Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh

Release date: 2008 / 468 pages

Synopsis (from back cover): “At the heart of this vibrant saga is an old slave ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its purpose to fight in China’s vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts.”

First line: “The vision of a tall-masted ship, at sail on the ocean, came to Deeti on an otherwise ordinary day, but she knew instantly that the apparition was a sign of destiny, for she had never seen such a vessel before, not even in a dream: how could she have, living as she did in northern Bihar, four hundred miles from the coast?”

Review: Deja Vu?  Nope!  Just the conclusion of last week’s review of Sea of Poppies…  I decided to format this week’s review like I normally would, in case someone happens by today for the first time.

Well, after I wrote last week that this novel felt like a shining beacon behind a veil of language…  the veil parted and I devoured the second half!  The language did get easier — and the character who was most difficult to understand (Ali Serang) was less involved in the second half.  Plus, once the characters board the ship it was nearly impossible to put the novel down.

Now I can whole-heartedly recommend this beautiful work — and I am already anxious for the second part of the trilogy to be written!  Not surprisingly, the novel ends with a cliff-hanger — and what suspense to be left in!

A quick thank you to Shannon for her comment last week.  She suggested that instead of getting bogged down deciphering every word, I should allow the context to provide meaning.  So, to all future readers of Poppies — I recommend that you follow suit.  And trust that Ghosh knows what he’s doing — you will be in good hands, even at the beginning when first getting to know the characters and language.  In fact, check out this recent quote I found on Omnivoracious:

Ghosh commented that portions of the novel – bits of dialogue – are written in a kind of pidgin English. He comments that “as writers, language is the equivalent of a mise-en-scene.” It serves many purposes, one of them being as “white noise,” rather than to communicate information. Consequently, there’s no need to understand every word, no need to decode the pidgin English.

And Ghosh also commented that there are few narratives of departure among immigrant writers. Most tend to write about the life of arrival, rather than the life of leaving.

I would love to hear others’ reviews of this novel, too!  And if you have some time, check out this interview of Ghosh.

Welcome back!