Gun Island

A Novel

By: Amitav Ghosh

Narrated by: Sagar Arya

From the award-winning author of the best-selling epic Ibis trilogy comes a globetrotting, folkloric adventure novel about family and heritage.

Bundook. Gun. A common word, but one that turns Deen Datta’s world upside down.

A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way. There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen’s eyes to the realities of growing up in today’s world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help someone in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the missing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey that will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood, and about the world around him.

Amitav Ghosh’s Gun Island is a beautifully realized novel that effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.

©2019 Amitav Ghosh (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Promising Start, but ultimately a letdown

the first couple of chapters captivated me but after the halfway point, when the focus moves away from the legend itself, the story goes a bit downhill in my opinion. And finally, I wish the secondary characters had a bit of an arc themselves rather than just serving as two ends of a spectrum the protagonist must choose from. overall a bit of a letdown.

Wonderful read

Didn’t know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised and impressed with this story.

Loved the story and the narrator

What a story. Hopeful. I admire the pull between science and reason and magic or at least myths refined over time.

Bravissimo!

I loved this book. The allegories led me down a path of philosophical introspection. It lent me new perspectives ranging from cultural xenophobia to the spiritual. It gave me an introduction to the voice of the past being heard today along with showing the way a place or setting speaks to a character and, so, to the reader.

It’s a well written story and I highly recommend it.

Beautiful

Beautifully written & narrated . This is a great story of myths, science, magic, intrigue, love & life all come together with climate change. I loved this story.

Tedious

Love this author and started reading his captivating novels decades ago...but this one was dully predictable, had very few nuggets of lore or history or human quirkiness and was saved only by the masterful narration. The ending was particularly lame.

Wonderful

It was a happy surprise to return to characters from The Hungry Tide in this tale of climate change, ancient myths, the sad forces of mass migration, and the eternal hope of humanity restored through love.

not what I was expecting and I really enjoyed it.

definitely not mine style of book I just kind of stumbled upon it all the talks of guns and gun merchants and gun Island actually have nothing to do with guns from what I could even tell just a word that means gone but also maybe is a name. it goes quite different direction than I was expecting. I hung on and enjoyed it pretty much all the way. could have done with a little less of people speaking words of language partially in a sentence is untranslated. mostly French and their fancy words that I suppose means something but I have no idea so the first thing that pops into my head is now what it means, because it is never bothered to be explained.

A wonderful story

A beautiful novel by Ghosh with so many new insights, twists and turns. I highly recommend this book.

slow build beauty

it took me a little while to get into the story but once I did, I couldn't put it down