| Title | : | River of Smoke |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0719568986 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780719568985 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 522 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2011 |
| Awards | : | Warwick Prize for Writing Longlist (2013), Man Asian Literary Prize (2011), The Hindu Literary Prize (2011), DSC Prize South Asian Literature (2013) |
River of Smoke Reviews
-
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 focused more on the cultivation of poppies in India and the East Indian Company’s opium factory that prepared the product for sale
River of Smoke takes the reader up the Pearl River System to various destinations, most notably Fanqui town a settlement just outside of Canton where foreign traders were permitted to set up enclaves (The Thirteen Factories). At that time foreigners were not permitted to enter Canton proper even though it relied heavily on foreign trade. It is here that much of the novel takes place and Ghosh’s brilliant writing takes you right there.
And so at last to the foreign enclave- or ‘Fanqui-town’ as I have already learnt to call it! It is the farthest extremity of the city, just beyond the citadel’s south-western gate. In appearance Fanqui-town is not at all what you might expect; indeed it is so different from what I had envisioned that it fair took my breath away! I had imagined the factories would be prettily primped with a few Celestial touches- perhaps a few curling eaves or pagoda-like spires like those that so beguile the eyes in Chinese paintings. But if you could see the factories for yourself, Puggly dear, I warrant they would remind you rather of pictures of places that are very far away- Vermeer’s Amsterdam or even… Chinnery’s Calcutta. You would see a row of buildings with columns, capitals, pilasters, tall windows and tiled roof. Some have colonnaded verandahs, with the same khus-khus screens you see in India: if you half close your eyes you could think yourself to be on the Strand, in Calcutta, looking at the bankshalls and daftars of the big English trading houses. The colours are quite different though, brighter and more varied: from a distance the factories look like stripes of paint against the grey walls of the citadel………..
Now that you have landed at Jackass Point and made your way into Fanqui town you may find yourself a little peckish. Fear not, Ghosh lays a lavish table guaranteed to whet your appetite. Consider just this one offering of many at a feast served up by one of the foreign residents.
It had taken two days to prepare, and included some thirty condiments – crisp shoots of bamboo and slippery sea-cucumbers; chewy tendons of pork and juicy sea scallops; taro root and abalone; fish-lips and mushrooms – a symphony of carefully harmonized contrasts of texture and taste, it was reputed to have lured many a monk into breaking his vows.
The story is told mainly from the perspective of four foreigners, three of whom I was first introduced to in
Sea of Poppies. There is an Indian opium trader and his secretary Neel (our bankrupt Raja) as well as Paulette, the orphaned daughter of a French botanist and Paulette’s childhood friend Robin, a gay artist who has made his way to China in search of a “real” friend.
Paulette’s efforts to locate a legendary rare flower will take her to the sparsely populated island of Hong Kong where she begins to establish a nursery but make no mistake the real heart of this story lay with the illegal opium trade and the friction it has caused with the Chinese government who recognizes the devastating effects this drug has had on the people of China. But the opium trade is big business generating immense wealth for The British merchants and others. After all China has always allowed and profited as well from this in the past and the British are not inclined to desist trade now.
Ghosh may have left me completely drenched and clinging to the storm swept decks of the Ibis at the end of
Sea of Poppies but all is now forgiven. Do not miss this sweeping, richly layered and historically accurate trilogy of the opium trade.
On to a
Flood of Fire. -
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 any more. You 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 done in the setting of Canton, China in the 1830's. This is a follow up book in a trilogy, the first of which was also excellent, "Sea of Poppies" and several of the characters of that book appear in this, but it is a different book and story stands on its own, although it was fun to see a little bit of follow up on some of the lives of some of the characters.
This is the story of the world of opium sales in China and the ruination of millions of people addicted to the powerful drug and how the government tries to eradicate the importing of the drug through primarily British sources, although one of the main characters is from Bombay and most of the product is produced in India. It is extremely annoying to discover how the British businessmen justify their smuggling killing actions by giving self righteous sermons about the God given principal of "free trade" and how the Chinese Government has no authority to stop them. It is arrogance and self righteous behavior and its very best/worst.
It is the story of horticulture, food, tea, love, men with two families, one in each continent, an extremely talented and prolific gay artist is involved, although his letters are written in a hilariously clever way that some naive souls may not even understand that his stories include metaphors about his gay behavior, travel to the orient, miserable time at sea, elegant living of the rich and the relationships between the Chinese and the foreigners and how the Americans and sometimes Christian and mainly the British were such bullies.
It is a tough read and cannot be sped read. I learned dozen of phrases and admired so many little clever details and descriptions and there were many story lines that may be picked up in the next book. This has been advertised as a trilogy.
I'm anxious to hear your thoughts. If you haven't read Sea of Poppies yet, please read it first. -
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 will eventually lead to the
First Opium War.
Canton's foreign enclave was the hot-spot of trade between China and other countries.
Made in China / brought from China goods have been making their way into households all around the globe since back then. A huge amount of goods were imported from China, so much so that Chinese had come to believe that
"..the foreigners, if deprived for several days of the tea and rhubarb of China, are afflicted with dimness of sight and constipation of the bowels, to such a degree that life is endangered…".
For foreigners, opium proved to be a highly profitable counter-trade product which ensured a two way flow of cash.
East India Company, with their strategic position in India monopolized this trade. Opium is the bone of contention at the heart of this story.
Chinese side: wanted to keep opium addiction from eating them from the inside and also control the out-flow of silver.
British et al. side: losing opium trade would mean economic loss. Also, the high and mighty ones said:
"...nobody, not even the Grand Manchu himself, can claim jurisdiction over a subject of the Queen of England."
and
"...as Englishmen and Americans, we enjoy certain freedoms under the laws of our own countries. These require us to be subject, in the first instance, to our own laws."
By the end of the book, we see Britishers sniggering behind
Lin Zexu's back, thinking about the war to come, which of course, Britain will easily win.
Amitav Ghosh carries us back to those times with his pure, un-ornamental storytelling. His writing is undoubtedly descriptive, no lawyer can make a case against that. He tells us about the times when HongKong was only a wilderness and when people thought that Singapore was going to be swallowed by a jungle. Times when it took several months to travel from one place to another, keeping people away from home for a few years at a stretch (most of them also ended up having a second wife and illegitimate children in distant lands.) He gives us the details about how everything worked in those times. He also brings out some of the subtleties about how language and social interactions changed as one moved from one part of the world to another and mingled with different kinds of communities. Between all the details, the dilemmas and emotional complexity of Bahram, one of the main characters, are not forgotten either.
There is a whole lot of historical name-dropping going on too. Many of the characters mentioned in this novel (and there are about a million of them) were real people. One can easily tell Ghosh has done extensive research and poured gallons of history in this story. For the most part, the details aren't wearisome and don't slow down the narrative.
The only place where detailed descriptions bothered me were in Robin Chinnery's letters. Him being an artist, his letters provide a perspective different from that of people involved in the opium trade. But, phew, those letters! Some of his letters went like this:
"Hey, I have some fascinating news for you. So one day I was sitting on my desk when I heard a knock on the door." Then he will describe how and why he went to the place XYZ, describe the scenery he saw on the way, detailed description of the destination once he got there, back stories of the characters he met, the conversation they had. And within that conversation the news of interest will be embedded.
