Amitav Ghosh

The Glass Palace begins with the shattering of the kingdom of Burma, and tells the story of a people, a fortune, and a family and its fate. It traces the life of Rajkumar, a poor Indian boy, who is lifted on the tides of political and social turmoil to build an empire in the Burmese teak forest. When British soldiers force the royal family out of the glass palace, during the invasion of 1885, he falls in love with Dolly, an attendant at the palace. Years later, unable to forget her, Rajkumar goes in search of his love. Through this brilliant and impassioned story of love and war, Amitav Ghosh presents a ruthless appraisal of the horrors of colonialism and capitalist exploitation.

The Glass Palace

A Novel

Prashanth Srivatsa

Ghosh's narrative begins in the strange land of Burma, before spreading its wings wide to enfold India and Malaysia in its quest to highlight the imperial injustices of the early 20th century. The characters rarely influence the grander picture, and instead serve as pawns, often sympathetic ones, as war attempts to crush them. There is great insight on the formation of the Indian National Army and the natural opposition to it from within, but the Glass Palace was always about the memories of a once golden home, tarnished and ruined by colonialism, and ultimately salvaged by the power of art and culture.

Arianna M

The Glass Palace is a historical novel spanning a century of South Asian history, narrated through the story of two families, for three generations. For each that I was reading, I was sure that it would be my favourite part of the book, and yet even as other characters emerged and changed the colour of the narrative, I was glued to the page. Rajkumar, Dolly, Uma, Neel, Dinu, Alison, Manju, Arjun are all such beautifully crafted characters; and even the minor characters feel like they could gaze at you through the words, like the exiled King and Queen of Burma, Thebaw and Supalayat (who really existed). Ghosh is incredibly meticulous in his research—both field research and documentary: he even lived in Myanmar in order to write the Burmese sections of the novel—and the thoroughness shows in his writing. Historical events, cultural details are woven into the pattern of the story and they breathe in the lives of different characters.

Read the full review on my blog here: https://donoillustre.wordpress.com/20...

Karen Shimek

I rate this novel 3.5 stars, rounded up. I gave it four stars for the fantastic historical research on India, Burma, and Malaysia. I learned an incredible amount about the history of the region, particularly Burma. However, the characters rated only three stars. I don’t know if it was because of the number of characters in the book, but I did not find any particular engaging. All in all, if you’re a fan of historical fiction, I think you will enjoy this novel.

The Glass Palace

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