River of Smoke

In September 1838, a storm blows up on the Indian Ocean and the Ibis, a ship carrying a consignment of convicts and indentured laborers from Calcutta to Mauritius, is caught up in the whirlwind River of Smoke follows its storm tossed characters to the crowded harbors of China There, despite efforts of the emperor to stop them, ships from Europe and India exchange their cargoes of opium for boxes tea, silk, porcelain and silver Among them are Bahram Modi, a wealthy Parsi opium merchant out of Bombay, his estranged half Chinese son Ah Fatt, the orphaned Paulette and a motley collection of others whose pursuit of romance, riches and a legendary rare flower have thrown together All struggle to cope with their losses and for some, unimaginable freedoms in the alleys and crowded waterways of 19th century Canton. Read River of Smoke – kino-fada.fr The absence of food doesn t make a man forsake hunger it only makes him hungrier In this the second instalment of The Ibis trilogy Amitav Ghosh sets the bar incredibly high So high in fact I got a little dizzy from all the sights and sounds and smells that I was introduced to in so many of the fascinating locals that lay painted in broad strokes before my very eyes.While the first book in this trilogy focusedon the c...Old News BAH I am going to have to come back and fix may be rewrite this review later.Current News Review updated.__________________________Where were we On the Ibis, after the storm, right Amitav Ghosh picks up the threads from there, tells us about the different directions in which the characters were scattered and then we continue to follow Neel who brings us to Canton to witness the drama and politics surrounding the opium trade psst smuggling , and an account of the events which wi Old News BAH I am going to have to come back and fix may be rewrite this review later.Current News Review updated.__________________________Where were we On the Ibis, after the storm, right Amitav Ghosh picks up the threads from there, tells us about the different directions in w...Perhaps the most amazing, brilliant historical fiction I have ever read I ve dabbled a little bit with writing, taken a few classes in college and I ve read, surely over a thousand books But I think I admire this book over anything I ve ever read thus far and I finally realize, good grief, Doug, don t try to write anyYou don t have what it takes Here is painstaking research, wonderful characterizations of people some of whom actually lived and every aspect of their personalities and Perhaps the most amazing, brilliant historical fiction I have ever read I ve dabbled...I really enjoyed book one of this pending trilogy Sea of Poppies was action packed, tense, enjoyable reading with characters I liked and rooted for Imagine my surprise when River of Smoke, which I bought immediately after finishing Sea of Poppies, turned out to be a crashing bore What happened to our main characters At the end of Sea of Poppies they escaped in a storm I was anxious to follow their progress through book two Mr Ghosh had other ideas but it seemed to me that he pretty much p I really enjoyed book one of this pending trilogy Sea of Poppies was action packed, tense, enjoyable reading with characters I liked and rooted for Imagine my surprise when River of Smoke, which I bought immediately after finishing Sea of Poppies, turned out to be a crashing bore What happened to our main characters At the end of Sea of Poppies they escaped in a storm I was anxious to follow their progress through book two Mr Ghosh had other ideas but it seemed to me that he pretty much phoned this one in We do have two returning characters, Neel and Paulette, but they are virtually unrecognizable as the people we read about in book one Instead we get new characters and they are not nearly as interesting as the ...The heaven and hell of opium continues in this 600 page book, the second in the Ibis Trilogy Sea Of Poppies was the first installment.After closing the book I could not decide if I wanted to go for a swim, take a leisurely bath, or a cool shower and then go for a walk It is such a beautiful day outside.In the end it was the shower, but the walk lost out I just wanted to lie back, relax and think.In the previous book, we all hanged onto the Ibis s deck for dear life It was in the middle of t The heaven and hell of opium continues in this 600 page book, the second in the Ibis Trilogy Sea Of Poppies was the first installment.After closing the book I could not decide if I wanted to go fo...This is the second installment in the Ibis Trilogy and I have no doubt that upon completion it will be nothing short of a masterpiece This is the most amazing work of historical fiction that I have ever read Where Sea Of Poppies mostly takes place in India preceding the opium wars, River Of Smoke moves us into Canton s Fanqui town full of merchant traders and their shipments of opium So will begin the opium...In a literary world whose bestseller lists are clogged up with chick lit and the memoirs of C list celebs, it may seem churlish to make the chief criticism of Amitav Ghosh s 519 page River Of Smoke that of over ambition.Ghosh s novel the second in a trilogy that began with the Booker shortlisted Sea Of Poppies in 2008 is an epic by any standards extraordinarily researched superb in its evocation of a distant time and place But strictly in the context of the literary firmament into whi In a literary world whose bestseller lists are clogged up with chick lit and the memoirs of C list celebs, it may seem churlish to make the chief criticism of Amitav Ghosh s 519 page River Of Smoke that of over ambition.Ghosh s novel the second in a trilogy that began with the Booker shortlisted Sea Of Poppies in 2008 is an epic by any standards ex...A Brilliant Indian Novel about the 19th Century Opium Trade with ChinaBalzac and lots of people after him thought that Behind every great fortune there is a crime Nowhere is that aphorismbaldly illustrated than in the 19th Century opium trade that enriched England, Scotland, and the United States and created a score of hereditary fortunes that have left their mark on the world for nearly two centuries since After all, when Europeans introduced China to the practice of mixing opium wi A Brilliant Indian Novel about the 19th Century Opium Trade with ChinaBalzac and lots of people after him thought that Behind every great fortune there is a crime Nowhere is that aphorismbaldly illustrated than in the 19th Century opium trade that enriched England, Scotland, and the United States and created a score of hereditary fortunes that have left their mark on the world for nearly two centuries since After all, when Europeans introduced China to the practice of mixing opium with tobacco in the mid 18th Century, the one sided trade in Chinese porcelain, tea, silk, and other goods was rapidly draining Europe of silver and reinforcing China s position as the world s richest country The opium trade reversed that trend Early in the 19th Century, with the Industrial Revolution gathering force in Europe, China s nearly two century long decline was underway Meanwhile, massive profits from opium enriched...What utter fascination and delight to read Amitav Ghosh His characters are perfectly drawn, from the inside out, and this book in particular, River of Smoke, paints, with a fine and delicate brush, a colorful and ornate portrait of Canton s Fanqui town and the opium trade involving Britain, India, and isolationist China in the middle 1800s.Historical fiction, this readslike a fictional novel, full of characters with longing and ambition in a wide range, from self righteous, racist, imperi What utter fascination and delight to read Amitav Ghosh His characters are perfectly drawn, from the inside out, and this book in particular, River of Smoke, paints, with a fine and delicate brush, a colorful and ornate portrait of Canton s Fanqui town and the opium trade involving Britain, India, and isolationist China in the middle 1800s.Historical fiction, this readslike a fictional novel, full of characters with longing and ambition in a wide range, from self righteous, racist, imperialist chauvanist English opium traders to a young woman who must pose as a boy on a ship and who later becomes the assistant to a famous botanist to a flaming gay son of a famous painter, flambouyant and lively, yet lonely for a special Friend.The book moves among several se...Amitav Ghosh s story telling must be at least as addicting as opium In addition to the amazingly well researched details of the events leading up to the Opium war of 1839 40, and the interwoven and parallel narratives of the European quest for the botanical riches of China itself a dazzling sub plot that links both the search for specimens including a fabled flower, and an intriguing account of what Ghosh shows was an important Sino European chapter in the development of medical art had me co Amitav Ghosh s story telling must be at least as addicting as opium In addition to the amazingly ...

• English
• 05 October 2017
Amitav Ghosh
• Hardcover
• 522 pages
• 0719568986
• Amitav Ghosh
• River of Smoke