I know the messages were not limited to 140 characters back then, but will you give me the news already?!
If you enjoyed Sea of Poppies, this is definitely worth a read. It can be read even if one has not read the first part. The language, a mash-up of different dialects, may seem bothersome during initial one or two chapters, but in later chapters it is mostly just English and is not at all difficult to read. If you have an appetite for rich details, this should be an interesting read.
______________________________________
Pre-Reading:
With
Sea of Poppies, Amitav Ghosh had left us un-anchored in the midst of Indian Ocean. He created an ensemble cast with a rich variety of characters, made their paths converge to the ship Ibis and spun out an engrossing story. And then....poof! The hypnotic spell broke. Very abruptly. The stage vanished and so did the characters. The readers were left bobbing in the ocean.
Now after a gap of over 2.5 years,
River of Smoke has been released. Hopefully we will get to the shore this time. Though this is only the second book in the proposed trilogy, who knows where he will leave us stranded now.
Considering how long Ghosh Babu had the readers sitting on the edge, this better not be a disappointment. -
We are ready to forgive a lot to the heroes of book cycles, this is how the effect of the series works when the characters become a little relatives. But a third-rate soap opera raid, in the case of end-to-end heroes and actions, is more difficult to avoid. And only when the author manages to find a balance between the familiar and the absolutely new does a truly valuable book series appear. Amitav Ghosh is one of the few who can.
"The Smoky River", the second book of the "Ibis Trilogy", and it's about the same thing: the prehistory of the Opium Wars, the restoration of the chronology of previous and related events, a new meeting with some of the heroes familiar from the "Poppy Sea". And at the same time about something completely different: the action is transferred from India to the Chinese Canton, and the focus of attention is a community of merchants who have built prosperity on the opium trade.
Let me remind you, in fact, the "Ibis Trilogy" is the first honest detailed story in fiction about how the British Empire hooked the world on drug addiction. If the Indian part tells about how the colonial authorities forcibly displaced all agricultural crops from the fields, except opium poppies, how the factory production of the drug was put on stream, then the Chinese part will tell about the further path of the potion, about transportation and how the Qing Empire became the land of drug addicts.
A strikingly large-scale multifaceted narrative in which historical authenticity and fascinating intrigue are combined with a strong philosophy of life, and the reader, together with his beloved hero, is forced to make a difficult moral and ethical choice.
Нет мне дороги в мой брошенный край
Реки в Азии выглядят длинней, чем в других частях света,
богаче аллювием, то есть -- мутней; в горстях,
когда из них зачерпнешь, остается ил,
и пьющий из них сокрушается после о том, что пил.
Бродский
С продолжением удачно начавшихся книг всегда есть это: ждешь новой встречи с героями, о которых страстно хочешь знать, заранее настраиваешься на обаяние языка и стиля, чуть опасаешься разочарования. Которого чаще всего не удается избежать, потому что та, первая, история закончилась ведь, нынешняя будет о другом. Даже если действовать в ней станут те же персонажи, они прошли через серьезные испытания и уже не будут прежними.
Героям книжных циклов мы готовы простить многое, так работает эффект сериала, когда персонажи становятся немножко родственниками. Но мыльнооперного налета третьесортности, в случае сквозных героев и действия, избежать труднее. И лишь тогда, когда автору удается найти баланс между знакомым и абсолютно новым появляется по-настоящему ценная книжная серия. Амитав Гош из тех немногих, кто умеет.
"Дымная река", вторая книга "Ибисной трилогии", и она о том же: предыстория Опиумных войн, восстановление хронологии предшествующих и сопутствующих событий, новая встреча с некоторыми героями, знакомыми по "Маковому морю". И одновременно совсем о другом: действие переносится из Индии в китайский Кантон, а в фокусе внимания оказывается сообщество купцов, построивших благосостояние на торговле опием.
Напомню, в сути "Ибисная трилогия" — первый в художественной литературе честный подробный рассказ о том, как Британская империя подсадила мир на наркотическую зависимость. Если индийская часть рассказывает о том, как колониальные власти в принудительном порядке вытесняли с полей все сельскохозяйственные культуры, кроме опийных маков, как функционировало поставленное на поток фабричное производство наркотика, то китайская поведает о дальнейшем пути зелья, о транспортировке и о том, как Империя Цин стала землей наркоманов.
Примерно как бывшие страны Союза сразу после его распада. Помните это кошмарное время, когда в подъездах каждое утро валялись шприцы, а на детских площадках, едва не в каждом дворе, сидели обдолбанные торчки? Примерно то же происходило в середине 1830-х в Китае, способ употребления зелья был иным, но глубинный смысл развала страны тот же самый: Британская Империя искала крупный и относительно близкий к источнику сырья рынок сбыта, обильный населением Китай отвечал требованиям, а торговля чаем, шелком, фарфором ставила его в транзитную цепочку. Что до запрета употребления наркотиков — проблема решалась откатам коррумпированному чиновничеству. Все как у нас.
Середина 1830-х стала критическим временем, когда наркомания охватила все слои общества, ведя к вырождению нации. В этих условиях император вынужден был пойти на жесткие меры, как в отношении торгующих и употребляющих, так, главным образом — в отношении импортеров, преимущественно английских купцов. Финал известен: в ответ на конфискацию и уничтожен��е крупной партии наркотиков, Англия объявила войну, а преимущество английской военной машины обеспечило капитуляцию Китая на кабальных для него условиях, с беспрепятственным распространением наркомании.
Все это будет чуть позже, здесь и сейчас мы в точке неустойчивого равновесия, когда маятник вот-вот качнется, но пока завис. Уже ничего не изменить, ставки сделаны, и событий, которые приведут к крушению, не отменить но есть еще время насладиться последними иллюзиями. В фокусе внимания богатый опиумный торговец-парс из Бомбея Бахрам-бей, отец А-Фаня, помните пристрастника из первой книги, скованного кандалами с раджой Нилом, вместе с которым они бегут с "Ибиса"?
К нему, рискующему всем нажитым, влезшему в долги, чтобы закупить огромную партию опия в надежде совершить гешефт всей жизни и выкупить судно - к нему устроится секретарем Нил. Вы помните. что бывший раджа прекрасно образован, говорит и пишет на нескольких языках. Его глазами мы увидим происходящее. Его и еще одного человека, внебрачного сына знаменитого художника, по стечению обстоятельств бывшего другом детства Полетт.
Да-да, милой малышки Полетт, одержимой ботаникой, не пожелавшей замуж за престарелого судью,влюбленной в Закарию Рейда и разлученной с ним. На Маврикии на нее натыкается другой увлеченный растениевод, путешествующий на корабле-саде, вся палуба которого уставлена экзотическими растениями, импорт которых в Европу золотое дно, потому что стоят все эти саженцы там бешеных денег. Но прежде нужно довезти, это вам не сырец по трюмным ящикам тарить — живые растения капризны.
