriptions of locales.

Anyway, I will plug on and then come back to amend my review if my opinion changes. Hopefully Kaye's memories of her time in England at the end of the book will "clinch the deal."