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Sea of Poppies (Ibis Trilogy #1)

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 7,580 ratings · 1,147 reviews

At the heart of this vibrant saga is a vast ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean; its purpose, to fight China’s vicious nineteenth-century Opium Wars. As for the crew, they are a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts.

In a time of colonial upheaval, fate has thrown together a diverse cast of Indians and Westerners,...more

Hardcover, 533 pages

Published May 1st 2008 by John Murray Publisher (first published 2008)

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Apr 10, 2010 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: distant-lands, it-is-for-class, littry-fiction

donald harington recommended this book to me and now that he's gone, i can't even talk about it with him, and that is what i was thinking the whole time i was reading this book. if i hadn't had to read it for school, i would have waited until the other two books in the trilogy were published, so i could have had at them all at once, but again, school screws up my plans. it's an amazingly quick read - i was under the impression that i was supposed to have read it for yesterday's class so i zipped...more

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Aug 25, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone of a literary bent

Shelves: booker-prize-longlist, historical-fiction

Very broad in scope, Sea of Poppies is nonetheless an enchanting read, one that had me stopping normal routine so as to get back to it every time I had to put it down. Before you read this, however, you should know that it is designed as the first entry of what will eventually be a trilogy based on the ship Ibis and a group of people who, for whatever reason, found themselves aboard her. I say this because without understanding this point, you may feel a bit cheated by the ending of the novel.

Th...more Very broad in scope, Sea of Poppies is nonetheless an enchanting read, one that had me stopping normal routine so as to get back to it every time I had to put it down. Before you read this, however, you should know that it is designed as the first entry of what will eventually be a trilogy based on the ship Ibis and a group of people who, for whatever reason, found themselves aboard her. I say this because without understanding this point, you may feel a bit cheated by the ending of the novel.

This was the first book I've read by Amitav Ghosh, and while he's writing his second book in the trilogy, I'm going to backtrack and read some of his other work. In Sea of Poppies, the story is divided into three sections: Land, River, Sea, moving the story along from the introduction to all of these very colorful characters to their assembly and journey on the Ibis (which used to carry slaves and now transports workers and convicts to Mauritius). The characters range from a young widow whose fate would have been to join her husband in death in sati, or throwing herself into his funeral pyre, which would elevate the status of her husband's family, to a group of lascars who will crew the Ibis, headed by a chief who seems to have his own agenda as regards the second mate, one Zachary Reid, a freedman from Baltimore. There are also a group of people being transported to work in Mauritius, many of whom were caught up in the cycle of being forced to grow poppies for the British opium trade with China. There is also a raja who has been brought down via a cocked-up set of false charges, and a half-Chinese opium addict who is the raja's cell mate in the brig. Others rounding out the list are the daughter of a French botanist who came late to colonial propriety, and one Baboo Nob Kissin, who feels that he has another's soul inside of him. Each one of these people has his or her own story, and these are woven into the fabric of the novel as the tale progresses. Underlying most of their stories is the hard and fast fact of British colonialism in India -- and all of its accompanying hypocrisy and self-imposed superiority.

Sea of Poppies is a wonderful tale on a grand scale and I can recommend it very highly. Don't get frustrated with the ending, though; look at it as the start of an epic adventure.(less)

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Nov 15, 2009 Fiona rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, setting-india, historical, 2009, bought-new, favourites

Sea of Poppies is the first book in the Ibis trilogy and I simply can't wait to read the second. Unfortunately Ghosh took four years to write this one and according to an interview hasn't even started the next ones yet. I do hope he doesn't leave us hanging for too long because this book definitely leaves you wanting to read more.

Ghosh is a fantastic author and I truly want to read more of his books. Sea of Poppies, compared to the other books of his I have read (The Hungry Tide and The Glass Pa ...more Sea of Poppies is the first book in the Ibis trilogy and I simply can't wait to read the second. Unfortunately Ghosh took four years to write this one and according to an interview hasn't even started the next ones yet. I do hope he doesn't leave us hanging for too long because this book definitely leaves you wanting to read more.