Хорек (таково прозвище корабела-биолога) остро нуждается в грамотном помощнике, Полетт занимает вакантное место, а поскольку женщинам вход в Кантон заказан, в то время, как одной из главных целей нынешней экспедиции является редкая камелия - то розыск саженцев берет на себя за скромную мзду молодой художник Дрозд. Его письма к Полетт о происходящем в Городе Чужаков (так назывался Кантон на пиджин) вторая точка романной оптики.
Поразительно масштабное многоплановое повествование, в котором историческая достоверность и захватывающая интрига соединяются с крепкой жизненной философией, а читатель, вместе с любимым героем, вынужден делать непростой морально-этический выбор.
Прекрасная книга и отличное продолжение истории. Думаю, что у меня не хватит терпения ждать, когда Александр Сафронов сделает для Фантома перевод третьей части "Flood of Fire ", прочту в оригинале. -
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 the night, in a ferocious typhoon at sea, and five men were seen in a small boat escaping life on the ship. Somewhere on the Ibis there were dead people and a hundred Indian people locked up, destined for Mauritius.
The second book was waiting right there next to the first one, and I just needed to know what happened to them all. Selá, the storm has subsided, the wind was gone, the sun was up and mystery disappeared with the last words of the previous book.
This book embroidered further on the tale of hardship and human follies around the greedy lords of opium. The British had the most to lose, the Chinese the most to gain and in the process thousands of tons of opium changed hands or got lost. A revolt was on the rise. Britain stood to lose everything.
If I think back on this book I recall millions of people living in squalor, druglords living in opulent splendor, dark and doom lurked everywhere, greed was openly shared on the scrumptious menus of the rich, and life was but a fleeting streak of luck for the tough and fortunate as much as it was for the lowest of the poor. But there was also the gentle bonds of friendship, a non-genetic kinship, an integrity and honor that glued it all together.
A tremendous amount of research went into this Ibis trilogy. The second tale was just as atmospheric and informative as the first. However, at one point I just skip-read at least 250 pages, since the numerous characters and information dumping became just too much to endure.
Some of the previous book's characters survived and I found the alternating stories of Neel (the Rajah who was found guilty of fraud in the previous book), as well as Paulette(the orphaned French daughter of a botanist) consoling.
Deeti, the Indian widowed farm girl, who married Kalua, the ox wagon driver with whom she landed on the Ibis, opened this book with her recollection of what happened. Her memories were drawn all over a cavern on the island of Mauritius. It was her memory-temple. Her descendants were with her when she told her story. Zachary Reid (also known as Zikri-Malum), the son of the freed slave from Boston briefly appeared as well.
But it is Ah Fatt, a member of the Ibis's crew, who became center-stage in this tale. His family entered this second book and became the carriers of the plot.
Much of the trilogy is based on the real people, which makes this one of the best historical fiction works on opium ever written. The information winding through the tale is just mind blowing. This is a monumental piece of work.
Worth the read. It is more about the history shared in the book than a fast-moving riveting plot. It requires a lot of patience to finish. I'm still happy that I did it, but needed to refresh myself and take a rest. I was exhausted. And wow, what a happy feeling rolled over me when I lay back on my bed and thought back on this experience. Embedded in the story, that's how I felt. Wonderful!
Amazing! -
The Opium Trade triangle (Britain-India-China) story continues…
Preamble:
--For context, see my review of Book 1:
Sea of Poppies.
--I look forward to reading a revisionist history of the Opium Trade in
Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China, which apparently focuses blame not on Britain’s Opium Trade but on Britain’s subsequent opium prohibition (1880 to WWII) which apparently led to addiction to more dangerous drugs (heroin/morphine/cocaine etc.):
i) Regarding the anti-prohibition stance, I’m sure Britain’s subsequent “war on drugs” prohibition had disastrous consequences, as modern experiences reveal:
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs.
ii) However, this seems like a narrow medical focus (opium vs. heroin etc.) missing crucial social context, i.e. why did addiction become a problem, regardless of the drug choice? I do not start by assuming the Opium Trade was a drug problem, and thus would not support prohibition as the end-all solution.
iii) The Opium Trade was a geopolitical economy/sovereignty problem, which led to the imperialist “war for drugs”, i.e. Opium Wars and Unequal Treaties that wiped away China’s sovereignty; the consequences were much greater than the import of opium:
Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World. The dislocation from colonization makes the dispossessed vulnerable to addiction, regardless of the drug. Prohibition can make this worse, especially when implemented by the colonizer, but focusing on subsequent prohibition misses the context of colonization’s dislocation being the roots of social addiction.
Highlights:
--Book 2 of the trilogy starts to reach my inexperienced limit of tracking fictional characters, but the “free trade” quotes remain glorious. Bold emphases added:[An Indian opium trafficker meets the exiled General Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon says:] ‘But since it is the English who send embassies there, it must mean that they need the Chinese more than they are themselves needed?’
‘That is correct, Your Majesty. Since the middle years of the last century, the demand for Chinese tea has grown at such a pace in Britain and America that it is now the principal source of profit for the East India Company. The taxes on it account for fully one-tenth of Britain’s revenues. If one adds to this such goods as silk, porcelain and lacquerware it becomes clear that the European demand for Chinese products is insatiable. In China, on the other hand, there is little interest in European exports - the Chinese are a people who believe that their own products, like their food and their own customs, are superior to all others. In years past this presented a great problem for the British, for the flow of trade was so unequal that there was an immense outpouring of silver from Britain. This indeed was why they started to export Indian opium to China.’
Glancing over his shoulder, the General raised an eyebrow: ‘Started? Commence? You mean this trade has not always existed?’
‘No, Majesty - the trade was a mere trickle until about sixty years ago, when the East India Company adopted it as a means of rectifying the outflow of bullion. They succeeded so well that now the supply can barely keep pace with the demand. The flow of silver is now completely reversed, and it pours away from China to Britain, America and Europe.’ […]
‘So tell me, messieurs, do the Chinese perceive no harm in opium?’
‘Oh they certainly do, Your Majesty: its importation was banned in the last century and the prohibition has been reiterated several times. It is in principle a clandestine trade - but it is difficult to put an end to it for many officials, petty and grand, benefit from it. As for dealers and traders, when there are great profits to be made, they are not slow to find ways around the laws.’
Napoleon lowered his gaze to the dusty pathway. ‘Yes,’ he said softly, as though he were speaking to himself: ‘This was a problem we too faced, in Europe, with our Continental System. Merchants and smugglers are ingenious in evading laws.’
‘Exactly so, Your Majesty.’
Now, a twinkle appeared in the General’s eye: ‘But how long do you think the Chinese will suffer this trade to continue?’
‘It remains to be seen, Your Majesty. Things have come to a pass where a cessation in the trade would be a disaster for the East India Company. Indeed it is no exaggeration to say that without it the British would not be able to hold on to their Eastern colonies; they cannot afford to forgo those profits.’
‘Quelle ironie!’ said Napoleon suddenly, flashing his visitors his arresting smile. ‘What an irony it would be if it were opium that stirred China from her sleep. And if it did, would you consider it a good thing?’
