The Mulberry Empire

Rating:
Summary: A rich and absorbing epic
Review: Ambitious and absorbing, British author Hensher's tale of the British invasion of Afghanistan in 1839 encompasses London "Seasons" and glittering Eastern palaces, dusty Kabul streets and English country estates. It takes place over ten years and, while centering on British explorer Alexander Burnes, shifts points of view among the London upper crust, a Russian emissary/adventurer, a supercilious English journalist, several merchants, Afghanistan's Amir, a homosexual British deserter, various misguided British officers, a brief appearance by a modern-day archaeologist coming upon a field of unburied bones, and more.

Far from being confusing, this plethora of views grounds the novel in its time; a world which not only appears to be, but is, very different to Dost Mohammed, the Amir of Kabul, than it is to the serious and fashionable Bella Garraway, falling in love with Burnes at the height of his London Season, or to Burnes' younger brother on his first passage to India or to a nervous, charismatic Russian with a shadowy past. It's a story full of romance and treachery, politics and intrigue, merchant caravans, intrigue, imperialism and arrogance and war.

The narrative moves at a leisurely pace, opening in Kabul with Burnes, passing his days as a virtual prisoner, awaiting an audience with the Amir Dost Mohammed. He is Britain's eyes and ears - the British are wondering whether the Amir should be replaced by an Afghan leader less hostile to their Indian allies. Impressed by the spare order of the Amir's court, the Afghan leader's canny questions and the welter of strange sensations and smells of Kabul, Burnes writes a book on his Eastern adventures and becomes the toast of London. He wins Bella's heart, but she retires to the country with a secret of her own as he travels East again, already replaced by the next London sensation.

Worried by Russian incursions and influence, the British Governor General moves a massive army, complete with officers' wives, baggage and lapdogs, from the Punjab to Afghanistan. Meanwhile a digression to the Crimea introduces Vitkevich, a brilliant and mysterious Russian soldier, whose concern with serfs and land improvements becomes sidetracked by a trip to Afghanistan where he will share Christmas dinner with Burnes.

And back to the British army for domestic difficulties, social wrangling, desert hunting games and inept diplomacy. Eventually the British reach their goal and settle outside the gates of Kabul to enjoy their victory, blind to the end. The cultural misunderstandings, born of ignorance as well as arrogance, are sympathetically developed, and suggest chilling echoes for the present day.

Hensher's writing is rich and unhurried. He envelops the reader in the feel of a place - it's smells and weather, architecture, clothing and people. Though the characters are many they are well developed. Almost all remain enigmas to some extent, but that is entirely intentional. The narrative draws the reader deep into the subtleties of culture and aggression. Beautifully organized and realized, this epic tale should win Hensher a wide audience.

Rating:
Summary: The Mulberry Empire
Review: An evocative novel of the British Raj, and the disastrous First Afghan War. By using actual participants of the period the author makes the story compelling and factual. The author's description of life in Kabul in the early ninetheen century is most believable.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Book, With Asterisks
Review: How good is this book? Sadly, not as good as it might have been. Too many situations are left unresolved; too many characters crop up too late in the action; and, most surprising in the work of a previously published novelist, there is far too much amateurish "telling," and precious little vital "showing."
Literary shortcomings here consist of an excess of passivity, a tendency to begin sentences with "It", and a narrative voice that is pretty much generic Brit-Lit; nowhere in the book does the writing call out, "This, this, is Philip Hensher -- no one but he could have written this book." Hensher's background in journalism insures his indefatigability, but inflicts serious harm upon his prose style. Characters approach three-dimensionality but, in almost every case, fall short of complete fleshiness (the exception being one Masson, a British Army deserter with a taste for boys and other beautiful objects). A slew of Russian characters appear and disappear, leaving not so much as a ripple on the surface. Murders happen, dogs are shot, atrocities alleged, yet repercussions are in short supply or simply nonexistent. One thinks of slightly above-average TV fare -- a second-tier PBS costume drama, for example -- in which sense counts for less than appearances.
Much of "Mulberry" is praiseworthy -- Hensher's evocation of the landscape, for example, his occasional comic turns among the Governor General's party, his portrayal of a stoic unwed mother in the Gloucestershire gloom -- yet overall the novel projects a plodding quality, a sense of work to be got through, rather than a delight to be savored by the mind and senses. Hensher's pace is leisurely and diffident, hardly a virtue in a historical novel, with exciting events tending to take place off-camera. Intoning, in leaden fake-Islamic tones, ÒAnd the snow was crimson with blood,Ó is no substitute for the actual battle that has been looming for four hundred and forty pages. The reader may well feel justifiable frustration.
If you are interested in the "Great Game," the 19th century power struggle over Afghanistan between Russia and Great Britain, this novel will provide you with a great deal of information; on the other hand, since the author assures us in his Afterword that we have just read "a pack of lies," you will probably learn more from a good history. If you want to read an incandescent novel, a superb work of the imagination, "The Mulberry Empire" most emphatically should not be your first choice.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of stuff, mostly good.
Review: Mulberry Empire concerns itself with the events leading up to the British occupation of Kabul and its aftermath. Hesher is more interested in his characters than in the actual events. While often corresponding to real people, the characters are fully imagined, and, according to an afterward, Hesher also takes great liberties with the actual events. A particularly memorable character is the Afghan Amir. Conversely, Hesher decides to have a Russian chapter,(Russia sent an envoy to win Afghan favor), sort of a condensed "Father and Sons", which almost reads as an unintentional satire on Russian novels. There is social commentary on English aristocratic society and its attitudes toward the colonies, which is fun, if not very original. The writing is often eloquent, sometimes overdone. Hesher is particularly good with scenes and dialog. I liked the book, but when I read the afterword, and discovered I was learning much less about Afghan/English history than I had thought, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Rating:
Summary: the henscher empire
Review: ok this is a masterpiece. It is the best book i have read the past three years. Henscher is a master of language an iconoclast, a major story teller. This will certainly win the Booker prize. If I can add this he is also extremely beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Get a blue pencil
Review: Other reviewers comment that the story seems to ramble, that it proceeds at a leisurely pace, that it's plodding, and that it's overdone. Yeah, well, to me those are three good reasons not to buy this book. Hensher likes to hear himself talk, but why do you want to spend money to listen? I love to savor good historical fiction, but in this case I was skipping pages just to get the story moving. I usually pass books on to friends, but this book was such a frustrating reading experience that it went straight into the garbage.

