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: Empires Fall
Review: Don't be surprised to see Amitav Ghosh's epic, elegiac novel serialized on "Masterpiece Theater" next year. It has all the right elements: historical sweep, operatic drama, and deeply realized characters moving in prominent family constellations. But though the work would find a comfortable spot in Alistair Cook's revered collection, perhpaps right next to "The Flame Trees of Thikka," in the loving hands of its author it soars beyond any hint of cliche. It's a unique and memorable novel that transcends its genre to challenge not only the intellect, but the imagination as well.Beginning in Burma during the British invasion of 1885, "The Glass Palace" tells the story of many empires. The death of one gives rise to another throughout the book, always with life-altering results for the main characters and earth-shattering consequences for the world. At the outset we meet Rajkumar, an eleven year old ethnic Indian orphan caught up by sheer happenstance in the usurpation of the Burmese King Thebaw by his British "protectors". As the events unfold and sear themselves on Rajkumar's psyche, he gleans a sense of a world filled with danger for the ignorant and reward for the insightful. As the royal couple and their retinue, including Rajkumar's secret love Dolly, leave for exile in India, Rajkumar embarks on a journey filled with wild success, hidden passion, and a tragic finale made bearable only by the fact that he has survived and is not alone. It's Rajkumar's adventures that set the stage for the rest of the novel, though he fades out as a main character about half-way through the book. His progeny and those of his friends and colleagues take center stage after Rajkumar has put in place a multi-million dollar teak conglomerate and rendered his family independent. But his struggles,and those of everyone in his orbit, continue through all the wrenching and violent disturbances of the twentieth century, culminating in the devastating Japanese attack on Burma in December 1941. Empires rise up, consume, and recede over and over again in "The Glass Palace". For the most part this process spells death, displacement and heartache for those caught up in its vortex. But redemption here, as in many great works of fiction, comes through the bonds formed by people under the most hopeless of circumstances. It's then that real humanity shines through, and it's also then that "The Glass Palace" shows its true worth as a document of a tormented age.
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