Reviews

"...if all of that information could be transferred chromosomally, from body to body?' He shook his wallet under Antar's nose. 'How much do you think you'd pay for that kind of technology Ant? Just think , a fresh start: when you body fails you , you leave it , you migrate - you or at at least a matching symptomology of your self. You begin all over again , another body , another beginning. Just think, no mistakes, a fresh start. What would you give for that Ant: a technology that lets you improve on yourself in your next incarnation?.."

Phew ! I never expected it to end the way it did. The suspense was held tight till the end ! Science fiction , demigods and an adequate dose of thrill have been wrapped inside this story . Impressed by the range of themes that Amitav Ghosh has dealt with in his books.

simranpradhan's review against another edition

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life's too short to read about immortality from malaria

effietrumpet's review against another edition

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4.0

Okay. The book kept me hooked from start to end, no doubt about that. Called magic realism, the book had a Dan-Brown-meets-Murakami feel throughout. However, with the cryptic ending that answered a sum total of ZERO questions, I was ready to fling myself off the window clutching the book as support, as it provided none.

But then.

Then, as I ranted aloud about the several mysteries that Mr. Ghosh conveniently decided not to explain, I remembered the anti-science theory. And now I'm in awe.

You'd think the malaria or the writer or immortality is the central plot of the book, but what if those are just a couple of things to distract you from the real thing; the anti-science, the opposite of knowing stuff? If you think about it that way, and if those were his real intentions, hats off to him. You end up suffering the same fate as many of the characters: you think you're leading yourself onto something, but you end up knowing nothing. And that's exactly how the book ends, and how me trying to justify it does too.