Sea of Poppies

When you have a library membership, a pretty good one at that, you rarely buy books. I miss owning a book. So, last year when I received a Crossword voucher for my birthday, I was happy that I would be finally owning a book or maybe sm books. Of course, I forgot all 'bout the voucher and it languished in my cupboard until the Arien, while doing a routine clean-up, found it. We then made plans for the subsequent weekend for book buying. I still recall a time when smne asked me what I would with my first salary and my answer was "Buy a book". Hmmm... So much has changed.

The Sea of Poppies is one of the books I purchased using the voucher. So, at long last, we have a book review :) It took me a while to get started on this book. I was worried that it maybe a lil too intellectual for me as I had read one of his essays a while ago. While I found the essay well-researched, excellent to read - it was not smthng I would recommend as a light read.

So when I started on the Sea of Poppies, I was not sure if I would like it. On the contrary, I liked it. The book was actually pretty good. In fact, the first chapter kinda draws you into the life of Deeti - one of the central characters of the book. The other characters are introduced from the diagrammatic representation of them as drawn by Deeti: be it the simple giant, Kalua, the american sailor Zachary or the others. As the story unfolds, you appreciate his style of introducing the eccentricities of each of the characters, the difference in the language of the lascars and the malums, the concept of girmits, the voyage undertaken by the coolies and the sudden change in the direction towards the end. Its a good read.

Blah: The only blah part of the book is that it is part of a trilogy. I, after reading the first part, want to know what happens next but he is yet to write the next book :(