Rating: 
Summary: Ultimately forgettable.....
Review: "The Glass Palace" by Amitav Ghosh is a perfect example of what happens when an author writes a book to illustrate a point. It ends up ultimately disappointing on a story-telling level, & due to the reader's lack of involvement, the author's point fails to move. I admit, I was hoping for a different book when I started "The Glass Palace". From the reviews & jacket description I was expecting another "The Far Pavillions" only from the Indian point of view. MM Kaye's masterful evocation of colonial India has been one of my favorite books for nearly 25 years. "The Glass Palace" will not be joining it's ranks. The primary fault of this book is that Ghosh seems to have created each character to illustrate a specific aspect of the Indian/Burmese experience. The protagonists never seem to come alive & their actions do not spring from a logical progression, but rather from Ghosh's need to introduce a plot point. Compounding this problem is the author's tendency to skip over entire decades that effect the characters in single sentences. For instance, World War I is dismissed as "The worlds need for rubber would make them rich beyond their wildest dreams". That's it???!!! Ghosh also makes the mistake of assuming the readers' familiarity with Burmese history as well as customs & clothes. Frequently the characters are referred to as wearing "htmeins" or "longyis". Personally, I have no idea what either garment is or looks like. Some sort of description would be helpful! We are told a leading protagonist, Dolly Sein, is an orphan adopted by Queen Supayalat as a servant. Personally I wondered how she got the name of Dolly. Is this a traditional Burmese name? Were her birth-parents of European origin? No explanation for this odd name is given. Although I was not bored while reading "The Glass Palace" I never felt swept away either. This is a book that is ultimately forgettable.
Rating: 
Summary: A very enjoyable historical novel.
Review: The Glass Palce is a, very well written, historical novel but at the same time a very thoughtful reflection on humanity and many of it's dilemma's. On top of this I found it intriguing that the story concentrated on a relatively unknown part of the British colonial past; Myanmar/Birma and it's relationships with India and Malaya. Fianlly, unlike most historical novels, which originate from the former colonialists, this is written from the local perspective by a local writer. The story itself is epical in proportion intertwining the stories of the banned King of Birma and his servants as well as the prospering of a young man in the timber trade. It spans various generations from the middle of the nineteenth century to the last years of the last century. I have been fortunate enough to visit all three countries described in the recent months and I was fascinated by the way Gosh describes them. He has a wonderful feeling of observation and a poet's gift with words. In particular the early part, in which Mandelay is the centre stage is done wonderfully. The need Gosh feels to be exhaustive in all his historical facts sometimes is a bit awkward and artificial. However, the storytelling and the story line are good enough to keep the reader interested. I warmed to most of the characters and felt really part of the story. A very good read for anybody who likes a good novel and in particular for those who are interested in this part of the world.
Rating: 
Summary: The Story of the Indian Diaspora in the East
Review: Amitava Ghosh is an outstanding member of the new genre of writers of Indian literature in English. His niche is combining history with fiction. In his previous books he focused on India's longstanding ties with Arabia. In the Glass Palace he moves to the East: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia & Singapore. Through his story he highlights a number of important but neglected historical issues: slavery in the East - poor Indians shipped to plantations in the Far East; racism in the British Indian Army & the moral dilemma of Indian soldiers confronted with the Indian National Army fighting for India's freedom; treatment of the Burmese royalty when they came in the way of the English colonial trade in teak; and finally the enterprise of the businessmen of the Indian Diaspora. All through these events, he creates wonderful characters that we can feel and touch. The story line starts at a gentle pace but in the end is gripping, and the book is difficult to put down. It is also laced with erotica ala Indian style for the first time in his books. The only problem is the Indian publisher printed so few copies of the first edition that bookshops were out of stock before the reviews could hit the press.
Rating:
Summary: Reminscient of Shadow Lines but falls little below the mark
Review: Amongst all of Amitav Ghosh's works (I have read shadow lines, CIrcle of Reason, Calcutta Chromosome and IN an antique land), shadow lines was definitely the best and to me remains the benchmark. Compared to Shadow lines, this book is definitely more linear in progression but straddles more generations (reminscient of Garcia Marquez?). As always Ghosh's works are a treat in terms of the added knowledge gained about distant worlds: this time, Burma. Further, Ghosh's interest in the evolution of the Indian army which I first noted in his 1997 New Yorker article manifests itself clearly here. I am not going to discuss the story (there are too many things to discuss) but it is fairly gripping and like shadow lines it is about the story of families intertwined through various circumstances - but compared to shadow lines where the story developed and then came to what i would call a gripping and disturbing end, here we have a more even progression with a more natural culmination. Nevertheless the book is a treat to read. One sore point: I noticed that Ghosh seems to repeat some words and phrases too often e.g. "presently", "such", and "as it were". Sometimes more than once in a single page.