‘Why no, Your Majesty,’ responded Zadig immediately. ‘I have always been taught that nothing good can be born of evil.’
Napoleon laughed. ‘But then the whole world would be nothing but evil. Why else par example do you trade in opium?’ […]
This question caught Bahram [Indian ship-owner and opium trafficker] unawares and he was temporarily at a loss for words. Then, gathering his wits, he said: ‘Opium is like the wind or the tides: it is outside my power to affect its course. A man is neither good nor evil because he sails his ship upon the wind. It is his conduct towards those around him - his friends, his family, his servants - by which he must be judged. This is the creed I live by.’
[…]
‘It seems, Sethji, that the Chinese officials have been making a study of how the Europeans deal with opium. They have found that in their own countries, the Europeans are very strict about limiting its circulation. They sell the drug freely only when they travel east, and to those people whose lands and wealth they covet. He cites, as an example, the island of Java; he says that the Europeans gave opium to the Javanese and seduced them into the use of it, so that they could be easily overpowered, and that is exactly what happened. It is because they know of its potency that the Europeans are very careful to keep opium under control in their own countries, not flinching from the sternest measures and harshest punishments. This, he says, is what China must do too. He proposes that all opium smokers be given one year to reform. And if after that they are found still to be using, or dealing, in the drug, then it should be treated as a capital crime. […] ‘a transgressor should be punished by the exclusion of his children and grandchildren from the public examinations, in addition to the penalty of death …’ […]’
[…]
Slade’s heavy jowls quivered thunderously as he turned to face his interlocutor. ‘No, Mr King,’ he said. ‘I have not mentioned opium, nor indeed have I spoken of any of your other hobby horses. And nor will I until your Celestial friends candidly admit that it is they who are the prime movers in this trade. In supplying them with such goods as they demand we are merely obeying the laws of Free Trade …’
‘And the laws of conscience, Mr Slade?’ said Charles King. ‘What of them?’
‘Do you imagine, Mr King, that freedom of conscience could exist in the absence of the freedom of trade?’
[…]
Many pairs of eyes turned towards the President of the Chamber who now rose to address the Hongists.
‘I would be grateful, Mr Fearon, if you would inform our esteemed friends and colleagues of the Co-Hong that the Chamber is powerless in this matter. As it happens Mr Innes [British opium trafficker arrested in Canton] is not even a member of this body: he is here today at my express invitation, but it must be noted that the Chamber has no jurisdiction over him. Mr Innes protests his innocence of the charges levelled against him. As a British subject he enjoys certain freedoms and we cannot make him leave the city against his will.’
Bahram smiled to himself as he listened: the arguments were marvellously simple yet irrefutable. Really, there was no language like English for turning lies into legalisms.
...See comments section below for more... -
The preceeding book, Sea of Poppies, ends in a stereotypical cliffhanger, so I expected AG to continue the tale with all the same characters in River of Smoke and AG may have entertained this plan at the time. Instead we are injected, after the briefest enchainement, into a new scenario, namely, the lead up to the Opium War. We follow only a small number of the characters from SoP, and some of these are transformed from agents to spectators.
AG continues exercising his storyteller's flair. Only occasionally does RoS degenerate into a shaggy dog storydom, with AG overindulging his enthusiasm for narrative minutiae.
RoS is another highly enjoyable read, and, given the acknowledgements, conforms closely with actual events. -
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 wars involving India, China and Britain. This book bleeds culture on every page. It is full of jargon, lingo, and pirate slang that only add to its authenticity. Ghosh paints vivid portraits of the people, the landscape and perhaps a forgotten time in history. Everything is lushly detailed down to the food that I can practically smell off the pages to the fabled botanicals of China.
Amitav Ghosh is a Masterful, unrivaled storyteller who sets the bar high! -
2.5★ rounded up
Oh I feel mean! There was nothing wrong with this book - I just didn't get into it the way I expected to. Amitav Ghosh is one of my favourite authors, and I remember really enjoying #1 of the Ibis trilogy when I read it years ago. But this just didn't have enough story for 550+ pages, and it became a laborious read. I'm hoping that it is an ambitious transition book between #1 and #3.
In the opening pages we find out what happened to the major characters from
Sea of Poppies after the massive storm that provided cover for the escaping convicts. From there we stay in touch with Paulette, but it is mainly Neel who provides the continuity, as he becomes the munshi (secretary) for Seth Bahram Modie, a highly successful merchant from Bombay. Another new major character is Robin Chinnery, Paulette's childhood friend, an artist who has made his way from Calcutta to Canton. But although I say he's a 'major' character, he doesn't really do anything - he's just there to help tell the story via his frequent letters to Paulette, who is shipbound in Hong Kong. I think this is my major gripe with the book; by using or overusing this device, there is far too much telling and not enough showing.
Essentially, the book is about the First Opium War between China and England, in the late 1830s. Ghosh paints an evocative picture of Canton at the time, and I think some of the characters interacting with Bahram, Robin and to a lesser extent Neel, may even be historical figures, but to be honest I don't care enough to find out.
I will read on, as I have high hopes for #3. -
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 which the critical reaction to 'Sea Of Poppies' has placed him, you can't help feeling that Ghosh's account of events leading up to the first Opium War in China in 1840 - whilst always as elegaic as they are exhaustive - might have benefited from a more brutal edit.
'River Of Smoke' is set predominantly in the Chinese port of Canton, where a ragged cast of characters eventually converge as a consequence of a terrible storm which unshackles prisoners and swamps precious cargo-holds of the so-called 'black dirt' - the opium that British traders have been harvesting on the sub-continent and smuggling into China over generations (generally with the tacit approval of the Chinese authorities).
As the drug takes root in Chinese society, however, a crackdown looms, threatening the livelihoods of the merchants who have grown grotesquely rich on its profits, and who see no reason why China's reinforcement of opium's illegality ought to be allowed to restrict their lucrative trade.
At the centre of the story is Bahram, a Parsi trader from Bombay, who seeks to land the enormous haul that will finally earn him the respect of his rich wife's family, and enable him to finally buy their export business outright.
Bahram is an ingenious creation: a deeply-flawed character, an opium trader with 'a large and generous heart'; a man at once covetous of and repulsed by the exclusive Club run by the gluttinous British brigade, who undoubtedly seek his membership purely as a means to suit their own ends; an undercurrent of racism is implied throughout.
Bahram's poor background lends a delicious subtlety to what is otherwise an insight into early Colonialism at its worst. '..it is not my hand that passes sentence upon those who choose the indulgence of opium..' opines one British captain in response to entreaties to withhold his cargo for the good of the Chinese people: '.. It is the work of another, invisible omnipotent: it is the hand of freedom, of the market, of the spirit of liberty itself, which is none other than the breath of God.'
It itself, Ghosh's chronicle of the rising tensions between the Chinese authorities and the British merchants, which would end in war, the Treaty of Nanking and, ultimately, the secession of Hong Kong to British rule, is a shocking, riveting and undoubtedly brilliant piece of work, told in a dazzling array of colloquial tongues and imbued with no little amount of irony in respect of the economic emergence of China and India today.
