First up The Siege of Krishnapur This has been on my shelf for a while, along with 3 more of his books, but yesterday I was in the mood to pick up a book set in India. Glad I did! It is hard to categorise this book, is it right to want to giggle in the middle of a brutal passage about men defending themselves against an onslaught of mutinious soldiers?
The book's charm, for me, was in the detailed description, which highlighted the absurdity of the situation. The British stiff upper lip and strict heirachy is still the most important thing in this outpost of the Empire.
Then, The Singapore Grip , which had actually been on my shelf for a while. Another excellent book by J.G. Farrell, this one is about the final days leading up to the Japanese invasion through the comings and goings of one of the families owning a rubber company. Well researched and with very well-drawn characters, it really pulled me in.
Walter Blackett is running the colony's oldest company and while engaging in business, he is also planning the company's anniversary party. Indeed, this obsession in times of war makes a lot of the satire in the book, a group of society removed from what is happening in Europe and what is about to happen on their doorstep.
Farrell doesn't just look at the privilidged elite, but also the military men passing through to fight the Japanese in the Far East, and people from the under belly of Singapore. A lot of this is seen through the eyes of Matthew, the heir to the founder of the firm, Blackett's partner, who arrives for the first time on the island, a fresh pair of eyes, if not a very naive pair. Poor Matthew, I did wonder which character would eat him alive first, his father's partner, the partner's cold fish of a daughter or the beautiful Eurasian girl trying to flee the Japanese.
As I said, the book was well researched and the descriptions of the fair and the volunteer firefighters really captured my imagination. But what is a Singapore grip, this is what newcomer Matthew wants to know, read to find out! Donated to the 1001-library .
Troubles was the last book I read, and I have just seen that it has recently voted the winner of the Lost Man Booker Prize This was the last installment of the Empire Trilogy that I'd read, though it is seen as the first. They aren't related directly, except for Archer turning up as an older man in The Singapore Grip.
Another thing they have in common is the young man arriving in a new world for him, here it is the demobbed Archer, still scarred from his wartime experiences. He comes to Ireland to meet his fiancee, Angela, who he met briefly on leave.
When Archer arrives at the hotel where the family lives in Ireland, Angela seems to be playing hard to get. The hotel itself should be seen as a character, falling down around its ears, full of off-the-wall guests, and that's before I mention Angela's family. This is set in during the Troubles, and the tension in the book is palpable, another book about a siege.
Donated to the 1001-library .
The Hill Station was the book J.G. Farrell was working on at the time of his death. Farrell revisits the India of The Siege of Krishnapur, and there is a connection between the two books in the character of the doctor, McNab. McNab arrives at the hill station in Kalka with his wife and niece. Unlike in his Empire Trilogy, there is no young man entering a bewildering new world, both geographically and romantically, here it is Emily, fresh from England. The issue of class is here, especially when Emily realises her social standing could have been compromised by her friendship with Mrs. Forester, a lady who is being snubbed because of scandal.
Another new theme is that of religion, here the battle between a stricter Protestant church and one that has chosen to follow older ceremonies has caused the former to accuse the latter of moving towards Rome. The ridiculousness of the situation is shown well here.
The second part of the book is made of three contributions, the first of which looks at the notes that the author left which give us an idea as to how the novel would have progressed, and the author's own diary of his time in India.
Labels: 1001 Books, 1001-library, 1010 Challenge
