Sea of Poppies: a review

this is another book shortlisted for the 2008 Booker Prize. written by Amitav Ghosh, the story is about a schooner bound to Mauritius - and the lives of the people who, by destiny, became the crew and passengers of the ship Ibis.

the story could have been well-understood if the the writer didnt resort to many Hindustani words as well as pidgin language used by the sailors. i think the overuse of the words killed the effect. i had expected to be familiar with the words as i went along, but there are too many foreign words. having said that, however, i salute Ghosh for using a lot of dialects, and also portraying the difficulty faced by Paulette Lambert, as she struggled in using English, thus making the struggle in the using other languages other than the native language more authentic.

however, Ghosh did a good job in portraying the suffering of the characters. the cruelty bestowed by the colonisers upon the colonised was well-portrayed, as i cringed when i read about the punishment the convicts had to endure.

however, i think that the story ended too abruptly, i feel that the story is unfinished. i'd give this book 7 out of 10.