Ghosh is a fantastic author and I truly want to read more of his books. Sea of Poppies, compared to the other books of his I have read (The Hungry Tide and The Glass Palace feels a lot more 'novelish' then his others. I feel he had a lot of fun with this one more so then his others.

Set just before the Opium Wars, the book takes you on a journey through India, drawing people from all over to bring them to the ship - the Ibis. Sea of Poppies introduces you to the cast of characters that will propel the rest of the trilogy onwards through the coming journey. Each of them some how, has been touched by the poppy seed, the opium trade which the British colonists forced India into producing.

The British are represented by Ghosh as unsympathetic buffoons in a way that it a little too much like a caricature but I think this was his desired effect. He did not wish to give them personality or individuality. As a whole, they are not to be liked.

Immediately upon starting this novel, you are wrapped in the smells, the touch and the language of India. Ghosh seems to have swallowed a dictionary and has given each character their own way of speaking. The language of the lascars I found to be a bit confusing at first but after a while you find yourself immersed. What’s interesting I thought was how a lot of Indian words infected the British people’s vocabulary. “dekko” meaning ‘to look’ for instance is quite commonly used. Such words become self explanatory in the context used and each add a little bit of colour to the way Ghosh paints his story. Each character has a different way of speaking – from educated English, Bhojpuri, Hindustani, Lascari among others.

I really enjoyed this book, enough to give it a generous five stars. If GR had half stars perhaps it would have been a 4.5 instead. I think it will be a magnificent trilogy and I am just dying to read more. Maybe I will have to settle with reading the other books by Ghosh in the meanwhile.
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Sep 14, 2009 Sandy Tjan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: long-ago-and-never-was, the-empire-writes-back, 5-star-reads, 2009, india

A beautifully written historical novel about 1830's India in the grip of the opium trade. The characters are just as diverse as the British Empire itself, each with their own dialects and idiosyncracies, all brought together by the opium trade's many tentacled hands into the Ibis, on a voyage that will irrevocably changed them forever. The author has obviously done a massive amount of research into the period, and this novel is so rich with details that it could veritably serve as an encyclopaed...more

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Nov 05, 2008 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: sacha, chris holmes

t's good to hear (though it's unconfirmed,) that "Sea of Poppies," is part one of a projected trilogy, because although it's a beautifully styled (I'd say extravagantly written,) completely engaging, well researched work of historical fiction, it closes without a satisfactory end. Three stars as a stand-alone, (despite its many merits, and because of the ending;) five stars if it is, indeed, installment one.

Beautifully styled - extravagantly written. I've not read other works by Amitav Ghosh, s...more t's good to hear (though it's unconfirmed,) that "Sea of Poppies," is part one of a projected trilogy, because although it's a beautifully styled (I'd say extravagantly written,) completely engaging, well researched work of historical fiction, it closes without a satisfactory end. Three stars as a stand-alone, (despite its many merits, and because of the ending;) five stars if it is, indeed, installment one.

Beautifully styled - extravagantly written. I've not read other works by Amitav Ghosh, so I'm not familiar with his stylistic strategies, but "The Sea of Poppies," is written with the love of language I've come to expect from Indian novelists. Mr. Ghosh has captured both the English and the "Hing-lish," of the Victorian Age, and enriched it with a delightful and descriptive patois and pidgin. I don't know how much Mr. Ghosh has invented whole cloth, and how much is a result of research, but it's hugely entertaining, and perhaps near genius. Yes, it does leave you slightly at sea in terms of full understanding, but I find that to be part of the charm. (I've nodded my head in befuddlement in many countries.) It reminds me of the language recorded in the Booker Prize winning, Sacred Hunger" by Barry Unsworth, another beautifully written novel about fretful times.

Well researched. Even as a student of India, the scenes and details of "The Sea of Poppies," were new to me. Village life, city life; the tics, prejudices, and beliefs of the hoi polloi as well as the ruling classes; the facts and lore of the opium trade, the merchant life, and life at sea are all well limned and thoroughly convincing - and enchanting, though not in the whimsical sense that word is usually employed to describe. The description of a walk through an opium refining plant is worth the price of admission. Mr Ghosh engages all the readers' senses in his detailed portrayals of character as well as location. You can smell the ship, "Ibis," not pleasant, but...

