Sea of Poppies
Written by Amitav Ghosh
Narrated by Phil Gigante
4/5
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About this audiobook
A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2008
A Chicago Tribune Best Book of 2008
A Washington Post Best Book of 2008
An Economist Best Book of 2008
A New York Best Book of 2008
A Christian Science Monitor Best Book of 2008
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2008
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize
At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean; its purpose, to fight China's vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts.
In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners, from a bankrupt raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a freespirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship-brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races, and generations.
The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, the exotic backstreets of Canton. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, that makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive—a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists.
Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956. He studied at the Doon School; St. Stephens College; Delhi University; Oxford University; and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alexandria. His first job was at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi. He earned his doctorate at Oxford before he wrote his first novel.In February 2004 Amitav Ghosh was appointed Visiting Professor in the Department of English at Harvard University. He is married with two children and lives in New York.
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Reviews for Sea of Poppies
14 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Brilliant story, excellently written and full of colorful characters against the historical background. I loved it and can’t wait to listen to the sequels. Brilliantly narrated as well.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I could not make it past half a chapter because of the outlandishly horrible fake Indian accent. Sounds like a shouting Frenchman about to puke. It's not necessary to put on an Indian accent to tell a story set in India. If you think it is, hire an actual Indian - there are 1.3 billion of them, most fluent in English.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A remarkable saga. Set in 19th century India, it opened my eyes to the nature of colonialism and the opium trade in Asia. A spellbinding story about love, race/ caste and class on land and at sea. One of the best books I've ever read. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy from this brilliant author.