Rating:
Summary: Expansion of the British Empire
Review: Set during the 1830's MULBERRY EMPIRE focuses on the expansion of the British Empire into central Asia. Already holding India as a prized possession, Britain looks beyond the horizon to Afghanistan in hopes of dominating trading and beating the Russians. At the center of the novel is Alexander Burnes, a Scot, who publishes a book about his travel experiences to Kabul that sends literary waves throughout London and beyond and draws attention to the need for expanding the British throne into Afghanistan. Alternating between London and Afghanistan this novel attempts to highlight the historic role of western powers in Asia. Books that fall into the genre of historical fiction are often hit or miss, and MULBERRY EMPIRE falls somewhere in between. Some passages are awe-inspiring while the remainders are downright clunkers. I greatly enjoyed the chapters devoted to London and the character of Charles Masson. Philip Hensher's descriptions of the Season and the upper class bring the characters to life on the page. His metaphors are witty and repeatedly brought a smile to my face. These aspects are the true highlights of this novel. It is unfortunate that the remainder of this book can often be dull and disappointing. Hensher's prose tends to be reminiscent of Victorian-era authors who were often paid by the word and therefore expanded their writing into dreadful details and painful insights. On the cover Hensher is described as a modern-day Dickins and Tolstoy. While the verdict is still out on that claim I have to admit that I was disappointed in THE MULBERRY EMPIRE, and would hesitate recommending it to others.

Rating:
Summary: Sore Disappointment Awaits Readers
Review: Sore Disappointment Awaits Readers: A Book Review of Mulberry Empire by Philip Hensher.

The Mulberry Empire takes off with an immediate hook, a seemingly interesting plot, amusing detail and gloriously luxuriant description. Various characters meet in far away and exotic locations in the mid 19th century: Afghanistan, the African continent, Russia, the English countryside and in the homes of the highest of high society London.

This story begins: "The Amir Dost Mohammed Khad had fifty four sons. And his favorite among these sons was Akbar". The novel lures the reader with stimulation of the senses: "Kabel you did not need to walk the streets to map them in their olfactory manner; you only need to sit by the window and wait for a breeze".

We are introduced to a few interesting men that find themselves in various circumstances, for various reasons, in Afghanistan. The most intriguing of the lot is Masson, a rogue who kills a fellow soldiers on guard duty, who watched as he had been raped by another soldier. Once he escapes he seems to find his place in the world. "Masson, speaking, improvising, in Persian, felt as if a new personality had been vouchsafed to him, and he observed this flirtatious antidotal multifarious new passion from outside, observing the transformation with an inner astonishment"

Unfortunately, the British connections and characters are the undoing of this potentially fantastic tale. A plethora of plots, subplots, character inclusions and location changes aide in the collapse of the novel at its mid-point. Perhaps it's not a novel for non-English, non-military history book readers.

Due to the brilliant beginning, I felt driven to read on; I was sorely disappointed. The initial excellence perishes in the effluvia of the Victorian kitchen sink that is thrown in. The only manner of enjoying this book is to read the first one hundred pages, then reader beware.

Rating:
Summary: Get a blue pencil
Review: This is a highly engaging, well written epic. Hensher has produced an absorbing historical fiction of a point in time that has implications for our own times. His story of imperalism in central Asia during the 19th century is a timely commentary on current events. Hensher engages the reader with a broad cast of characters from diverse cultures, and the story interestingly moves among locales in Afghanistan, India, England, and Russia. While the story seems to ramble just somewhat in a few spots, this actually seems intentional as part of the broad sweep of historical events, cultures and people. While the author concedes that the story is loosely based on historical facts, his skill at describing events and locales, creating believable and interesting characters within believable plots, and attention to detail transports the reader into the overall story. This is truly an excellent, literary historical fiction.