Totally engaging. I can't say as I experienced a dull moment. It's a romance, an adventure, a history all combined with a colorful cast of characters and exotic settings.

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Oct 28, 2008 Sara-Maria Sorentino rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: commodities

there is much to learn of the context of the hugely important opium trade in these pages. this is, of course, what the book promises and ghosh delivers with studied and fascinating detail to be sure. The plot is such that story lines intertwine and characters are guided together onto the Ibis (a ship originally designed to transport slaves) by circumstance, premonition, and force. the characters' journeys by land, river and sea are our access to different stages in the cultivation, transportatio...more

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Sep 30, 2008 Christopher rated it 2 of 5 stars

I had forgotten how annoyed I was at The Glass Palace; only to be remembered during Sea of Poppies.

A group of random individuals end up on a former slave ship as it makes it way from India to China during the opening years of the Opium Wars, in the first half of the 19th century. It's a good yarn, although intended as the first in a series of three, don't expect anything like a complete story here - Amitav Ghosh practically lets you off mid-sentence.

Whilst a colourful story, the characters are s...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Dimple rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel starts with the description of ship "ibis" and how different persons(rich, poor, orphan,abscond...) end up on the same ship by inter-connecting their life!

Amitav Ghost has aptly described that era when East India Company was emerging as great power and what impact it had.
Realistic approach for language like conversion of "Madhav Kalua" to "Madow colva"
by english officer.

As it's name suggests this journey on "Sea"(or land) is all about the effect which "poppies" had in their lives, how...more

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Jan 17, 2009 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book. 4.5 stars easy. It takes place at the beginning of the Opium Wars, a time that I knew nothing about in that part of the world (India early 19th c.) It is gorgeously written with a great cast of sympathetic characters, all of whose lives are being affected by the opium trade and rampant imperialism. Strong themes of transformation and rebirth. And the first part of a trilogy - it will be hard to wait for the rest. Highly recommended, suitable for all readers.

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Apr 26, 2009 Petra X rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

If I had known this book was the first part of a trilogy - the other books as yet unwritten - and that the book was not complete unto itself, in other words, this saga is a serial rather than a series, I would probably not have bought it. And then I would have missed a book interesting for its historical period (the Opium Wars with China) about which I knew nothing, for its finely-drawn characters and general good-all-round storytelling.

This is really a 5-star book, but I am only giving it 4-st...more

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Nov 29, 2010 Doug Bradshaw rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is quite a book and I have given it five stars because it is brilliant, well researched, beautifully written and right up there with some of the very best, similar in some ways, for example, to the Master and Commander series. However, I have a few observations and comments to make. The fat lady hasn't quite sung yet.

1. This is the first book in a trilogy. It ends with only two loose ends tied of dozens and dozens. There was some retribution in the end of the book but it came at a huge cos...more This is quite a book and I have given it five stars because it is brilliant, well researched, beautifully written and right up there with some of the very best, similar in some ways, for example, to the Master and Commander series. However, I have a few observations and comments to make. The fat lady hasn't quite sung yet.

1. This is the first book in a trilogy. It ends with only two loose ends tied of dozens and dozens. There was some retribution in the end of the book but it came at a huge cost. I became emotionally tied to many of the characters and I love many of them and yet I don't think I ever shed a tear. I may, however, in the future.

2. One of the main themes of the book was to show how unfairly governments (mostly the Brits), rulers, the caste system, people of greater status over those of lesser means, powerful businessmen, captains and officers on board the ship and many others, rule over other people. Although I believe this picture was a very accurate picture of reality, it's sometimes almost too much to bear. We have to go through every painful detail of every evil deed and the world almost seems like it's literally hell with very little heaven. That said, there are some very heroic and excellent moments of sacrifice and good. But it's primarily a very dark picture of much of humanity, at least of that era of India which was under British rule at the time.

