Sea of Poppies

Ibis Trilogy, Book 1

By: Amitav Ghosh

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

At the heart of this vibrant saga is an immense ship, the Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its purpose to fight China's vicious 19th-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, from a bankrupt Raja to a widowed tribeswoman, from a mulatto American freedman to a free-spirited French orphan. As their old family ties are washed away, they, like their historical counterparts, come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais, or ship brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born, which will span continents, races, and generations.

The vast sweep of this historical adventure embraces the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, and the crowded backstreets of Canton. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, that makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive - a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists.

©2008 Amitav Ghosh (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Such is the power of Ghosh's precise, understated prose that one occasionally wishes to turn the pages three at a time, eager to find out where Ghosh's tale is headed." ( The Boston Globe)
"A writer of supreme skill and intelligence. " ( The Atlantic Monthly)

Stick it through - its well worth the listen!

I really enjoyed Ghosh's other book Hungry Tide, so I was looking forward to this one. I must admit, it took me a while to get into this book. I found the various accents of the characters difficult to understand and I felt that I was being introduced to a lot of different characters really quickly without enough context...however, as I listened further all this changed. All of a sudden I was immersed in the rich world that Ghosh created and I was loath to stop listening. By the time this book ended, I wanted more and was sad that the book had ended. This book will likely be a 2nd listen for me in the future.

Unbearable Indian accent

While Phil Gigante gives a good performance for most pat of the book, the Indian accents he tries to conjure are unbearable. His voices to most of the Indian characters sound more East Asian than the sub continent. The phrases and words are so incoherent that I had to buy a kindle edition just to understand what he was reading out. But it’s the production company that has to be blamed for their choice of voice actors than the reader.

Story

Naration is the worst. Poor performance, as far as the subcontinent acts in his concerned. 

Fantastic story, poor narration

Novel:
I'll definitely read more by Amitav Ghosh. His ability to tell an emotionally engaging, richly detailed story is fantastic. This novel does a beautiful job of introducing characters and then weaving their stories together in a captivating way. I also enjoyed his depiction of the period just before the opium wars in India, and his way of depicting the reasons behind the challenges of life for the Indian people in a very honest, frank manner. I would urge writers who are setting stories in colonial British India to educate their readers about the life of the Indian people under British rule as honestly as Amitav Ghosh does. I learn new things every time I read one of his books, but in ways that are human and relatable.

Narration:
I dislike this narration intensely. Phil Gigante's pacing is plodding and makes it difficult to get into the rhythm of the story. Additionally, he does a terrible job voicing the Indian characters. They either use horribly mispronounced Hindi/Bengali words, or have spoken English accents reminiscent of stereotypical Chinamen in 1950s Orientalist films. I am hoping the remainder of the recordings of the books in this series have a different narrator.

Pleasantly surprised

This is a different kind of read than I would normally choose. It was book club book. I am glad to have expanded my reading choices. I am tempted to finish the trilogy.

Hilariously bad pronunciation and bizarre accents

As other reviewers note - this book has a ton of Indic and other non English names and words that the reader pronounces like a very British pukka sahib. Most English folk I know can pronounce Indian words a bit better than this. Moreover the accents range from the indescribable to the unpronounceable! Indian women are rendered as falsetto men with what appears to be a Caribbean accent! Some Indian men appear to have Chinese accents. All very unintentionally funny, but this does take away from the story. The Indian words are so badly pronounced (at one point the Brahmaputra is called the baramputra, singhs become seenghs, ...)

very unique read, can't wait to read the next book

Very unique read, looking forward to the next book. Reader was excellent. Great historical fiction.

Wonderful book. Horrible narration

What did you like best about Sea of Poppies? What did you like least?

The narrator's accent was all wrong - he made the Indians sound like Jamaicans, and it made me cringe. He also spoke too fast, not resting sufficiently between sentences. I ultimately gave up on the audio version and bought the kindle version instead. I'm enjoying the book thoroughly having done that.

Would you be willing to try another one of Phil Gigante’s performances?

No.

Any additional comments?

Good writing. There are so many Indian actors to choose from - why not pick one of them to narrate this story?

Not as good as his "The Hungry Tide"

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This is a slow moving, somewhat majestic first part of a trilogy. There is much detail and conversation in various dialects. The audible vocabulary of Indian and Chinese culture is harder to understand than it might be in a book, where there is opportunity to look up the foreign words. The spelling is not obvious. The overall flavor of the times before and during the Opium Wars comes through and lends historical interest. There are many characters in this trilogy, each with a distinctive story.

Note: this review also pertains to Ghosh's second book of the trilogy,

Best of Amitav Ghosh

I've read & loved many of this author's books, but this is my favorite so far. As always, the author reveals a great deal about India & it's culture by skillful writing that blends character, plot, setting, etc, but this book about the era of the Opium Wars was particularly intriguing. The diverse characters are wonderfully drawn, and Ghosh weaves them together through a capitulating plot which refers to the past and foreshadows future events. At the end of the novel the reader is left content about the outcome yet also eagerly curious about the future.