The Day of the Scorpion

Rating:
Summary: The theme of the dying Scorpion prevails throughout..
Review: A scorpion, when death is imminent, will simply coil up into a ball, and succum to death; this is what the reader is led to believe in part two of the Raj Quartet. This prevailing theme appears and reappears throughout the entire series; sometimes subtly. Reader beware, however, as the real cause for the scorpions coil is revealed in "A Division of the Spoils."

Indians coil at English oppression as demonstrated by Hari Kumar's silence over the rape of the white woman he loves; Hindus coil at Muslim antagonism, and Susan, an English woman coils up again and again, in fear of life itself. Scott uses this theme to capture the essence of the strife between England and India, and between the Muslims and the Hindu's.

While part one of the Jewel in the crown puts the focus on Hindu culture, Scott leads the reader to understand the Muslim perspective in "The Day of the Scorpion." Perhaps Paul Scott, in the Raj Quartet, can bring the reader to more fully understand the dynamics of human nature, morality and culture better than any writer of this century. The thoughts and ideas that prevail throughout the series are applicable to many international situations. This truely makes "The Day of the Scorpion" a cross cultural work of art.

Rating:
Summary: The decay of the imperial ideal
Review: I thought that this was an excellent sequel to "The Jewel in the Crown", continuing Scott's dissection of the dying days of the British Raj. As World War II rolls on, tensions within Britain's Indian Empire increase.

The repercussions of the rape of Daphne Manners in the Bibighar Gardens continues to have their effect on various people, and not just on those who were involved directly in the aftermath of that incident. Scott begins to let his characters slowly unravel the truth behind the rape, but also examines the attitudes of both the British and the Indians towards the demise of the Raj and forthcoming Indian independence.

The British characters exhibit a deep ambiguity and unease (even guilt) towards their rôle in India - the current (and past) raison d'être of the Raj is unclear. Just why were they there and what legacy will they leave? More pertinently, what does the future hold for them, especially in Britain itself - if they return home, will they be fish-out-of-water, anachronisms?

The Indian characters see the Raj as moribund, but are uncertain about what to replace it with. Do they owe the British their loyalty and cooperation in the face of imminent invasion by the Japanese, or should they throw in their lot with the Japanese to get rid of the British? What kind of India will rise from the ashes of the Raj when religious and racial tensions seem so deeply entrenched?

Scott's view of this period seemed to me to be that the end of the Raj was a stumbling forward into history rather than a managed withdrawal from empire - a messy affair for both sides. A thoroughly interesting and stimulating read.

Rating:
Summary: Improvement on first book
Review: In this second book of the Raj Quartet, Paul Scott begins to develop his characters more as opposed to the Indian landscape, and that makes this book a lot more readable than the first one.

Scott continues to have 'lapses' into long-winded paragraphs with descriptive detail, but this time, a much larger human element creeps in. Instead of the Indian countryside and endless narrations about the changing Indian political landscape, Scott focuses on how these changes are impacting the British - in particular, the Layton family.

Somehow, this brings alive the demise of the British Imperialism in India. No longer is it facts and stats, its not only the British rule collapsing, its the disintegration of British society and class structures. Everyone is fighting valiantly to preserve a dream which no longer exists.

This book overlaps slightly with the first book but goes a lot further to explain what happened to Daphne Manners in the first book. It also opens our eyes to the aforementioned collapse of British society in India as experienced by the Layton sisters.

All in all, this book was quite enjoyable. It's just a shame you have to read the first book to know where this book is heading...

Rating:
Summary: Intoducing Scorpio......
Review: THE DAY OF THE SCORPION continues Paul Scott's very long story (total of 2000 pages) of the last days of British colonial rule in India. SCORPION is book 2 in the so-called Raj Quartet. These books are not about the external events per se as much as they are about the effects of these external events on the lives of several individuals, most prominently, Hari Kumar, Sarah Layton, and later in book 4 Guy Perron. In SCORPION, several new characters are introduced to the series, including members of the Layton and Kasim families.

