The Far Pavilions

by M.M. Kaye

book data

1,196 ratings, 4.18 average rating, 215 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		43%
4		36%
3		15%
2		3%
1		0%

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published

January 15th 1997 (first published 1978) by St. Martin's Griffin

binding

Paperback, 960 pages

setting

India

isbn

031215125X (isbn13: 9780312151256)

description

When The Far Pavilions was first published nineteen years ago, it moved the critic Edmund Fuller to write this: "Were Miss Kaye to produce no oth...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1,697)

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01/07/07

Elizabeth rated it:

bookshelves: alltimefavorites, fiction, india

Another one of my all-time favorites. I don't know how I stumbled on this book, but its worth the 955 pages (yeah really!).

What I liked best about this book is the exploration of the main characters alienation. He is neither British nor Indian, Christian, Muslim or Hindu, he's everything and nothing all at once. Actually I might recommend this book if you liked Life of Pi. Although I would say that this is a much more thorough and interesting tale.

The novel takes pla...more

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1 comment

09/16/07

Pinky rated it:

bookshelves: classics, international-lit, scifi-fantasy-horror

Some books get into your senses. They fill your nose with the scent of a people, the lick of the sun on bare skin, the brazen gossip of silk sheets, or engulfs you with a composition of shadows that hints at something beyond line of sight. M.M. Kaye is a storyteller that makes you taste India. She takes her own life experience and, like Rudyard Kipling and Frances Hodgson Burnett, draws fairy tales in the sands of Southern India while tucked in at the bed of the Himalayans.
This is ...more

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08/20/08

Misfit rated it:

bookshelves: fiction-historical, read-and-keep-for-a-reread

Read in August, 2006

I can't believe I waited 25+ years to read this again! Oh well, the first copy I had I loaned out and never got back. I would give this 10 stars if I could, I had forgotten how good this book was. Thank you Amazon, for recommending books and Listmania -- so many wonderful books I would never have found or rediscovered without you! A truly wonderful story of star-crossed lovers, treachery, intrigue, heroism, honor and bigotry. The author has a great feel and understanding of India under the Briti...more I can't believe I waited 25+ years to read this again! Oh well, the first copy I had I loaned out and never got back. I would give this 10 stars if I could, I had forgotten how good this book was. Thank you Amazon, for recommending books and Listmania -- so many wonderful books I would never have found or rediscovered without you! A truly wonderful story of star-crossed lovers, treachery, intrigue, heroism, honor and bigotry. The author has a great feel and understanding of India under the British Raj. The story of Ash and Juli (Anjuli) was incredible. I could literally feel Ash's pain while he had to sit through watching Juli be married to the evil Maharajah.

The first 2/3 of the book deal with Ash and Julie's early lives together, culminating in the rescue of Juli from being Suttee with her sister. Those pages have to be some of the most heart stopping, page turning, sit on the edge of your seat excitement that I have ever come across in a book (and I have read a few).

The last portion of the book gets away from Ash and Juli (although they are together) and slows down to tell the story of the British incursions into Afghanistan (sp?)and the resultant disaster of setting up a British mission in Kabul. Ash is still prominent as a "spy" for the guides, in the disguise of a native of the country, but while still a good read, the story takes on a different character from the first portions of the book.

I resolve never to loan this book out again so that I won't lose it, and to keep it on my "to be read again and again" shelf throughout the years. Highly recommended.

As a side note, if you are searching for a book for a younger teen to read, this is a good choice. The few scenes between Ash and Juli that were sexual in nature were left mostly to one's imagination. This author is capable of building her scenes without graphic play by play bodice ripping.

**Update** I recently discovered another of this author's books,Shadow of the Moon. It's out of print but readily available used or at your library. Another lovely tale of India, set during the 1857 Sepoy rebellion. If you enjoyed TFP, you will probably enjoy this as well.