3. The book is full of slang, pigeon (pidgin), and many different languages and dialects that are all mixed into the text. Rather than spending a lot of time trying to sort through that, it's better to plough through it all because much of it isn't very important. It has it's own rhythm and authenticity, but I actually feel that it was a bit showy and even a little lazy. I remember one page early on in the book that had maybe twenty different Indian words for different foods, clothing and other non English words and I thought, how ridiculous. Is this written primarily for those few people who speak both languages and know the historical usages of these words? Oh you're such a scholar, Ghosh. I think an excellent addition to the book would be footmarks that clearly outline the usage of these words. He started doing that with the "Chrestomathy" in the the back of the book but I found it fairly unhelpful unless I were to make a real study out of it like he did.

4. Although there is a lot of fairly graphic sex, violence and R rated material, it doesn't come across as X rated. It is couched in kind of a conservative and even naive approach to the activities that are going on. It seems to me that Ghosh's Indian roots and background come out more here, especially in the way he portrays sex and relationships, than in some of the obvious ways such as his phrasing and use of certain words, etc. His English is just excellent. But the almost scholarly and then practiced talk about crude things going on seems embarrassing to him but necessary to include to make it all appropriately told. I had to read a couple of pages twice or three times to make sure he is telling us that one of the main characters is gay (although don't think of modern day gay, think more of a twisted, uneducated creep who has never known what a male/female relationship is and is satisfied and trained to like whatever sex is between men in prison or on long voyages at sea). I would be interested to get a gay man's take on this.

I have a lot of other thoughts that would be fun to discuss with someone who has recently read the book. Much of my judgments are held until I read the next two books. This could end out to be one of the top historical fiction series ever written. Or not.

I think the rave reviews are deserved and that this book is a huge accomplishment. I'm looking forward to reading book two. I've searched the internet for updates on the second book. If you have one, please let me know. I wish it were available now.

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Jul 31, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is very light (just as well - my head is pretty full these days) and a bit uneven... reminds me that I didn't like (or finish, I think) The Glass Palace. Some nice colour though, and inventive stories, which are all obviously heading to a common point, though that feels contrived.

Our young Mr Matheson (of Jardine Matheson, and Lewis) gets a passing mention, and a character is clearly based on him - getting all pious about drug-running as a means to conversion and salvation. AG certainly tel...more This is very light (just as well - my head is pretty full these days) and a bit uneven... reminds me that I didn't like (or finish, I think) The Glass Palace. Some nice colour though, and inventive stories, which are all obviously heading to a common point, though that feels contrived.

Our young Mr Matheson (of Jardine Matheson, and Lewis) gets a passing mention, and a character is clearly based on him - getting all pious about drug-running as a means to conversion and salvation. AG certainly tells the story (and the exposition of the British free-traders pushing opium on China to maintain a trade balance, though purportedly for nobler reasons, is very efficiently done, in half a chapter) but it's kind of historical-fiction-decaf: the taste, but not the punch. Lacking heart and insight, maybe. But I'm not done yet.

EDIT: Now I'm done. Well, it rattles on to the end... except of course it's not the end, as it stops on a sort of cliff edge, being the first of a trilogy, and forgive me for being a fuddy-duddy but I think books should stand alone, and this doesn't really.

Anyway, it's got some highjinks in there but I'm not convinced by the story, the characters or the language. The language, first, is very Hobson-Jobson, amusing enough for half a page and then, enough already, Amitav, you're giving me a sore head. There's also the colourful cursing of the sailors and the franglais of Mlle Paulette, both completely unconvincing ('all-of-sweet', she says, trying to translate tout de suite which is just bizarre, for a girl who grew up in British India amongst the colonials (albeit with a French father) and can pass for native in Bengali.)

The characters are mostly overblown and unmotivated (though I am intrigued by Baboo Nob Kissin - something interesting going on there) and cavort about in a strangely high-coloured way; everything is extreme. The down-trodden wifey becomes the Bhauji and matriarchal rebel leader in a matter of days; the spoiled, selfish Raja becomes the noble, sensitive carer of an opium addict - in both instances after traumatic events, but still, they read like completely different characters before and after.