Settle for that central theme, you feel, and Ghosh would have an instant classic on his hands. Where he falls a little short, however, is in the sheer scope of his novel. His cast of characters is extraordinary, yet so many are virtual transients, their back-stories carefully laid bare before they disappear back into Canton's crowded alleys, that they become almost impossible to remember: they are often drawn into the ever more tangled web by coincidences that seem a little far-fetched - a chance meeting, for example, in the Wordy Market, a bustling place of which the narrator asks: 'where else could a man go, clothed in nothing but a loincloth, and walk away in a whalebone corset and silk slippers?'
The momentum of the central story is also weighed down somewhat by a secondary plot which concerns another storm survivor, Paulette, who is rescued from a run-down garden by an esteemed English botanist, and charged with discovering the elusive and possibly mythical golden camellia: a flower, it is said, with more financial potential than the tea-plant.
Barred from docking in Canton as a foreign woman, Paulette sets an artist friend, Robin Chinnery, the task of discovering the plant: his travails are recorded in a series of letters which pock-mark the second part of the novel. Despite the engaging conceit, however, it is here the plot peters out: Chinnery's letters recreate a rich Cantonese street life, but otherwise serve little purpose. Paulette is rendered pretty much an after-thought, and the eventual merging of the two strands is somewhat tenuous.
If all this seems rather negative, it is not especially intended to be. Have no doubt: River Of Smoke is an epic, intense, richly rewarding novel, and one which its few frustrations do little to spoil. It is by any standards an excellent book. The abiding frustration is that it might have been a great one. -
A Brilliant Indian Novel about the 19th Century Opium Trade with China
Balzac (and lots of people after him) thought that “Behind every great fortune there is a crime.” Nowhere is that aphorism more baldly 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 the endowments of Harvard and Yale, helped build Princeton and Columbia Universities; launched the fortunes of the Astors, the Delanos (FDR’s grandparents); and bankrolled the Bell Telephone Company, antecedent of AT&T.
River of Smoke is the second book in Amitav Ghosh’s planned Ibis trilogy set among the momentous events of the massive 19th-Century opium trade between India and China. The first book in the trilogy, Sea of Poppies, set the scene with an in-depth look at the harvesting and manufacture of opium in India. River of Smoke details the life at sea and in the foreign enclave in Canton of the immensely rich men who dominated the trade, principally Britons.
Ghosh’s sprawling novel spans the years 1838 and 1839, detailing the events in South China that led to the First Opium War. The central plot-line follows the journey of a poor Indian Parsi (Zoroastrian) named Bahram who had risen to lead the trade division of a celebrated Mumbai shipbuilding company owned by his wealthy in-laws. Though not yet rich himself, Bahram has become the dean of the Indian opium traders, realizing profits for the family as great as those of many of the British and Americans but, in the racist fashion of the times, he is looked down upon as “inferior.” However, he comes to play a principal role in the traders’ increasingly tense and threatening dealings with the newly energized Chinese government, which has resolved to end the opium trade. (Bahram is the author’s invention, but the English and American traders depicted in the novel come straight from the pages of history.)
Any lover of language will find the writing of Amitav Ghosh irresistible. I certainly did. Both the dialogue and the narrative text in Sea of Poppies were enchanting. Ghosh had immersed himself in contemporaneous dictionaries and wordlists of 1830s India and Britain to reproduce the language and the vocabulary of not one but several English dialects. In fact, a great many of the novel’s characters are historical figures who left behind memoirs, letters, parliamentary testimony, and other records, and as Ghosh notes in his acknowledgments, “Much that is said in this book is taken from [the characters'] own words.” Even more colorful is the hybrid language that emerged from the marriage of English and Hindi and surfaces in dialogue throughout the book. But in River of Smoke, it’s the pidgin of 19th-Century Canton that stands out, and wonderful it is to behold! -
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 reads more like 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 sets of characters whose dealings and fates are sometimes closely and sometimes distantly intertwined and all of which would make a fascinating read on their own.
I have loved Ghosh since reading the Glass Palace because he writes with compassion for all his characters without sacrificing clarity as to their motives and choices, positive and negative.
I also loved all the references to Indian cultural practice and activities that an Indian reader would take for granted. Though I didn't take time to look them up, I enjoyed the feeling of being an outsider looking into a cultural frame of reference. Completely absorbed in the narrative, I didn't want to put down the book to find definitions for references such as "tamasha," a spectacle, an entertainment, often with singing and dancing:
"It was not till we were well past the usual landmarks - the Shamian sandbank, the Dutch Fort, the execution grounds - that it came to our attention that a huge crowd had gathered along the shore, in order to goggle at some kind of tamasha that was being staged upon a barge.
On approaching a little closer it became evident that the spectacle consisted of a man who had been put on public display, with a huge wooden pillory around his neck. Jacqua spoke to some passing boatmen and learnt that this man stood accused of being a confederate of the wretched Mr. Innes: this was his punishment for conniving to smuggle opium into the city. The boatman said he might even be beheaded if Mr. Innes did not leave the city!"
As a former teacher and a librarian, I love the experience of reading engrossing work that not only enlightens me as to human history but makes me curious enough to read nonfiction to learn more about a period of history like isolationist China and the opium wars. My education as to world history is poor, so I am grateful to writers like Ghosh who can make history fascinating and inspire further inquiry. -
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 constantly wanting to read more on google about Chinnery and Lamqua); in addition to this rich historical tapestry Ghosh weaves, there are so many gems of character, plot, narrative device, etc. that make this a book you cannot easily put down. And then of course there's Ghosh's beautiful prose. I loved that I wanted to re-read some parts several times just to relish the thrill. For example:
"Now a glitter came into his eyes, and his long fingernails began to scratch his palm as if to soothe the itch of acquisition."
A damn good book. But that said, I have some quibbles:
Sea of Poppies had a lot of focus on the smaller people in the story. They;re here too, but not as prominent; some key characters are there in important parts of the story but their voices and roles are quite submerged. Not a bad thing by itself, given that Ghosh is setting this all up for the culminating instalment of the trilogy, but still, after that mind-blowing ending of Sea of Poppies, I really wanted to meet Serang Ali (and..) again.. -
Absolutely amazing!
I liked especially the vivid descriptions of Canton, its people and life during that time in history. The narrative is richly and eloquently layered and poignantly reveals the cultural, moral, philosophical, historical, political and economic aspects and appalling realities of opium trade and wars. Ibis trilogy is indispensable reading to understand the history of China and India. -
Where is this book?? It was originally to be published in 10/2010, but my local bookseller hasn't seen it?? My heart is still stranded in that longboat paddling away from the Ibis!!
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i LOVED this just as much as the 1st book in this unfinished trilogy, Sea of Poppies. Such a captivating story --- the narrative and characters are engaging enough, and then there's the HISTORY - i knew really nothing about the Opium Wars, or this part of the world (mostly takes place in Canton, China), and definitely nothing about the amazing cultural landscape and linguistic creations that grew there. So interesting for a fictionalized historical take on political issues like imperialism and free trade, homophobia, racism, class dynamics, and the 'drug war' of a different area. Great read, just now bummed I'll have to wait xxx years for the next one. Hurry up, Mr. Ghosh!
