The Far Pavilions

Rating:
Summary: Can't find another book that measures up!
Review: I read this book many years ago when it first came out. While I barely remember the storyline, I do remember that it was one of the best books I've ever read. It was the beginning of my love affair with India and was solely responsible for my trip in 1984 to the Himalayas.

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Summary: A vivid and imaginative world that you won't want to leave
Review: I am just now finishing this book and am so sad that it is ending. The characters are thoroughly unique, the story exciting, romantic and thought-provoking. What interests me as well, is the history behind this imaginative story - to think that many of the events portrayed really happened, and that the fragile, beautiful world portrayed is now gone forever. Even though the time the story takes place was long ago, the struggles the characters face are relevant today - after all, like the main character, Ash, people still struggle to answer "What is fairness?", "What is my history?", "Where do I belong?", "how do I go my own way, love whomever I love, and truly be myself when others around me don't want me to?" Even though this book seemed large at first, I don't want it to end and wish it could go on and on.

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Summary: The best love story ever written.
Review: This is the best book I will ever read. The characters are wonderfully created and set against a mysterious and exotic background-a perfect love story setting . I assure you that you won't want to see it end. Ash and Anjuli's love story is unforgettable!!!

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I've read.
Review: I can't remember the first time I read this book, but I do remember that when I finished it, I was so caught up in the romance and fantasy and sheer "lushness" of it that I vowed to name my first daughte Anjuli. And, in 1993, I gave birth to Anjuli Symone. When she is old enough, I will give her a copy of the book to read, until then, I will read it to her

Rating:
Summary: The most enchanting love story I've ever read. . .
Review: What can I say? This book was incredible. Yes, it's kind of long, but it's entirely worth it. You'll want to keep this one in your permanent collection. (If only it was in hardback!

Rating:
Summary: Rich with all the ingredients which form a " novel. "
Review: How many times have I read this book? I have absolutely no idea. I just know that at eleven, when I read the Far Pavillions, a new world was opened for me that has not diminished an iota in the following four and a half years. I recommend this book for anyone who can read, and especially for those who miss Christie and Heyer. The lives of the characters could not be more clear if they were unfolding before us. The words flow by us as if they were musical notes, and the magic that greets us from the beginning and stays until the end cannot be found in any other book I have read, and my list is considerable. The Far Pavillions is the novel of my lifetime, and it can be yours

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books
Review: People, if you read the back of this book, it is not just another bad romance novel, it is basically the life story of an Anglo-Indian (an Englishman born in India) named Ashton Pelham-Martin, brought up to think that he was a native of the country by his surrogate mother, Sita after his mother died giving birth to him and his father died of (malaria?). The romance does not come in till halfway through the novel, and it does not interfere with the narrative. Events come and go, and just as you think everything that has to happen happened, you look at where you reach in the novel and you think "so much to read again? What happens now?" The pace slows considerably at some point in the second half, but picks up very rapidly close to the end with the Afghan wars. A must-read for die-hard Indians and non-Christian-supremacists.

Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking Romance
Review: This book just took my breath away. It is a beautiful romance set in India. The romance grows between two children -- one is the nurse's son (or so he thinks) and the other is a princess. Their trials and struggles to stay together take hard tugs are your heartstrings. M.M. Kaye is a beautiful writer. Through her words you can actually see and smell India and the caravans.

Bottom line: Beautiful and breathtaking. This is a romance for any reader -- even those who normally do not read romance.

Rating:
Summary: This is a great book
Review: This book has a little bit of everything: history, a look at two cultures at war with one another, great characterization, and a scathing description of imperialism and why it rarely works. I have read countless books in my life from "the classics" to romance, science fiction and everything in between. Rarely have I been so deeply satsified by a book as I was with this one.

Rating:
Summary: one of my favorites
Review: there aren't many books i read over and over again - but this one i do. it sweeps you away to another time, another culture, another world and does it so beautifully in a manner so captivating.... a great story. a woman's book? probably. but if you are a woman - read IT. you'll love it.