The story is full of unlikely coincidences and dramatic turns (piling up at the end, especially) and comes from continually shifting perspectives, but oddly, it still drags, as we get ALL the episodes, instead of just the interesting ones, and the historical detail seems artificial.

Really, none of it works for me. That said, it's fairly readable and lots of folk, I know, love it.

Some nice detail, which I have no reason to doubt, about opium manufacturing.(less)

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Apr 06, 2011 Kay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, india, modern-fiction, world-lit, commodity_history, fiction, historical-fict

"The truth is, sir, that men do what their power permits them to do. We are no different from the Pharaohs or the Mongols: the difference is only that when we kill people we feel compelled to pretend that it is for some higher cause. It is this pretence of virtue, I promise you, that will never be forgiven by history."

Sea of Poppies wrestles with the complex moral questions of the opium trade in an unexpectedly emphathetic way. There are the producers, users, and traffickers, all with complex mo...more

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Dec 07, 2010 Praj rated it 2 of 5 stars

Deeti, Kalua, Zachary, Serang Ali, Paulette, Neel and Baboo Kissin, I am afraid I have to abruptly dismiss our modest tea party. The biscuits are soggy, sandwiches are musty and the Darjeeling brew is insipid. So slip me some "black tar" and I’m off to the land of nocturnal rainbows bedecked with copulating gremlins.

Sea of Poppies irrespective to the fact of it being the preamble to Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy and the onset ambience of the epic Anglo-Chinese Opium War,falls short in capturing my nomadi...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Sea of Poppies is a lush, tropical whirlwind of a novel that will sweep you away from the winter snow and onto the broad, weathered deck of the seafaring Ibis, a former slave ship plying the warm waters of the Indian Ocean circa the 1830's, refitted as a merchant clipper and now en route to China to take part in the Opium Wars. The life stories of your fellow passengers, and the myriad paths of fate that have drawn them into the hold of the Ibis, will keep you turning pages to the end and eagerl...more Sea of Poppies is a lush, tropical whirlwind of a novel that will sweep you away from the winter snow and onto the broad, weathered deck of the seafaring Ibis, a former slave ship plying the warm waters of the Indian Ocean circa the 1830's, refitted as a merchant clipper and now en route to China to take part in the Opium Wars. The life stories of your fellow passengers, and the myriad paths of fate that have drawn them into the hold of the Ibis, will keep you turning pages to the end and eagerly awaiting the second book in Ghosh's planned "Ibis Trilogy."

The back stories of the characters in Sea of Poppies are so numerous and varied that they would become trapped in a hopeless tangle if left to the hands of a lesser writer. Ghosh makes each story so uniquely compelling, however, that the reader moves easily between tales, eagerly resuming the thread of one story while hoping for the addition of yet another character to the novel's narrative tapestry. Each character in Sea of Poppies is a star, and it's a bang-up ensemble cast: Deeti, a young village girl with the pale grey eyes of a ghost, who is forced to marry an opium addict against her will; Kahlua, a common laborer with limited intellect whose menacing size belies a wise and tender heart; Paulette, a young orphaned French girl who discovers her guardian's desire to provide her with private catechism lessons isn't guided by Christian charity; Zachary, a light-skinned mulatto freeman from Boston whose ethnic heritage is unknowable but for his listing as "black" in the ship's manifest; Neel, a wealthy East Indian who loses his family's fortune in the opium bubble; the comical Baboo Nob Kassin, a bulgy-eyed devotee of Krishna, who eagerly believes that his body is miraculously morphing into the female incarnation of his deceased beloved -- these are just a few tantalizing samples of the myriad characters you'll meet in Ghosh's teeming saga.

Every element of narrative intrigue is encountered during the course of the book: forbidden young love, premature widowhood, the forced separation of a mother and daughter, vast turns of fortune, the mighty brought low, the low elevated to power, an unexpected courtship and marriage, justice denied and justice regained, clever disguises, narrow escapes, a bastard son's search for his rightful heritage, a dastardly ship's mate with murder on his mind, lashings, typhoons -- the list goes on and on.