PS this one didn't have a glossary like book 1 - but it's available online!
http://amitavghosh.com/chrestomathy.html -
Let’s cut to the chase: is it as good as the
Sea of Poppies? The short answer is (regrettably) no. It is by no means badly written, but it simply does not live up to the promise of its predecessor. Ghosh does a creditable job of telling us about life in the Thirteen Hongs during the interesting period that culminated in the First Opium War, and he chose a protagonist that is well-suited to the task of conveying the subcontinent’s perspective on the whole sordid affair --- but it somehow feels rather mechanical, as if he is merely following the dictates of history instead of creating his own vibrant, utterly believable version of a time long past (surely the test that anyone who dabbles in historical fiction must pass). He has obviously done his research: Pidgin English, the Chinese equivalent of the Anglo-Indian extensively employed in the first book; the Chinnery paintings; the surprising role of the Parsis in the British-led Opium trade; the Tanka boat people who eked out a living around the foreign merchant’s quarter in Canton; nearly verbatim quotes from historical figures who were involved in the war. These are well integrated, informative, and are never allowed to grow into overtly dominant historical voice-overs, yet something is missing from the story --- and it is not the history. -
This is the second part of Amitav Ghosh's trilogy on the Opium wars - arguably the worst episode (among many) of Britain's history. It deals with the nineteenth century opium trade that Britain used - opium grown in India and shipped to China to create addiction there that would change the trade deficit Britain had with China. Before this Britain's imports of tea from China were so high, but exports of anything TO China so low, that the country's coffers to silver were draining fast. So Britain became a narco-state to set things right. And when the Chinese authorities finally put their feet down and tried to ban this, the British government went to war in the name of Free Trade, and won. The main prize was Hong Kong as well as what became known as the New Territories, as well, of course, as the right to trade whatever it wished.
Amitav Ghosh's trilogy has a vast cast of characters from India, China, Britain and the USA. But it is seen through the third person eyes of largely Indian characters, many of them having appeared in the first part of the trilogy
Sea of Poppies. In this second volume Ghosh has the problem that faces many writers of historical fiction when the core of the story is the politics of the times: how to present complex information and many facts without giving lectures. He does this by having one character, a gay mixed-race artist, who as a man has the right to live in the foreigners' quarter of Canton, which was the furthest foreigners could get, write letters to a young woman, friend since childhood, who as a foreign woman is not allowed in Canton. There is another occasion when two of our main characters, in a flash back, have had a meeting with Napoleon when he was imprisoned on the Atlantic island of St Helena, and discuss the opium trade with him...and so on. This all works very well, although one can see exactly what Ghosh is doing - a case of the scaffolding rather on view. On the other hand, I cannot think how else he could have done it, so I shouldn't cavil.
I was longing for this book to come out having read the first volume more or less as soon as it became available. And now I can't wait for the third, which he is presumably writing. His narrative style is uncluttered and direct, but at the same time he happily drops into a variety of Indian languages and phrases, and pidgin as well. And if you don't follow every word, no matter: you get the gist and the flavour is the thing.
If you didn't know the history in any detail before (I did but that's because of my student days) you will learn a lot, and be most entertained along the way. If you did know the history you can enjoy the writing for itself alone and for the sympathetic eye he casts on characters whose motives are legion and for the most part as humanly selfish as we are accustomed to seeing today. Highly recommended. -
“Opium is like the wind or the tides: it is outside my power to affect its course. A man is neither good nor evil because he sails his ship upon the wind. It is his conduct towards those around him – his friends, his family, his servants – by which he must be judged. This is the creed I live by”
River of Smoke is the second book in the Ibis Trilogy by Amitav Ghosh. The story starts with an elderly Deeti Colver in Mauritius, visiting her shrine with its pictorial record of the family history. But another visitor is asked to make his not-insignificant contribution: soon the reminiscences of Neel Rattan Halder, also familiar to readers from Sea of Poppies, take over the tale. The reader learns the fate of some of the passengers of the Ibis after the storm in the Bay of Bengal, in particular, Paulette Lambert , Ah Fatt and Neel, with occasional mentions of Zachary Reid’s fate. But the majority of this book centres on Ah Fatt’s Parsi father, Seth Bahram Modi, whose opium-laden ship, the Anahita, weathers the same storm in the Bay of Bengal, en route to Canton, and on events there as the Chinese Emperor takes steps to eradicate the scourge of the opium trade on his people.
Once again, Ghosh gives the reader a tremendous amount of information: of course, opium trade features largely, but Chinese customs, trade and diplomacy, bird’s nest soup, the transport of live plants across the globe, Asian art, painted gardens and Napoleon all get a mention. And providing all this, as he does, in the context of an engaging story set against the backdrop of events leading to the First Opium War, he makes it easy to assimilate. His characters are all well-rounded: their backstories often forming interesting little tales by themselves. His (and his ancestor’s) fascination with the migration of words is apparent in the many different language forms that appear: local patois, pidgin and slang. The number of aliases that some of the characters have is another intriguing facet of this book.
As well as straight narrative, Ghosh gives the reader facts by employing the device of a newcomer’s first impressions and explanations. The letters from Robin Chinnery to Paulette, in particular, serve this purpose, as well as being a marvellous source of humour. This book, like the first, is filled with beautiful descriptive prose and insightful observations: “Nowhere on earth, I suspect, is the importance of portals as well understood as in China. In this country, gateways are not merely entrances and exits - they are tunnels between different dimensions of existence”. Another excellent read that will have fans looking forward to the third book, Flood of Fire. -
Wow. Major letdown after Sea of Poppies. The playfulness is gone, replaced by a long didactic slog through the lead up to the Opium Wars. Far too much exposition, with long long excerpting from historical documents, so that the entire novel centers around the dry political machinations of the foreign merchants, and everything else -- particularly the rich panoply of characters that made the first book such a delight -- is pushed to the edges. Even Paulette - who unlike most of the characters from the first book actually has a nominally central role - gets completely marginalized from the action (both geographically and actually).
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The review first appeared, in three installments, in The New Indian Express
At the end of Sea of Poppies, the first novel in the Ibis Trilogy, the cast aboard the schooner is split as five men—convicts and undesirables, broadly speaking—abandon ship during a violent storm somewhere in the Indian ocean, presumably off the Nicobar islands. It is a hook-ending—we have invested in the stories of four of these five characters—which leads us to pick up the second novel, River of Smoke, in anticipation.
The immediate surprise is that the narrative is picked up several years in the future. Deeti, the Mauritius-plantation-headed woman aboard the Ibis, is now an old matron surrounded by children and grandchildren, and is retelling her life story with the help of wall drawings inside a cave of some sorts—the cave is a shrine for the family. Deeti’s narration is helped by Neel Rattan Halder, and since Neel was one of the five who escaped from the Ibis, his presence in Mauritius piques our curiosity, suggesting a great final confluence of the whole cast, something to look forward to. To set about this confluence, Ghosh picks up, in the first third of River of Smoke, two separate narrative strands: of the five runaways; and of Paulette, the young French woman who had incorporated herself among the coolies aboard the Ibis, just so that she could reach Mauritius. For sure, Neel’s and Paulette’s paths will cross in the future. The story’s predestined turn towards opium-addled China soon comes about, where all the subsequent action in the novel is based. If Sea of Poppies was at some level about Calcutta and the black waters of the Bay of Bengal, River of Smoke is a novel about the east, towards and into and inside the city of Canton.