In book 1, JEWEL IN THE CROWN, Hari Kumar was wrongfully jailed by the wicked Ronald Merrick for the rape of Daphne Manners Hari's secret love. When Daphne refused to press charges Hari was detained as a political prisoner. In JEWEL, the story of Hari's life was told from the court proceedings and other second hand accounts. JEWEL covers a period of about fifty years.

In SCORPION, Hari tells the story of his life up to 1942. A large section of this 500 page volume reads like a court proceeding since Hari shares his story with Captain Rowan, who has been ordered by the Governor to interview Kumar in prison.

Lady Manners, Daphne aunt, is a secret witness to the interview. It is Lady Manners who has persuaded the British authorities to revisit the reasons for Hari's imprisonment. During the proceedings, Hari is told Daphne is dead. "Twin rivulets gleamed on his prison cheeks, and then the image became blurred and she felt a corresponding wetness on her own..."

I think it would be extremely hard to follow this book without having first read JEWEL IN THE CROWN. A large part of SCORPION is used to elaborate and further the plot introduced in JEWEL. Dipping into SCORPION without having first read JEWEL would be like trying to watch a serial after missing a few critical episodes.

In addition, the introduction of the Laytons and the Kasims might also seem disjointed unless one knows SCORPION is not a "stand alone" novel. In spite of these limitations, SCORPION is a wonderful book, and thus I have given it 5 stars.

In SCORPION, Sarah Layton takes on the central role. Sarah is the only Layton to have had contact with Lady Manners and be concerned about the events in Mayapore. Sarah has two long exchanges with Ronald Merrick, Hari Kumar's nemesis. Sarah meets Captain Rowan Hari's liberator. Sarah is struggling with her own issues surrounding the lives of the English in India. Sarah is the one to watch. And Sarah is an Aries. Her sister Susan is the Scorpio.

Rating:
Summary: "Quit India!"
Review: The four volumes of the Raj Quartet overlap and complement one another, while at the same time forwarding the main storyline of the slow twilight of the British ascendancy in India, always with the rape of a white girl by Indian men as the central lodestone everpresent in the background, the nightmare which is seldom mentioned but which none can drive from their minds. Events occur, are discussed, witnessed as newspaper reports, court documents, interviews, vague recollections from years later, or perceived directly by the main characters. Then the next volume will take two or three steps back into previous events, and these same events will be perceived from another angle, perhaps only as a vague report heard far away across the Indian plain, or witnessed directly by another character, or discussed in detail long after their occurrence over drinks on a verandah. This may at times seem like rehashing, indeed as one reads the four volumes one will be subjected to the account of the rape in the Bibighar Gardens many times over; but what will also become apparent is that additional details, sometimes minor variations in interpretation and sometimes crucial facts, are being added slowly to the events discussed, as though the window to the past were being progressively wiped cleaner and cleaner with successive strokes of Scott's pen. In this way he draws the picture of the last days of the Raj not in a conventional linear fashion, but recursively, and from multiple angles. One gets the clear impression of life in India during the first half of the 20th century as similar in nature: Fragmented, multifaceted, largely dependent upon perspective and experience and never perceived whole or all at once.

Book 2 introduces what is going to be the main storyline of the tetralogy, although the rape in the Bibighar Gardens will remain in the back of everyone's mind, and sometimes at the front, throughout. First of all there is Mohammed Ali Kasim, a respected Indian Congressman arrested by the British as a matter of course when Congress finalizes its "Quit India" resolution; and his son Ahmed, the dissolute intellectual who spends his time in one of the remaining Princely States of India. Second, the Layton family is introduced, a typical example of the British military in India. Sarah Layton, the elder of the two daughters, is exquisitely rendered and will become one of the series' most familiar and constant characters. Ronald Merrick, the police officer who victimized Hari Kumar during the Bibighar Gardens affair, slouches back into the story as the best man at Susan Layton's wedding, only to be made into an unlikely hero and martyr at the end of the novel.