fabiene's review against another edition
2.0
The novel starts out great: nicely developed setting, interesting characters. I could even forgive Gosh the almost fairytale-like luck some characters have...
After about half of the book, my opinion changed. I was no longer very caught up in the book and was wondering why Gosh rushed some subplots along while others dragged along rather expansively... That is why I was so disappointed, I guess.. What started as a complex, interesting novel, ended with many started subplots that weren't properly finished. (Especially, the one with Jaya felt as if Gosh was like: oh darn, I forgot to finish the story about Dinu.. Ah, I'll let Jaya go look for him so I won't go over my max. page-limit.)
These rushed plots (with no real characters like Jaya, aged Dinu etc: these weren't really developed!) made the second half of the book feel like pages were missing in between chapters.
Characters that Gosh had built nicely enough in the first half (like Dinu) got lost in the second half and just appeared to be there to tell the younger ones stories (e.g. Dinu, who's there to tell Jaya everything that happened).
Oh and that ending?! Jaya wrote the book? Oh come on! That didn't work out for me, either. It felt like an afterthought of Gosh, and didn't really fit the build-up of a book, especially because the narrator wasn't really present throughout the book.
Long story short: a very ambitious novel that has a lot of scope, but loses its depth and becomes more and more shallow.
I preferred "The Hungry Tide"
After about half of the book, my opinion changed. I was no longer very caught up in the book and was wondering why Gosh rushed some subplots along while others dragged along rather expansively... That is why I was so disappointed, I guess.. What started as a complex, interesting novel, ended with many started subplots that weren't properly finished. (Especially, the one with Jaya felt as if Gosh was like: oh darn, I forgot to finish the story about Dinu.. Ah, I'll let Jaya go look for him so I won't go over my max. page-limit.)
These rushed plots (with no real characters like Jaya, aged Dinu etc: these weren't really developed!) made the second half of the book feel like pages were missing in between chapters.
Characters that Gosh had built nicely enough in the first half (like Dinu) got lost in the second half and just appeared to be there to tell the younger ones stories (e.g. Dinu, who's there to tell Jaya everything that happened).
Oh and that ending?! Jaya wrote the book? Oh come on! That didn't work out for me, either. It felt like an afterthought of Gosh, and didn't really fit the build-up of a book, especially because the narrator wasn't really present throughout the book.
Long story short: a very ambitious novel that has a lot of scope, but loses its depth and becomes more and more shallow.
I preferred "The Hungry Tide"
booklover1974's review against another edition
DNF... what a drag... I really wanted to like this book.
aleeqa's review against another edition
3.0
A historical fiction set in India, Burma and Malaya between the first world war up until the end of WW2. It started with an Indian boy who escaped a plague in his village and end up in Burma. The story span into three generations.
The first half of the story is a bit torture for me to read. The writing is good, and very detailed. It's informative, but I'm not interested to know about the teak business. It is too much for me. But thankfully, the story gets better when the war came.
What I like about this story is the different point of view of the characters. Especially the contradictor POV between them. It makes me understand their reason for things that they do, and the thing that they stand for.
It is also good to read how the granddaughter visit the places that her grandma used to live, and trace her long-lost uncle.
The first half of the story is a bit torture for me to read. The writing is good, and very detailed. It's informative, but I'm not interested to know about the teak business. It is too much for me. But thankfully, the story gets better when the war came.
What I like about this story is the different point of view of the characters. Especially the contradictor POV between them. It makes me understand their reason for things that they do, and the thing that they stand for.
It is also good to read how the granddaughter visit the places that her grandma used to live, and trace her long-lost uncle.
garims's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
thisotherbookaccount's review against another edition
Coming into The Glass Palace, I was up in the air about Amitav Ghosh. Even though his Sea of Poppies was one of my favourite books of 2019, its follow up, River of Smoke, turned out to be one of the worst from earlier this year. Characters and plots carefully developed in the first book were tossed out of the window in the second, favouring instead of less-than-developed secondary characters, paper-thin new characters and historical events completed detached from everything set up in the first book. I, however, made excuses for Ghosh. I figured, perhaps he is better at writing one-off books rather than trilogies. And since The Glass Castle is a standalone book that also happens to be his most popular (judging by the number of Goodreads ratings), I decided to take a shot.
Unfortunately, The Glass Palace is a major disappointment.
Don't get me wrong, the premise and setting are fantastic. The story begins with a young Indian boy living in Myanmar who witnesses the fall of the Burmese empire by the hands of the British. The synopsis on the back of the book even promises an epic journey of how this Indian boy becomes a wealthy teak trader, just so that he can travel to India to look for his long-lost love. I mean, even though I have been to Myanmar, I don't know very many stories set there, and I certainly know next to nothing about the last Burmese king and his family, who was unceremoniously exiled to India. With his flair for language and his ability to craft intriguing characters, I thought I was going to be treated to yet another epic adventure.
