Book post reprinted from my other book blog, BookBirdDog (Book Dilettante)
The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Published June 11, 2020; Mariner Books
AMITAV GHOSH was born in Calcutta, and grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; he studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria. He is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction including the Booker-shortlisted Sea of Poppies, the first novel in The Ibis Trilogy, The Glass Palace and The Hungry Tide. His non-fiction writing includes The Great Derangement, The Nutmeg’s Curse and Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories, which was shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize.
Amitav Ghosh’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages. He was a finalist of the Man Booker International Prize and was the first English-language writer to be the recipient of the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour. In 2024 Amitav Ghosh was awarded the Erasmus Prize.
Genre: Indian literature, historical fiction, award winning novel
A young Indian marine biologist, Piya Roy, travels to the remote Sunderbans area of West Bengal, India near the border with Bangladesh, to find and study the habits of two rare river dolphins, one of them the Irawaddy dolphin. She gets help from an illiterate yet knowledgeable boatman, Fokir, who knows and understands the extensive mangroves, the shifting tides of the river, and the multiple small islands that make up the marshland area. He is able to take her to where the dolphins regularlly gather to feed.
I loved the extensive and detailed descriptions of the Sunderbans islands, the poetic vision of man and nature and their interactions. The tenacious and determined personality of Piya and her bravery and courage in her research fits well with the astute and competent boatman Fokir, and their attraction to each other does not come as a surprise.
The force of nature and its effects on humans and their frail habitations in a wilderness of wood and water is made over and over again when the incoming tides completely cover many of the islands each day. The main event for the inhabitants is when a cyclone threatens their lives and houses in the Sunderbans. The mangroves are also home to ferocious tigers, crocodiles, and snakes.
The main character is the land - the land of wood, water, and the tides that swallow them up at will. The love story between Piya and Fokir is also heart breaking. But the redemption of having environmental groups fund Piya's further study of the Sunderbans is a reward for her efforts.
A young Indian marine biologist, Piya Roy, travels to the remote Sunderbans area of West Bengal, India near the border with Bangladesh, to find and study the habits of two rare river dolphins, one of them the Irawaddy dolphin. She gets help from an illiterate yet knowledgeable boatman, Fokir, who knows and understands the extensive mangroves, the shifting tides of the river, and the multiple small islands that make up the marshland area. He is able to take her to where the dolphins regularlly gather to feed.
I loved the extensive and detailed descriptions of the Sunderbans islands, the poetic vision of man and nature and their interactions. The tenacious and determined personality of Piya and her bravery and courage in her research fits well with the astute and competent boatman Fokir, and their attraction to each other does not come as a surprise.
The force of nature and its effects on humans and their frail habitations in a wilderness of wood and water is made over and over again when the incoming tides completely cover many of the islands each day. The main event for the inhabitants is when a cyclone threatens their lives and houses in the Sunderbans. The mangroves are also home to ferocious tigers, crocodiles, and snakes.
The main character is the land - the land of wood, water, and the tides that swallow them up at will. The love story between Piya and Fokir is also heart breaking. But the redemption of having environmental groups fund Piya's further study of the Sunderbans is a reward for her efforts.
AMITAV GHOSH was born in Calcutta, and grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; he studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria. He is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction including the Booker-shortlisted Sea of Poppies, the first novel in The Ibis Trilogy, The Glass Palace and The Hungry Tide. His non-fiction writing includes The Great Derangement, The Nutmeg’s Curse and Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories, which was shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize.
Amitav Ghosh’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages. He was a finalist of the Man Booker International Prize and was the first English-language writer to be the recipient of the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour. In 2024 Amitav Ghosh was awarded the Erasmus Prize.
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