The Glass Palace

Where the 'thin red line' between reality and fiction is blurred.History is given a 'face', and characters are unreally 'real'!!

I don't know whether that makes any sense at all. But as a student of history the entire book seemed like a real human experience in the times when Burma was in flux...from the prosperous rule of Thebaw to the vulnerberality of its existence because of the greed of the Raj...it beautifully weaves in the confusion of identity that people might have experienced at that time. This is definitely the first that peeps into the mindset of a royal family in exile, their inability to accept the truth and their pain of accepting a different culture and changing their age old habits...

I am in awe of Amitav Ghosh because of his ability to connect us with our past through a whirlwind of emotions that we still experience...

It makes me think of our present. In Burma, post the English invasion, people suffered and that stimulated an identity crisis especially for the 'outsiders' like Indians, who otherwise were seen as a family member in times of Royal rule...don't we still consider some as 'outsiders' in our very own Delhi?? I wonder how they feel.

This is no review...but yes, its a must read as it captures elements of the present and his mindboggling story telling subtly touches each emotion and human behaviour.

May be its time we re-think about the whole logic of 'nationalism'!