The problem with The Glass Palace becomes painfully clear after the first 30% of the book. Once the family is in exile, you quickly realise that Ghosh is no longer interested in his characters. Instead, he turns on his historian mode plugs his characters into historical events happening in and around South and Southeast Asia at the time. Instead of slowly learning the ways of the trade and becoming a wealthy businessman in his own right, our young protagonist goes from dirt poor to filthy rich within a matter of three pages. Another character goes from losing her husband, becoming a widow, going to stay with her relatives, receiving a letter of invitation from Myanmar, then travelling to Myanmar to meet our protagonist within a single paragraph — a single fucking paragraph. And I suspect Ghosh does this because he has a list of important historical events he requires his characters to be there for, such as the Japanese invasion of Myanmar during World War II. I mean, if a tree falls and no one is there to hear it, right?
This is just fucking lazy writing. Everything about this book feels like an excuse for Ghosh to tell a narrative historical account of Myanmar. If done well, perhaps this could have sold a book or three, but the execution here is shocking poor for someone with such an ability to write. Characters also make snap decisions for no damn reason as well. When our protagonist finally travels to India to meet the love of his life (whom, by the way, he only saw glimpses of when he was a fucking child), this woman understandably rejects him and say, er, no, this is weird, I don't even know who you are. He tries again to court her and offers up a marriage proposal. Again, she rejects his advancements, saying that she'd much rather remain in India. Feeling dejected, our protagonist then leaves town on a ship, only to have the woman leap off the jetty to chase after him because, oh wow! She's changed her fucking mind! All of this happens within A SINGLE PAGE.
If you like good stories and good characters, skip this book. If you want to read more about Myanmar and its exiled monarchs, also skip this book. This book offers nothing to anybody.
Unfortunately, The Glass Palace is a major disappointment.
Don't get me wrong, the premise and setting are fantastic. The story begins with a young Indian boy living in Myanmar who witnesses the fall of the Burmese empire by the hands of the British. The synopsis on the back of the book even promises an epic journey of how this Indian boy becomes a wealthy teak trader, just so that he can travel to India to look for his long-lost love. I mean, even though I have been to Myanmar, I don't know very many stories set there, and I certainly know next to nothing about the last Burmese king and his family, who was unceremoniously exiled to India. With his flair for language and his ability to craft intriguing characters, I thought I was going to be treated to yet another epic adventure.
The problem with The Glass Palace becomes painfully clear after the first 30% of the book. Once the family is in exile, you quickly realise that Ghosh is no longer interested in his characters. Instead, he turns on his historian mode plugs his characters into historical events happening in and around South and Southeast Asia at the time. Instead of slowly learning the ways of the trade and becoming a wealthy businessman in his own right, our young protagonist goes from dirt poor to filthy rich within a matter of three pages. Another character goes from losing her husband, becoming a widow, going to stay with her relatives, receiving a letter of invitation from Myanmar, then travelling to Myanmar to meet our protagonist within a single paragraph — a single fucking paragraph. And I suspect Ghosh does this because he has a list of important historical events he requires his characters to be there for, such as the Japanese invasion of Myanmar during World War II. I mean, if a tree falls and no one is there to hear it, right?
This is just fucking lazy writing. Everything about this book feels like an excuse for Ghosh to tell a narrative historical account of Myanmar. If done well, perhaps this could have sold a book or three, but the execution here is shocking poor for someone with such an ability to write. Characters also make snap decisions for no damn reason as well. When our protagonist finally travels to India to meet the love of his life (whom, by the way, he only saw glimpses of when he was a fucking child), this woman understandably rejects him and say, er, no, this is weird, I don't even know who you are. He tries again to court her and offers up a marriage proposal. Again, she rejects his advancements, saying that she'd much rather remain in India. Feeling dejected, our protagonist then leaves town on a ship, only to have the woman leap off the jetty to chase after him because, oh wow! She's changed her fucking mind! All of this happens within A SINGLE PAGE.
If you like good stories and good characters, skip this book. If you want to read more about Myanmar and its exiled monarchs, also skip this book. This book offers nothing to anybody.
sikata's review against another edition
4.0
A story beginning with the British invasion of Burma all for the love of teak and queen
mariekeroos's review against another edition
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, War, and Colonisation
nuts246's review against another edition
5.0
I am not a big fan of Amitav Ghosh, but still picked up this book because it came highly recommended by friends. I started it twice, but abandoned it after a few pages both times. This time, I was hooked and when I wasn’t reading the book, I was thinking about it.
A must read for anyone who likes ‘Indian literature’.
A must read for anyone who likes ‘Indian literature’.
samranakhtar's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
nlkdonahue's review against another edition
3.0
Probably 3.5 stars. While interesting, I found it somewhat tedious.