Sea of Poppies—the Great Tale of High Sea Adventures
Penguin Books India, one of the most famous publishers in India, has indeed added a glorious literary feather to its already shiny image by publishing this book of marvellously multidimensional proportions. The literary audience was delighted when the book was published—in fact it has been one of the most impatiently awaited fiction book of the year—in June this year. Penguin sea of poppies is indeed a literary gem.
The book is a stunningly vibrant and exceptionally human work which goes many steps ahead to confirm his reputation as one of the most important storyteller of the contemporary literary world. At the fictional centre of this epic tale is a big ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a treacherous sea journey across the turbulent waters of the Indian Ocean to the exciting group of Mauritius Islands. As far as the the people on board the ship are concerned, they are just a motley group of of sailors and stowaways, coolies, convicts and other rowdy elements.
The story is based in the times of colonial upheaval in the mid nineteenth century, when the various forces of power, perks, wealth and politics were jutted up against each other in such a manner that the stage was fancily adorned with historically rich characters and happenings. In this fantastic tale the fate has brought together a truly diverse and vast cast of both the Indians and the Westerners, like a bankrupt Raja, widowed village-woman, a mulatto American freedman, a liberal-spirited European orphan and many more. As they go on sailing down the Hooghly and then into the fascinating waters of the sea, their family ties of before are just washed away; and they start viewing themselves as jahaj-bhais, or the so called ship-brothers, who now get on with the task of building a whole new set of lives for themselves in the far away islands where they are moving on to. But it happens to be the beginning of a very unlikely dynasty.
Sea of Poppies is in fact the first in Amitav Ghosh’s brand new trilogy of novels. The tremendous sweep of this historical tale of high sea adventure and drama covers the lush poppy fields by the Ganga, the rolling high seas with their furious storms and pleasantly glorious days, and the exotic and unparalleled backstreets of China during the time of the Opium Wars. However, it is the vast panorama of characters, whose multifarious diaspora encapsulates the vexed and perplexed colonial history of the East itself, which makes the book so breathtakingly alive. It indeed is a masterpiece, like most of other Amitav Ghosh books, from the mighty pen of one of the world’s finest novelists during the contemporary times.
About the Author
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