There is a problem, though, one that might exist in this trilogy as in all monstrously ambitious works. The essential vastness of scope necessitates that characters either undertake grand odysseys or suffer major inner transformations. Since the Ibis novels aren’t about interiority, it is the odysseys that have to retain credibility. But Ghosh, charged with commitments to linguistic showmanship, to verisimilitude, to providing historical details in such quantity that the period seeps into the reader (yes, it happens), is at times too jaded when building credible circumstance that could allow or force characters to undertake their grand odysseys. Upshot is that some journeys feel neither provident nor necessary to characters, even if they do so to Ghosh’s purpose. Take the case of how Paulette gets inside a ship heading towards Canton: a botanist named Mr. Penrose takes her aboard his ship, Redruth, after Paulette’s comportment reminded him of his deceased daughter. Of course Paulette, interested in botany, is happy to be on the journey. However, Penrose’s being a botanist who is available at the right time and the right place, and his functional (for Ghosh) sentimentality—both seem a tad too convenient.
*
In the middle part of the novel, we are inside Canton, the Chinese city serving as the most critical node for the all-important opium trade. The opium-wary Chinese are circumspect of foreign presence, and owing to that strict restrictions are in place about foreigners’ movements within the city. Outsiders are only allowed inside what is called the fanqui town. There, trading depots called factories have been set up; these serve as living quarters, offices, places of congregation (the Chinese call them Hongs). The British one is of course the biggest, but an important one that we are concerned with is the Achcha Hong. The word ‘achcha’—meaning ‘good’ in Hindi and ‘cunning’ in Chinese—is loosely used for Indians.
But what was this thing called ‘Indian’ in the late 1830s? Ghosh deliberates over this question in the book after pointing out a strange bond among the achcha people in the Cantonese district. Kachhi, Muslim, Brahmin Catholic, Parsi—merchants of all backgrounds are presented as feeling connected to each other, and it is indeed a tug at the heart to perceive a near-national feeling among those whom we can now call Indians. But Ghosh is also quick to point out that the source of this kinship wasn’t one to feel proud of. In his own words: “…the paradox was that these ties were knotted not by an excess of self-regard, but rather by a sense of shared shame.” This shared shame is of being colonized, of being identified as a subjugated people outside their own land. Ghosh’s deftness in pausing at this observation is remarkable. The hypothesis that emerges is that he views Indian nationalism not as an organic thing but an outcome of this ‘shared shame,’ experienced in severity first of all by the cosmopolitans who had the misfortune of being nearly equal.
An important character in the Achcha Hong for us is Bahram Modi, a Parsi opium merchant from Bombay who, having brought in a shipful of opium, and having to keep it in waiting off the coast of Macau (because of the opium embargo imposed by the Chinese authorities), is keenly interested in the way the standoff between the Chinese authorities and the merchants pans out. If there is a war, Bahram stands to lose a lot.
Ghosh also invents an interesting literary device to massage the essayist in him: a gay painter who writes long descriptive letters about Canton to Paulette (who is stationed close to Hong Kong for almost the entire novel). These letters become places where the reader, too, discovers Canton along with its sights and smells.
*
Overall, one could say, the novel focuses on one of the biggest tension in global capitalism—that plays out as wars, famines, and other privations for vast populations—namely, the cohesion of so-called ideals of free trade & commerce with the universal notion of human freedom.
Bahram Modi—or Barry Moddie, as he is called in Fanqui-town—is desperate to give good news back to investors in Bombay. He learns that the pent-up Chinese demand for opium means the prices that can be extracted are very high. Moreover, India has seen a bumper poppy harvest leading to a reduction in the prices of the raw material there. Upshot is that the traditional barriers to entry in India have reduced and businessmen with shallower pockets can now become merchants. The simple economics—high current selling price, prospect of increased competition, impending increase in supply to push down the future selling price—pushes Modi to extreme measures, and he agrees to smuggle in part of his cargo as a small pilot project. The risks are great , for the Chinese are in the process of wiping out all corrupt inter-mediation in opium trade, and have begun to harshly impose the punishments to those engaging in the same: the rule is that any Chinese person found involved in opium trade or found smoking opium be strangled to death—publicly, if that suits the purpose of scaring the masses off involvement with opium.
For the opium consignment, Modi has a Chinese buyer and courier services from a white free-trader. Things go wrong, but only the Chinese buyer is punished (executed). The notable part is how the foreign merchant community sees no sense in the authorities’ actions. The emperor is said to be tyrannical, against Freedom, even as he is working for the benefit of his population. The opium merchants often utter passionately the phrase ‘principles of free trade,’ as if it were a divine commandment, their hypocrisy laid bare simply in the fact that the major European countries of the day regulated the inflow of opium too. Fairness be dumped, the logic is simply that what is against the interests of the trading companies is also against Freedom itself.
Despite Bahram himself failing to ever realize the fallacy in this line of reasoning, Ghosh wants the reader to take him as an exception among the merchants. That Bahram is Hindusthani, a colonial subject, for whom to rise in this world must have meant doing substantially better than his white competition, often at the cost of forgoing the notions of right and wrong, etc., are Ghosh's arguments in Bahram's favor. One of the failures of the novel, however, is that the intended effect doesn't really come through. The readers cannot see Bahram as much different from the other white merchants, and are forced to see him as culpable as the rest. -
This is my second read of the second book in the Ibis Trilogy. I have re-read both
The Sea of Poppies and this book in preparation of the third book, which I have recently obtained - I found I could only vaguely remember the first, but a fair bit of this book.
I recall that I was fairly disappointed with this book the first time I read it, and at the end of my second reading, I again feel disappointed.
Part of what I enjoyed in
The Sea of Poppies was the many characters and their woven stories. We get a lot less of that in this second book. Here we are primarily concentrating on the events in Canton, where the opium traders are at an impasse with the Chinese Commissioner, who is to put an end to the opium entering China at the request of the Emperor.
Other than at the very start of the book and the very end we get nothing in this book from Deeti, and nothing of Kalua. We get a couple of passing mentions of Zachary Reid, nothing of Jodhu. Paulette Lampbert plays a part, although by a third of the way through this role is reduced to simply receiving letters from the unlikeable Robin Chinnery (who plays far too greater role, with this mundane letters which the author uses to convey the goings on of Canton to us - a device I think he relies far too heavily on). Ah Fatt plays far too short a role at the commencement of the book, where he places Neel into the role of Munshi with his father Seth Bahram Moddie - the only Indian trader who becomes embroiled with the English Opium traders.
So instead of these characters who we were engaged with in
The Sea of Poppies, we are introduced to the English and American traders, and with other ancillary characters.
