Jan 12, 2007 08:20 PM
6873 Views
When I first picked up the book, I realised that it was going to be a slow and steady cruising for me.But the novel , as such, picks up pace from the very start, you realise it much later, when ghosh gets into philosohical musings of his own.It s interesting to note that all though the novel you see the characters as the narrator wants you to , and surprisingly , to perhaps give the theme a unviersal appeal , ghosh refrains from giving him a name.
The story revolves around the 'coming to terms with the past and the present' of the narrator who seems to be highly in awe of his uncle, Tridib.And must say, it radiates outwards.It's a novel bordering on the fringes of numerous themes: the meaninglessness of BORDERS (lines), the resulting nothingness that FREEDOM amounts to, the political concerns of the era, coupled with a sadness that pervades the life of the people of a nation.It courses through the past and finds parallel in the present.It mocks certain blind ideals that bind people to their one sided view of the world (Th'amma) and one man's disillusionment with it all.
The novel brings into perpestive the fact that one cannot attribute absolute identities to things or events that can't be 'absolutely' good or bad..On the whole the novel is worth your time.It mesmerises you.. haunts you (especially the tragic end)and keeps coming back to you.Ghosh has delivered real masterpiece.
