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Sea of Poppies
by: Amitav Ghosh

List Price: £18.99

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Used Price: £9.10
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780719568954
ISBN: 0719568951
Label: John Murray
Manufacturer: John Murray
Number Of Pages: 480
Publication Date: May 01, 2008
Publisher: John Murray
Studio: John Murray
Sales Rank: 1377

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Good foundation for the sequels
A true epic in the making, 'Sea of Poppies' is a hefty saga in the same genre as 'War and Peace' and 'A Suitable Boy'. The Indian setting particularly reminds me of the latter, though I actually prefer 'Sea of Poppies'.

The first of a promised trilogy, the novel has a slow start as it introduces the many different characters and threads. It's only once you're halfway in that you begin to feel that you know the characters. They are a diverse group, in terms of social standing and cultural background, brought together by the sailing of a ship from northern India to Mauritius. Characterisation is generally good though there were a couple of characters that I found rather implausible.

The plot is rather patchy due ... Read More:

Rating:

- "If it is God's will that opium be used as an instrument to open China to his teachings, then so be it."
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, and 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 ... Read More:

Rating:

- A wonderful read, a wide perspective
I love this book. It continues to resound in my head, weeks after I've finished reading it. I am so happy that there are two more treats to come (it's the first in a trilogy).

This book lured me in. I was gripped from the beginning but somehow, I became more gripped as it went on - that's what I mean by 'lured'. The prose is very unassuming, almost diffident, and at times I felt that I was floating along on it. At first, the many non-English words were very noticeable but after a while, they became part of the texture, and I actually started understanding a lot of them.

What I think I truly loved is the multipleness, the geography, the plot, and the underlying convictions about identity. Multipleness: all those people ... Read More:

Rating:

- Flat Sea
"Sea of Poppies" by Amitav Ghosh is a hugely ambitious book set during the Opium Wars. The plot revolves around a motley cast of characters who board a former slaving ship, the Ibis, each representative of some part of the wider story of the history and politics of the time. There is a good deal of "authentic" seafaring slang, pidgin English and other languages, but overdone to the point where many sentences stutter to a halt to include them. Normally I would say more about the plot of a novel, but the problem with "Sea of Poppies" is that it feels like a lot of scene setting. This may have something to do with the author's intent to make this the first of a trilogy. If so, I hope future instalments are more engrossing.

Rating:

- 10 Characters in search of a plot
I was very disappointed by this book, it starts promising, with lots of good character description, one can hear and smell 1832 India. Unfortunately, that is all there is! As the book moves forward you realise that certain characters are simply superfluous.

The ending appears to be the ending because the writer: (1) ran out of time with his publisher, (2) ran out of ink, and/or (3) simply decided to cut his losses.

Up to halfway through the book I was really enjoying it and was expecting to be sad at finishing, but when the book moves into the "on board" phase the paucity of the plot becomes apparent and the end comes as a relief.

Books : Sea of Poppies