For me this book took a long time to get to where it needed, presumably for the finale of the third book in the trilogy. It is there we expect the characters to again come together, but to drag through 580 pages to get there was disappointing.
For me this was a 2.5 star book, rounded up to 3. This remains consistent with the rating I gave it first time around. -
Oh, my... This book sets such a high standard that it makes me think I should go back and "demote" a lot of my five-star books to four! River of Smoke is the second novel of a planned trilogy by Amitov Ghosh. I loved the first one, Sea of Poppies, but delayed reading River of Smoke after it came out, just to prolong the anticipation. I was not disappointed. The novels take place against the backdrop of the opium trade, overseen by the British between India and China. The political, economical, and moral issues raised by the opium trade are central to the story, so I learned a lot about this aspect of British colonialism and was struck by the extent to which the arguments defending that trade anticipate contemporary justifications for the exploitation of poorer countries by wealthier one. But Ghosh is too fine a writer to let his post-colonial affinities get in the way of wonderful story-telling. The characters are complex, finely drawn, and entirely believable -- even though some of the plot twists do make one pleasurably aware that this is fiction. And the writing is amazing -- I'm not usually patient with extended descriptive passages; but Ghosh's evocation of Canton in the mid-nineteenth century are wonderful. HIGHLY recommended!!!
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Thanks Arvind and Jaya, for reading alongwith. :)
4.5 stars
"The flowers of Canton are immortal and will bloom forever" - Yes, they will; at least in my memory.
This was the second instalment of the Ibis trilogy by Amitav Ghosh. Enjoyed it as much, and in some parts, even more than the first book.
THe first book dealt with India, poppy cultivation of the early 19th century , the tiff between the British and the feudal lords, and the aftermaths thereof.
Second book continues with the lives of a few of the people who left India on the ship Ibis, which was later caught in a storm and destroyed.
Neel, Paulette/Pugli, Babu Nob Kishen, Ah Faat, etc. make it to Canton, halting a bit at Hong Kong.
Deeti is stuck somewhere else. Others are mentioned only in the passing.
New characters are also introduced, notably Behram/Barry, Robin Chinnery, Chinese opium merchants by various names, Chin Mei, Allow, Englishmen and Americans playing high in the opium trade and a few others.
The second book deals with the Chinese govt. opposition against Opium trade, and how the westerners don't comply to it, and to events which cascade into calamity.
It was more of the descriptions of food, flora, people and places (exactly in that order) which captivated me, than the actual story.
If one follows the story - only a few things happen, which can be summarized in a page or two.
But one has to read and savour the descriptively lyrical prose of Amitav Ghosh.
I will start the final book [Flood of Fire] as soon as I get it delivered.
And if the third one is half as good, I am going to read and savour this whole series in my dotage. I usually dont have patience to contemplate on events or savor the language in my first read. A second read often opens up hidden doors and clears the mental fugue.
Recommended to all history buffs. -
I found the recommendation for River of Smoke on NPR, and ordered it immediately. I could have read it's predecessor, Sea of Poppies, which would have helped me keep the characters straight, but although the book is dense with detail, I just slowed down and enjoyed the ride.
River of Smoke paints a picture of a time when the major powers of the world are making big bucks shipping opium into China, the risks are not so bad and the pay-off is high. River of Smoke is rich in visual detail, as you hop aboard one of the pleasure boats, or attend a meeting of the Committee - leaders of the foreign hongs in Canton who set policy for trade. When you read about Macau, you will have an instant craving for this subset of Chinese cuisine. I kept an iPad nearby to check maps and vocabularies - and I learned a lot.
And then everything changes, and our characters resist the change. The ideas and conversations are preserved in records, and Ghosh incorporates them into the book without making it dry. You gotta understand the issues and the stakes if you are going to understand the resolution.
There is a great subplot about botany, and how enriched our gardens of today are by the specimens which were identified in and sent from China. It doesn't sound exciting - but it is :-)
I am a Amitav Ghosh fan; I read Glass Palace, another densely detailed historical novel of Burma and China. These are countries where I have never been, but the expat experience is familiar, and no matter how foreign, the lives of the characters draw you in. -
Best critique of free trade I have ever read!!!
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One of the benefits of a summer trip to London is to discover that a much anticipated new book is available there before its United States publication date. So much to my surprise I was able to purchase Amitar Ghosh’s new book, the second of his Ibis trilogy, RIVER OF SMOKE. The first book being the outstanding SEA OF POPPIES (A+) which I read in 2009. Ghosh continues to amaze with his newest volume as both an excellent writer and story teller. I can not wait for the concluding volume in a few years.
The trilogy is told against the backdrop of the Opium wars of the early 1800s. The first book took many characters to tell the story of how the Opium was produced by the East India Company in India. These characters all found their way to becoming passengers on the ship “Ibis” and the book ends with a great storm and its various character future plot lines are cast off without clean endings. So I for one expected that the second book would continue with this same group of characters and there individual stories. Hoping I guess that they all would continue to star in Ghosh’s epic production. This was not to be as Ghosh opens SMOKE with what I found to be an extremely muddled opening chapter or two. But then things get going and we also discover that Ghosh has something larger in mind. The story he intends to tell is that of the Opium trade itself. His characters and there stories provide an entertaining window on a world dominated by Opium and its impact on lives and history. The research in this book is astounding. You can feel, see, and smell every part of Canton, China where the setting has now moved from India. This is not a story told in hindsight… it is told in real time with what one recognizes must be real peoples reactions to real time events . The book reaches an incredibly high benchmark for historical fiction writing.
As book two begins we are introduced to two other ships who are riding out the storm (with the Ibis?). One has as a passenger, Paulette who is brought forward from the first book and wants to re-discover a rare flower China is rumored to have that is said to cure almost anything. The other ship has the book’s new main character Bahram Modi, an Indian, the father of Ah Fatt who is also one of the carry over characters from POPPIES. Bahram invests everything in one big gamble… taking a huge shipment of Opium from India to China. We are introduced to him and his cargo as they sail though a huge storm as he fights against the real possibility of his losing his cargo and investment. When he arrives in Canton. China he finds that the Emperor of China has decide to close Chinese ports to Opium trade. A trade that has all along been illegal in China. (The British profited greatly by trading opium in exchange for Tea and other Chinese goods. This they did in the name of “free trade” and the rule of “markets” with no concern that Opium’s impact on China was. It does not take much for the reader to recognize that Ghosh has found an historical parallel for today’s globalization. He focuses on the clash of culture, empire, ambition, profiteering, art, language and love.
I liked these lines found near the end of the book, “Am I wrong to think that it was you who said that the involvement of a government representative would be a perversion of the laws of free trade? This is no longer a matter of trade…it now concerns our persons, our safety. Oh I see!....The government is to you what God is to agnostics – only to be invoked when your own well-being is at stake!” And another line that demonstrates the larger ambition of the narrative, “And what was it all for…… Was it just for this: so that these fellows could speak English, and wear hats and trousers, and play cricket?”
To paraphrase Ghosh, if he had not written such a splendid novel about Canton no one would believe that such a place had ever existed. This is the second part of an amazingly entertaining read. Don’t miss out.
