Please discuss Book 1: The Twig is Bent, Book 2: Belinda and Book 3: World Out of Time here (chapters 1 to 26).

Well, I started the book yesterday and finished Book 1 already. It's a great story so far! I love little Juli - she's so sweet. And ha, today I started calling my cats Niko-baba and Callie-baba all of a sudden, which shows that I must have Ash-baba in my head even when I'm not reading. I'm still kind of processing events from the book, so I'll post more later. Who else is reading right now?

I started it around the end of December and finished it up about a week or so ago, third time around for me. One thing for sure, next kitty cat I have is going to be named Anjuli.

Glad you're enjoying it, India and it's culture is so fascinating. You'll be looking for more stories soon I'll bet.

I loved it from the start! The first book went very quickly for me! I loved the cultural descriptions, very easy to picture.

I already have a copy of Olivia and Jai, that will be my next read in this particular genre. I have a few others to read before it hits the top of the pile but it's in the top three right now.

April Ann, definitely check in with me when you get to the big plot twist in the middle of Olivia and Jai. So far no one I know who has read the book has been able to see that one coming.

If you like MM Kaye and India do also look for Trade Wind and Shadow of the Moon, although Trade Wind is set in Zanzibar and not India.

My book will arrive today!!! I hope I will be able to join you in this discussion.

I'm reading it and am up to the last 2 books. The descriptions of the customs, landscape and history are wonderful, although I have a problem with the story which I will comment on later.

I think you'll be fine Laura. We pretty much just started the discussion. I'm only about 200 pages into the book, so you're not far behind at all.



***BOOK 2 STUFF***



Hhhmmm, not too thrilled with this Belinda lady (or her mother)! I'll be happy when she (hopefully!) goes away.

LOL Belinda is a piece of work!

Misfit, I'll definitely be in touch when I start reading Olivia and Jai!

I agree about Belinda, I could have done without that whole segment about her. That happens to be one of the problems I have with the book.

Yes, Belinda is definitely in need of a good slapping and then some.

I wanted to smack Ash too..lol

He was pretty dumb for falling into that little trap, wasn't he?

Yeah, book 1 was awesome, but book 2 only so-so. How could Ash possibly think he knew Belinda so well when he barely saw her or spoke with her? I'm sure people do stupid stuff like that all the time (especially at 19-20 years of age), but it was pretty annoying to read. I did feel sorry for George. I liked the people telling Ash that life's not fair everytime he complained about unfairness - I kind of had the feeling of 'welcome to the real world - some stuff just isn't fair!' I'm excited to start book 3 now because I get the feeling it'll pick up again.

Now here's a question to think about as the story goes forward - can anyone see what purpose Kaye had for including this part? Did it advance Ash's and Juli's story in anyway or make such an impact that it affected his life choices in the future?

I think it enhanced the story even then he was dreaming about a dark-haired girl.

Ok, maybe I'm missing something; and I do sometimes, but I just think this whole thing about Belinda was a total waste of time. In fact, this is where my interest in the story started to wane. Ash's obsessiveness and love-sickness about her (and every woman before and after, including Anjuli) made me want to "roll my eyes" and give up the book altogether.
But Kaye's writing is beautiful and her descriptions of life in India are so interesting, that I knew I had to finish.

Now April has me thinking about his dreams, about the girl riding behind him on his horse with the streaming hair. Was the girls hair dark when he was in love with the blond Belinda? Oh dear, I must go back and read that again...is this what I missed?

Yes Pat, Ash was having dreams about the girl with the long dark hair then. I won't say more until we move on past the Suttee discussions though.

Kaye does have a great knack for showing her love of India and knowledge of its cultures. BTW, she did write a three book memoir on her life and experiences there. I had the first of it out from the library about a year ago but I didn't get that far until it was due back. Another time - it was quite interesting and the first part of book one dealt with her father's experiences in the civil service in the East. My understanding is that a lot of things she put in her books came from actual experiences.

As far as Ash, who knows? If one has never been exposed to proper young British misses (he'd only dallied with the servants), Belinda and her charms might have dazzled him.

Sorry, I am late but my book arrived this week-end. I just finished book 1 and it seems good, so far. I will commnet the others books later on.

Has anyone been watching the PBS specials on Monday nights...The Story Of India? Tonights programs dealt with the time period of our book. It says you can go to PBS.org for more information on the series.

I did catch that the girl in the dream had dark hair (making me think of Anjuli), but that's the only relevance I can think of (so far) for the Belinda book. I haven't had a chance to get into book three though, so more relevance may come up later.

As you said before, reading book 2 goes slowing down...

When I read The Far Pavilions long long ago there was only one book? Are you dividing that book up somehow or have more been written?

Alice, it's a division of the parts within the book.

Yeah, there are chapters, and the chapters are grouped together into sections (which just happen to be called "books").

Book 3 is coming along fun and pretty quick! Not too much to say about it yet. Wally seems nice so I hope we see more of him later in the book.