In addition to the immense entertainment value of the book, it provides a painless education about the economics of the poppy trade, the class systems of India in the 19th century, the history of the Opium Wars, British colonial life in the Near and Far East, the medicinal and addictive features of opium, details of life aboard a 19th century sailing ship, and more salty shipboard lingo than you can shake a stick at (you'll either blush or try to memorize it, depending on your personal standards). I, for one, can't wait for the next installment in this multi-ethnic swashbuckler.(less)

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Sep 22, 2010 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

This is a very enjoyable read, a complex story that delves into and exposes a culture I will probably never see first-hand. Effectively moving, it manages to pull your emotions and affections in all directions at once. It brings to life traditions and history that have been nearly lost, and it asks us to consider our own society in the light of this one so very different and so very similar to our own. It makes me wonder if I would have had the guts and the ingenuity to make it in that world - i...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Emma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, fiction, historical, diaspora_migrants, islands, anarchists_revolutionaries, globalisation, asia_subcontinent, epic

This book is a ripping historical yarn. The detail gives the book a richness and colour (of India, somewhere, the sea to Mauritius, in advance of the Opium Wars), and the patina of an absolutely exotic past. The characters' lives are stratified along lines of colonial status, caste, or race; chance events (the sometimes slightly visible hand of a god-like author, I guess) throw all those relations up in the air, creating a thrilling (and adequately plausible) social fluidity engendered by the pr...more

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Dec 27, 2009 Sowmya rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

Of ships that sail troubled waters, carrying souls tortured by the ‘Divide’; caste, class, racial and sexual. Of injustices carried out in the name of justice. The IBIS is overloaded with all kinds of deceitful activity, each a justified means to an end which seems further and further away, as the days pass on and the banks hold back while the women laborers bond as they endure getting raped or pregnant or married and the English Captain is bullied or befriended or the prisoners wallow in their...more

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Jul 15, 2010 Mady rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Alexandra, Tania, Hirondelle

Shelves: mine, 2010, favourites

Just finished reading this book and now I want moooooore!! This is the first book of a triology and the 2nd book hasn't been published yet! Arghhh!

I want to know more about former raja Neel, about camaleonic Paulette, about her almost brother Jodu, about resourceful Deeti, about freshman seaman Zachary... It took me a little while to get to know the characters (because they are a few!), but once I did, I could relate to them all and started reading at full speed. This novel takes place in India,...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Chinmoy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

The book was presented to me by my friends on my birthday and I must say it turned out to be a good gift.
The book takes you back to the British India and the life of the people of those times. There a number of character from different classes of society and the author describes each of them with rich details and brings them to life. Interestingly fate brings all these characters together on a ship, Ibis, sailing to Mauritius island.
The book is a part of the Ibis trilogy and Sea of Poppies ends...more

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Mar 08, 2010 Vicki rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: history lovers, adventure lovers

I learned a great deal of history about India and opium poppy production. It made me cringe to learn how the East India company, owned and run by people in the British Empire, purposefully addicted many Chinese to opium. AND purposefully enslaved many Indians. Nevertheless, the characters were very engaging, and I can't wait to read the sequels.

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Sep 18, 2008 Sonya rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love Ghosh's description of the opium trade, the warehouses, the culture around the business and of course, the countless afhimkhors. He loves breaking down the acceptable social boundaries of human relationships - its something he explores in many of his books, as he does here in the relationship between the French orphan Paulette and the son of her Bengali maid, Jodu, and Deeti's elopement with Kalua after he boldly rescues her from the burning pyre of her sattidom. I really enjoyed the way...more

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Aug 10, 2010 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Wow! I absolutely loved this book. To be transported to a time and place so completely foreign to me was a joy. Ghosh's playful use of the English language interspersed with several Indian dialects and seafarer's slang brought the travels of the Ibis on the Hooghly river and the Bay of Bengal to vivid life. The nicknames, anglicized versions and mispronunciations of various characters names made the characters more human and real and kept the story lighthearted while dealing with difficult cultu...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Archit Nanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: indian-fiction, post-colonial