***Update***I have just finished another story on the Sepoy rebellion, Zemindar. Out of print, but readily available used. A wonderful tale, with some of the most gorgeous prose I've seen in a long time. (less)

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

6 comments

05/21/07

Emily rated it:

bookshelves: alltimefavorites

Read in June, 1995

Reading this book was quite possibly the only good thing that happened to me in the year 1995. I've since re-read it in its entireity another four or five times, and skimmed through it and picked out my favorite passages at least a dozen times. It's a beautiful "sweeping epic" set in British colonial India, the story of "Ash", who spends the first part of his life believing he's the son of a Hindu serving woman in the palace of a rajah and is himself enlisted as a personal ...more

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06/20/07

KIM rated it:

(review of isbn 055312997X)

Read in January, 1976

This is the best epic novel I ever read. It's an historical adventure/romance that takes place in colonial India. The book starts out when the protagonist, a young English boy named Ash is orphaned because of a cholera outbreak. He is then raised by an Indian nursemaid. Later as a young man he falls in love with a young woman, Anjuli, who has been promised to marry an elderly wealthy nobleman against her will. Her wicked stepmother selected the old man out of spite knowing he would die soon....more

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04/09/08

Matt rated it:

bookshelves: currently-reading

This is not a book you want to start reading if you will not have lots of time to dedicate to it. My paperback is 995 pages and I took it with me to read on the plane on a trip to Europe.

While the book is fiction, it does provide an interesting glimpse into what life was like in India and Afghanistan during the 19th century. A British boy loses both parents in India and is raised by a surrogate Indian mother. He ends up being discovered for who he is when he becomes a teenager, an...more

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10/03/08

Alison rated it:

bookshelves: favourites, fiction, foreign-culture, historical

Read in October, 2008

recommended to Alison by: Julie
recommends it for: History buffs and Culture hounds

Despite the length, I loved this book. The characters, the places, the action and intrigue all held my attention to the very last page. Woven through the history of 19th century India is Ashton's struggle to find his place in society--his identity. He is a man with superior language skills and an uncanny ability to meld with local customs, yet he never is "at home." Always the outsider, he can never truly be himself, except with his "larla" (darling)...
A map in the ...more

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03/22/08

Robert rated it:

bookshelves: old-favorites

Read in July, 1980

My fascination with India, the British and the British Raj aside, M.M. Kaye's tale bears riches of character and plot beautifully laid out with a seductive balance of lyricism and clarity. History is unavoidable in telling this story, from insurrection in India to the failed British mission in Kabul, Afganistan. And there's romance!

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05/26/08

Leslie rated it:

I loved it - the made for television movie cut out so much of the beginning it was awful.
I loaned this and a picture book to go with it to a co-worker years ago - and still regret that.
I actually MIGHT want to read this again.
Great characters, great sweep of country, history, epic story.

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05/01/09

Coco rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, historical-fiction

Read in January, 1985

I just saw this book at a library sale and remembered reading it many years ago. How could I have forgotten? I adored the story of the lovers, "Ash" and Anjuli, and I think this was one of my first exposures to the history of India during the 19th century. Although fiction, Kaye gives a sweeping overview of the country, customs and people, mixed with all kinds of evil and intrigue as the two young lovers try to overcome various obstacles. It's long, but definitely keeps your intere...more

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04/01/08

Hailey rated it:

Read in January, 2004

I loved this one... it is exciting and frustrating and fun and insightful.... i could go on and on. I always look for it in used book stores because it's out of print I think... so I own 3 copies now! But i felt like I just loved this book so much.

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

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07/16/08

Sharon Crawford rated it:

Probably my all-time favorite book...epic (is the word).

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06/08/08

Sabine rated it:

Read in October, 2008

Okay I have a confession to make. I didn't really read the whole book. I read the first 700 pages and then skimmed the rest. I liked the book. The first part was really good. Well written, fun story, full of intersting facts. The problem? It was way too long There are some books that I have no problem being over 1000 pages, Les Miserables for instance. But this one could have been a really good 700 page book and we would have still had all the information. In fact, if the author wanted it to be ...more

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05/21/08

Helen rated it:

Read in November, 2008

recommended to Helen by: Hali
recommends it for: anyone who enjoys a good epic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Still haven't managed to finish this book more than a month after beginning. Perhaps unfairly, a fluffy vampire romance has turned my head for many weeks now. I do intend to finish, though even before the dreamy vampire came around I was having difficulty staying involved. After Ash rescued Juli and married her secretly, my interest dropped off sharply for some reason. I guess the part about leaving Juli at home while Ash goes off to Afghanistan to spy seemed like the author was trying to tack o...more Still haven't managed to finish this book more than a month after beginning. Perhaps unfairly, a fluffy vampire romance has turned my head for many weeks now. I do intend to finish, though even before the dreamy vampire came around I was having difficulty staying involved. After Ash rescued Juli and married her secretly, my interest dropped off sharply for some reason. I guess the part about leaving Juli at home while Ash goes off to Afghanistan to spy seemed like the author was trying to tack on even more history from this part of the world (not that that's a bad thing; just feels like a different story). I really was engrossed in the story up until this point. Perhaps the rush from Juli's rescue and the exciting escape through the mountain pass left me in need of a resolution soon after, rather than stringing me along while Ash plays dress-up for the umpteenth time (not that I didn't appreciate his abilities earlier or anything). I will hopefully be proven wrong and have to eat every word I've typed here.