Rating:
Summary: Ghosh's story of Burma and the British
Review: This book reminds me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's masterpiece, "One hundred years of solitude". Except, of course, that it's set in Burma, and traces the period of British rule through the eyes of a young Bengali immigrant. Ghosh's prose is stunning as always.
Rating:
Summary: A magnificent historical drama
Review: This book is a giant amongst English language Asian novels and must surely elevate Amitav Ghosh to the heady heights where Rohinton Mistry and Vikram Seth already sit. The saga begins in 1885 with the British expulsion of the last king of Burma from Mandalay to permanent exile in Ratnagiri on the west coast of India. It continues through to the very end of the twentieth century and the fortunes of modern day Myanmar and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The story is entwined with the life and times of Rajkumar, his wife Dolly, their children and grandchildren and various lifelong friends. Aged only eleven when he first sets his eyes on ten year old Dolly, he falls in love and that love forms the main thread of the story. Dolly leaves Mandalay to continue her service with the exiled royal family and is destined for spinsterhood until Rajkumar leaves Burma to track her down exactly two decades later. The story unfolds against the backdrop of the living political history of Burma, Malaya and India over some 120 years. The challenging issues of colonialism, racialism, independence movements and the two world wars are entwined with the family fortunes. Rajkumar, from a penniless orphan, becomes a giant in the Burmese timber industry winning major supply contracts in the face of competition from established western businesses. Meanwhile the last few years of the royal family's exile is described with such detail that you almost imagine Ghosh was a fly on the wall. He clearly did much research to be able to describe so graphically the Burmese timber industry - one section describing the death of a working elephant from anthrax was quite an eye opener - the Malayan rubber plantations, the evolution of the motor car, the devastating impact of the second world war on the innocent population, the Indian Independence army and especially the overland exodus of many thousands of expatriate Indians from Malaya through Siam and Burma to the relative safety of Calcutta in 1942. I was hardly able to put this book down such was its grip. It is a magnificent historic and romantic tale and is worth at least 6 stars!
Rating:
Summary: Mhan-Nan's story
Review: It is a book that gives the other side of the exiled King Thebaw and Queen Supayalat. Mr. Gosh describes the life of the Royal Family in a way that a normal Burmese could not. His vivid descriptions of every single event made me forgot the fact that he is an Indian. Burmese usually do not write anything about the last King's life in India and Mr. Gosh filled up this gap in history.
Rating:
Summary: Starts strong, but putters out
Review: 100 pages in to this novel I felt I was reading one of those rare books that you press on your friends and acquaintances as something you just MUST read. The characters were memorable, the story enthralling and briskly-paced, and the author's descriptions really captured the place and time. Unfortunately, the rest of the book does not measure up. Perhaps Ghosh bit off more than he could rightly chew -- decades of historical events are reported -- resulting in the story skipping many years at a time. As a consequence, we lose touch with the characters that were so artfully drawn, and that we were drawn to, in the beginning. As new characters enter and the scope expands, the book gets less and less compelling, until by the rather contrived ending even Ghosh seems to have lost some interest. There is much that is beautiful about this novel, and much of it is extraordinary -- despite its faults, it's still worth reading. But what a shame that it does not fulfill the promise of the first 100 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Excessively hyped, poorly written, a rather shallow work
Review: While Amitav Ghosh aspires to the same acclaim as Indian writers in English such as Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth, he falls woefully short. This book was a monumental disappointment, shallow in it's exploration of the true potential for understanding humankind in the situations in which he places his chief protagonists, and not a particularly useful picture of the history of the region either. In fact, he seems confused at what he'd like to do in this book, and ends up doing neither. A complete waste.
Rating:
Summary: Worth investing your time and money.
Review: "The Glass Palace" by Amitav Ghosh dealt with Rajkumar an Indian who found himself in nineteenth century Burma and basically chronicled the course of his life. The author was able to paint a realistic picture of Burma, together with its social and political scenes. Rajkumar met Dolly, a young maid of the Burmese princesses and fell in love with her. Even though the Burmese royal family was set exiled to India by the British Empire, Rajkumar knew that he would somehow find her. Which of course he did and the author vividly described the many characters that they met and how the couple build friendships that lasted for decades. "The Glass Palace" also span through three generations and the author depicted how lives intersected and the relationships that were built.
I think this is an extremely engaging book as it has a bit of everything. It has history, family saga, love, and war as well as dealing with issues such as slavery racism, and the fight for freedom. The author was able to skillfully blend all these elements to make this book a memorable one. The book also displayed the author's vast knowledge of this region especially its history and politics. Besides that, Ghosh was able to vividly describe his characters and really brought them to life. This is definitely a keeper!
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