It is divided into three parts ie Land, River and Sea.In the first parts the characters are established and the sheer pace of the narrative keeps you gripped. There are many interlocking stories and some of them are excellent such as that of Deeti.In the second part the book loses its pace and some new characters are introduced which are not as good as the ones introduced in the first part but the real fun lies in the third part when all the characters, belonging from different parts of India, c...more

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Dec 21, 2008 Jason rated it 3 of 5 stars

Is it possible for there to be a star in between "I liked it" and "I really liked it"? Yes, I did like, if not really like, this book. But I know that it's only going to get better. From what I've read, his books usually blow me away in the end. But this book is the first in a trilogy! How can I judge it? Yes, I did like it. But I know it will only get better, and I like it more than other books that "I liked." However, it does not transcend, which would earn it a "I loved it," and yet, it did n...more

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Feb 03, 2009 Saralyn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Centered around the passengers and crew of a converted slave ship, now opium trader and indentured servant transport, it is a fascinating exploration of the interaction of Indian and British culture during the early 19th century. Discussion of the role of the British in India and China, the opium trade, details about Hindu beliefs and rituals. Filled with period detail and fascinating characters. A part-black ship's carpenter who has become the ship's second mate through unexpected turns of fate...more

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Dec 22, 2008 Eva Mitnick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Set in India in the 1830's against a backdrop of the Opium trade, this is one of those books in which many different people from various walks of life all come together in one place like strands in a braid. There's a free black man from the U.S. (passing as white, though not on purpose) who is relishing the sailing life, a young Indian widow whose husband's opium addiction closed off all her options, an educated Raja whose debt lands him in prison, a young white woman and the son of the Indian w...more Set in India in the 1830's against a backdrop of the Opium trade, this is one of those books in which many different people from various walks of life all come together in one place like strands in a braid. There's a free black man from the U.S. (passing as white, though not on purpose) who is relishing the sailing life, a young Indian widow whose husband's opium addiction closed off all her options, an educated Raja whose debt lands him in prison, a young white woman and the son of the Indian woman who brought her up, and many many more characters. They all end up on the Ibis, a ship heading for the Mauritius Island. Some characters are sailors, others are indentured laborers, and all of them seemed to be drawn on to the ship by fate.

Most of these folks, especially the Indians who end up in the stinking hold of the Ibis as indentured workers, have been yanked from all they knew and loved - they have been separated from wives, husbands, parents, and children. Horrible things happen to many characters as their lives are turned upside down. However, Ghosh isn't so cruel as to hit his characters with anything they can't handle. The true joy in this book - apart from the flowing writing, Dickensian characters, and jaw-dropping dialogue (the man is a genius with the way folks talk, especially the mixture of languages found in India and onboard ship - I'd love to hear an audiobook version of this) - is the way all the characters learn that they are in fact NOT powerless, but rather have strengths that allow them to take charge of their own fates, if only in a very small way.

It's a message of hope and even joy, and it lifts this book far out of the morass of misery that could have bogged down a lesser writer. The end of this book is rather a cliff-hanger, but it's such a hopeful one that I can't wait to read the next two books in this trilogy.

By the way, this was shortlisted for the Booker (which was won by The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - another Indian writer).(less)

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Mar 13, 2013 Agni Kirupha rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a must read book for those people who love novels based in India. It was one of those rare books that gives you the urge to sift through the pages without having to place the book down. The characters in the book feel real and personal in a way that is engaging. I loved the way the different characters come together at the end of the book and the author does it really well to keep the momentum going. It was like watching a Tarantino movie wherein different stories are held together by a...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Geetha rated it 5 of 5 stars

“Sea of Poppies”, the first of the Ibis Trilogy is a colossal tale of epic proportions set in the 1830’s in British India. The novel covers several themes but the themes of British involvement in the opium trade and the shipment of indentured labour from India to various British Colonies occupies much of the novel. The sprawling narrative weaves a detailed and intriguing plot, filled with a cast of very diverse characters that span a wide range from British Sahibs and Rajahs to convicts and opiu...more “Sea of Poppies”, the first of the Ibis Trilogy is a colossal tale of epic proportions set in the 1830’s in British India. The novel covers several themes but the themes of British involvement in the opium trade and the shipment of indentured labour from India to various British Colonies occupies much of the novel. The sprawling narrative weaves a detailed and intriguing plot, filled with a cast of very diverse characters that span a wide range from British Sahibs and Rajahs to convicts and opium addicts. The author maintains the reader’s interest throughout the 500 plus pages as the plot cleverly unfolds.

