About this title: At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the "Ibis," whose destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, and whose purpose is to fight China's vicious 19th-century Opium Wars. This adventure spans landscapes from the lush poppy fields of the Ganges to the exotic backstreets of Canton.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: John Murray
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780719568954ISBN:0719568951
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: John Murray
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780719568961ISBN:071956896X
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780312428594ISBN:0312428596
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First US edition-First printing.
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: FSG, New York
Date Published: 2008
Description: Fine advance reading copy in stiff, gloss, pictorial wrappers. Signed by author on full title page. Ghosh shared the Vodaphone-Crossword Prize (the Indian equivalent of the Booker) for this work. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: JOHN MURRAY GENERAL PUBLISHING DIVISION Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780719568978ISBN:0719568978
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 544 pages. Shortlisted for the booker prize 2008: a stunningly vibrant novel from amitav ghosh (Paperback) read more
Binding: Audiobook CD
Publisher: Brilliance Corporation, Grand Haven, MI 49417
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781423373742ISBN:142337374X
Description: New in new dust jacket. 15 CDs. Ibis Trilogy. Audience: General/trade. Brand new and shrink wrapped. In stock for immediate shipment. Satisfaction guaranteed. read more
Edition: number line-12345678910
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Canada, Canada
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780374174224ISBN:0374174229
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 515 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Spoken Word MP3-CD
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Date Published: 2008-10-15
ISBN-13:9781423373766ISBN:1423373766
Description: NEW. Spoken Word MP3-CD. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781423373766. read more
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780374174224. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Brilliance Audio on MP3-CD
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9781423373766ISBN:1423373766
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"This book, while not an unchallenging read, is pretty enjoyable escapist stuff overall. The story takes place in nineteenth century India, where various individuals -- officers, prisoners, coolies, stowaways, all with dramatic stories of their own -- are preparing to board the Isis, a ship bound for China. Many of the individuals aboard the Isis have been wronged or exploited in some way -- a widow escaping death on her husband's pyre and running away with a man of lower caste, a Raja wrongly accused of forgery by a British landowner and sentenced to seven years in prison (the ship is taking him to Mauritius with several other prisoners), a French orphan about to be forced into marriage with an elderly judge. Most of the book describes their stories leading up to their presence on the ship; the last third describes the initial voyage and its events. The book ends abruptly, but since it is the first of a series, I was able to forgive that.
At the heart of this book is the opium trade and its devastating effects on colonial India -- addiction, of course, but also exploitation of farmers and the damning attitudes and actions of the British colonial powers that be. Ghosh offers a lot of detail on opium production and use, as well as on life in colonial India in general including linguistic idiosyncrasies which I assume are authentic. Although the detail and linguistics didn't always make for an easy read, the story was generally gripping with moments of high drama as well as comic relief.
I think most historical fiction fans who like a good story will appreciate this book."
"I am a big fan of Amitav Ghosh and have read many of his other books. Sea of Poppies is definitely one of the best, and though broad in scope, I thought it remain engaging and focused from beginning to end. (My one critique of the Glass Palace was that I was more invested in the characters in the first half of the book and that as the time progressed in the novel, I became less committed.) While I want to know more about the future of the characters here, I do feel like this could be a stand-alone book - and I'm not feeling like it ended arbitrarily. On the other hand, I'm happy to read (here on Goodreads) that this is supposed to be part one of a trilogy. I will definitely read the rest of the series.
One challenge, perhaps, is the dialect (or rather, dialects) that Ghosh uses for the characters. While there are plenty of words here that I never knew the meaning of, that never negatively impacted my comprehension and once I got into it, I found myself becoming more and more impressed by Ghosh's ability to represent this confluence of cultures through speech. Of course, that overall coming-together is a major theme in this book, and this was just one way it was demonstrated..."
"This one disappointed me somewhat at the end. It just seemed to end and I was definitely not ready to leave the characters: an orphaned French girl, Paulette, who'd lived her entire life in India and who, to escape her conventional British benefactor, was determined to emulate a female relative who'd passed herself off as a man and another woman, Deeti, whose addicted husband died and whose poppy crop was forfeit to wealthy landlords and money lenders--one of the victims of China's attempt to stop the opium trade. There was also Zachary Reid, who'd sailed on the IBIS from Baltimore as a ship's carpenter and ended up an officer. He was the son of a quadroon mother and a father who made sure he was free--this was the 1830s--but who's taken in India not only for a white man but a wealthy, land-owning one as well. Then there's the Raja whose extravagant ways resulted in his disgrace and imprisonment--not at all fairly though lawfully by Paulette's benefactor, Burnham who owns the IBIS as well as the finest plantation in the area, Bethel (he's a proselytizing Christian as well as ruthless businessman).
Initially, the book reminded me of Dickens--slightly memorable but somewhat improbable characters and extraordinary coincidence all in the service of social criticism. Though the "social criticism" isn't like Dickens in that Ghosh's novel is historical and if it's social criticism, it's designed to remind us of "drug wars" of the past, of China trying to stop the opium trade and ruining those in India who'd been persuaded to grown poppies instead of vegetables, and of the Opium Wars that resulted when Britain used force to sustain their export of opium to China from India--against Chinese law.
The orphaned French girl, the bankrupted Bengali farm woman, the mulatto American sailor, the disgraced Raja end up together on the IBIS which, because of the slack in the opium trade, has been refitted to move coolies (all but slaves) to Mauritius--along with a number of other colorful characters.
I didn't like this one as well as The Hungry Tide. Ghosh is skillful at handling the many characters and plot lines that converge, but Sea of Poppies doesn't bring it all together quite as skillfully. I think, also, that I expected the novel to go in the other direction--literally east toward China and the opium wars, not west toward Mauritius. I expected more of an expose of the opium trade that lead to 19th century drug wars--perhaps because of the title. Perhaps also because it cannot help but make one think of today's "opium wars"."
"What a fascinating book! Time and place is just before the Opium Wars in China and the setting is a sea voyage from Calcutta to Mauritius, but before the sea voyage begins the characters have to be set and they have to begin their journeys both physically and psychologically....some are seamen, some are peasants, some are bureaucrats, some are wealthy, some are prisoners. Ghosh creates a fascinating cast of characters from the varieties of people living in India at this time. Unlike many of the books I have read about India over the years, the perspective is not from the viewpoint of the British business or governing class and shows the underpinings of British business interests in a much more critical light than most. I also found the description of the effect of poppy cultivation on the peasants of India fascinating because it mirrors what has happened around the world with the emphasis on cash crops including drug crops. Part of the fascination I had reading this was with the language because of the vernacular used. Particularly at the beginning it was a bit of an impediment until I realized that it was almost a music of language and the specific words either became obvious with usage or the exact meaning wasn't critical.
This is the first of a trilogy and I look forward to the next installment to find out what happens to the cast of characters that have already met many surprises and challenges."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