Update: 11-Nov-08
Here I am, eating my words already, and still haven't quite finished. The Battle of Fatehabad happened almost right after I started reading again, and was extremely well-written and exciting (though I don't hold with glamorizing war in general, I do enjoy reading battle scenes if they're well done). Waiting to see how the powder keg in Kabul will ignite. Less than 100 pages to go...

15-Nov-08
Finally finished it this morning. The powder keg blew sky high, indeed. A tragic but well-fought battle brought this book to its end. I couldn't help mourning just a bit for Wally, though he died perhaps as he would have wished. I suppose I wanted to see him grow old, fall in love, become a Field Marshal, but barring that, "it was a good death." Ash and Juli set out to find their peaceful kingdom, and I wouldn't have minded the author getting them there before the book ended. Lord knows they've earned a rest. Overall, a great adventure. Now that I've finished, I'm glad that it ended this way, and not with the 'boy rescues girl, marries girl, lives happily ever after' rather unrealistic way. Much more satisfying and profound, if that's the correct word. Will have to look up the history of Afghanistan at this time to help sort fact from extremely convincing fiction.(less)

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4 comments

04/02/08

Marah rated it:

(review of isbn 055312997X)

bookshelves: book-club

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Marah by: Shirley

Just blaze through the first 50 dry pages to get to a lovely story filled with vivid detail--I had to keep reminding myself that it was fiction! The following quotes might give away who lives but no other plot lines.

pg. 550 "But it is because I speak with a knowledge that was gained by my own mistakes that I can say to you now, 'Do not look back.' The past is the last refuge of the defeated--of the aged--and there is as yet no need for you to number yourself among either. Tell...more

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02/02/08

Megan rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in January, 2009

recommended to Megan by: Marilyn (my mom)
recommends it for: Sarah B., Lucky, Arianne

At almost 1,000 pages, this adventure romance is a behemoth, but it's full of so many thrills, and so much history and culture that I breezed through it in roughly two weeks. It's the story of Ash, a Caucasian boy orphaned in India and brought up Hindu in the late 1800s. Because of this split background, his life is torn between two worlds, which he must constantly choose between and reconcile. Throw in a love story, royal intrigue, spy schemes, and military escapades, and you have a very well w...more

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05/24/09

Julie rated it:

Read in April, 2009

A friend said this was one of the best books she had read-- so I read it for her. It was 1300 pages --- don't waste your time reading it. It is way too long. Each character has about four names. Maybe if you know India well, you will like it. It was interesting about the India of mid-19th Century under the British. The details of the suttee --- the widow throwing herself on the funeral pyre of her husband--- was interesting.

It would have been better at 300 pages.

A ha...more

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08/12/07

Teddy rated it:

bookshelves: read-in-2007

Read in June, 2007

I read this with Historical Favorites Book Club. Here's my review from Amazon.ca:

I bought this book a few years, but just got around to reading it now. I love the book Gone with the Wind, so when I saw the back cover that made a comparison of the two; I had to have it.

Well I don’t really see much of a comparison to Gone With the Wind, I do see many shining merits of it’s own. The budding romance was beautiful, but this book is great for both men and women. M.M. Ka...more

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02/17/09

Nikki rated it:

Read in January, 1979

I recall enjoying this book, but probably wouldn't have included it in a "must-read" list, and I think that's because I'm an American. In Britain, the long history they have with India is still an important part of daily life as well as many people's family history, so this book might be seen as a parallel to, say, Gone with the Wind.

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08/26/08

Becky rated it:

Read in September, 1979

recommended to Becky by: just chose it myself

I enjoy this book every time I read it. It has amazing detail about the culture in India gleaned from M.M. Kaye's own life, growing up in India in a British military family then marrying a soldier and continuing that lifestyle in various places in the Middle East. She wrote a mystery about each place she was stationed with her husband, but her finest work is Far Pavilions. It was made into a mini-series for TV and she traveled there when she was 80 to observe the filming. The book of course i...more

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