The trade of opium financed much of the British Raj in India. Farmers in north-east India did grow modest amounts of poppies along with grain and vegetables before the British arrived. However after the British discovered the profits opium trade would add to their coffers, farmers were compelled to grow poppies in large quantities, opium was manufactured in factories nearby and exported mostly to China. Opium was known to the Chinese as well from as early as the 7th century but it was used mostly for medicinal purposes. The practice of using opium for smoking was introduced to China by Europeans. The British worked hard to create an appetite for opium in China. China passed edicts making it illegal to smoke opium but the British East India Company continued to export opium from India to China. When China wanted the British to stop exporting opium over concern for the addiction it was creating, the British went to war – the famous Opium Wars. The novel dramatizes British lack of concern for the damage the drug was causing to the Indian labourers engaged in its production as well as to the general population of China to whom they marketed the product. Both the Church and Crown turned a blind eye to the opium trade, the opium factories “were institutions steeped in Anglican piety” (pg 91) and the Ghazipur Opium Factory was “among the most precious jewels in Queen Victoria’s crown” (pg 92).

Under British colonial rule another “commodity” exported in large quantities was indentured labour. The demand for indentured labour increased dramatically after the abolition of slavery. Young able bodied Indians were willing to go to faraway lands as labour, to escape the poverty at home but they knew little of the lands they were going to or the conditions they would have to endure. The Ibis in the novel carries labourers to Mauritius under circumstances no better than slave ships carrying slaves from Africa to America.

The book does not portray the British in a positive light. Their colonization of most of the world being based on the belief that they were a chosen race upon whom the Almighty had imposed the divine mission to look after the welfare of people “as were still in the infancy of civilization”, “people incapable of the proper conduct of their own affairs” (pg 236). As Mr. Chillingworth says in the novel, “we are no different from the Pharoahs or Mongols; the difference is only that when we kill people we feel compelled to pretend that it is for some higher cause. It is this pretense of virtue......that will never be forgiven in history”.

The author is a master story teller. The story has several sub plots and the craftsmanship of the author brings them together on the Ibis. Amitav Ghosh’s prose is flawless. I highly recommend the book to all lovers of historical fiction and love of language. The book is the first in a trilogy so the end of the book may not be satisfactory to some readers but on the other hand it makes the reader eager for the next novel in the series.

This review was originally published at Book Weyr
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Jan 23, 2013 Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: south-asia

I have read some of Ghosh's other books and non-fiction essays before, but recently decided to go back to his work after meeting him a couple of weeks ago when he passed through campus. Having been trained at Oxford as an anthropologist he has a wonderful eye, or perhaps I should say pen, for capturing the imagined class conflicts of his characters in colonial India. His story, however, expands far beyond proper to draw on global characters and trade networks. Ghosh's finesse in doing so is indi...more

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About Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh is one of India's best-known writers. His books include The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, In An Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, Incendiary Circumstances, The Hungry Tide. His most recent novel, Sea of Poppies, is the first volume of the Ibis Trilogy.

Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956. He studied in Dehra Dun, New Delhi, Alexan...more

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The Calcutta Chromosome: A Novel of Fevers, Delirium & Discovery

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“The government to you is what God is to agnostics--only to be invoked when your own well being is at stake.” — 4 people liked it

“How had it happened that when choosing the men and women who were to be torn from this subjugated plain, the hand of destiny had stayed so far inland, away from the busy coastlines, to alight on the people who were, of all, the most stubbornly rooted in the silt of the Ganga, in a soil that had to be sown with suffering to yield its crop of story and song? It was as if fate had thrust its fist through the living flesh of the land in order to tear away a piece of its stricken heart.” — 1 person liked it

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Sea of Poppies (Ibis Trilogy #1)

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