In early 1857, small piles of chapatis mysteriously appear on doorsteps, in homes of British colonial administrators. It signals the beginning of the Sepoy rebellion -- an uprising of the native soldiers against the British. These actual events provide the background for this fictionalized account of a siege in a remote British cantonment called Krishnapur, told from the point of view of the colonial masters.

We are introduced to a cast of characters whose lives in British India seem, on the surface, unremarkable -- officials in far-off districts coping with the tedium of daily administration, wives and mothers more concerned with finding suitable husbands for their daughters, young soldiers who in the absence of military adventure are instead in town for fun and flirting, and so on. In their daily routines, we feel their boredom, class consciousness, and most of all, the general displeasure of being in this difficult, searingly hot country.

Krishnapur is attacked, and the community seeks refuge behind the walls of the Residency. The bloody siege goes on for over three months, the defenders heroic in their stand, many dead and injured, stocks of food dwindling fast, medicine and ammunition lacking, and the hot summer taking its toll.

Farell portrays the life in the Residency during the siege as a microcosm of the larger society, highlighting misplaced values and goals of individuals and social relations. He employs dark humor to point out the absurdity of certain beliefs and behavior, which can also be viewed as a criticism of colonialism. We meet with unforgettable characters, all very stubborn and highly opinionated, seemingly difficult to like, but who during the course of the siege, we start to care about. Most unforgettable is the dedicated Collector whose belief in progress and industry seem boundless. We track his inner thoughts, foreboding of trouble and foresight to build ramparts, his doubts, his determination, his extreme sense of duty. We accompany him in his struggle to keep up the leadership, to captain a fast sinking ship. Interestingly, even in an almost hopeless environment, there is plenty of dialogue and debate on philosophy, religion, and morality. It even seems that horror brings out this philosophizing mood in everybody. For example, staring death in the eye, a young man, Fleury, is still concerned with his theories in relation to the operation of the guns.

The themes of the novel are serious, but it is not heavy to read. Combined with wit, he also writes with vivid imagery and his description of the invasions/attacks is so beautifully written it is cinematic. In fact, it's the most striking of any battle imagery i've ever read.

Farell won the Booker for this novel in 1973. It is the second in the Empire trilogy. ( )

One should only review books when feeling healthy and relaxed but I was neither when reading Farrell’s “Siege of Krishnapur”, fighting off a nasty flue during the yearly budget excitement at the office. I was looking for distraction and consolation in the pages of Farrell’s work, but for my effort got much, much more than that. This fictional account of the resistance of an English community against the insurrection of the sepoys, somewhere on the plains of India, has turned out to be an intelligent, very witty and gripping page-turner.

When Farell won the Booker prize in 1973 with his account of the Mutiny, his talent easily made him one of the most promising writers of the UK. Unfortunately, Farrell drowned in a tragic fishing accident during the same infamous ‘79 storm that caused such havoc in the Fastnet sailing race. Farrell and his work have been, since then, undeservedly but slowly slipping under the radar of the literary community and it is not unlikely that they will fare the same fate in the end as the lost city of Krishnapur. The reputation of Farrell's masterpiece flared up only once or twice during the election of the “Booker of Bookers”, when it was strongly defended as a potential winner, but the author's vision on India’ s first “war of independence” was no match to Salman Rushdie grandiose description of the Moods and Minds on the subcontinent after the Independence.

The siege of the fictional town of Krishnapur that Farrell describes was explicitly based on the real experiences of British subjects during the siege of Lucknow in 1857 when the Indian indigineous soldiers rebelled against their former masters. Farrell used the many letters, journals and reports which were written by the survivors of that siege as a basis of his account.

The town of Krishnapur, an outpost of British civilisation lost on the Indian plains finds itself one day besieged by the sepoys, the insurrecting native soldiers of the British army. As the town organises itself to defend its inhabitants and to survive the siege, characters develop and established ideas and values are put under strain. The fightings, the illness, the famine and the heat are descimating the population until only a handful survive. They have by then been stripped litteraly to their bare essentials.

Farrell’s book is an easy and smooth read. Actually, it can be just as well be read as an adventure story. And a good one indeed ! The scenes where the colonials are retreating to a smaller camp under heavy attacks of the sepoy army are very tense and gripping.

And the descriptions of day-to-day life under siege conditions are gripping too. The sights and smells of the siege are vividly conjured. The stench of putrefaction permeates the scenes of amputations, infections, illnesses, miscarriages and other byproducts of men at war.

But Farrell does not write a dark book. Often it is very funny. Regularly when the situation becomes too tense and too horrid to behold, Farrell liberates the reader with a pun or a joke. Farrell is a master of the kind of humour we are now encountering in such blockbusters as “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Indiana Jones”. I’ll give an example: during the last stand of the English community, when the exhausted people of Krishnapur are for the last time trying to fight back, one of the English characters is experimenting with a revolutionary new gun. As it misfires constantly, he gets closer and closer to getting killed, but he keeps on tinkering with this obsolete weapon, until we the exasperated readers, nearly start screaming at him “ take another gun, you bloody fool!
In that sense it is a very cinematic book and one wonders why Hollywood has not be interested in this Bollywood spectacle?

But for all the adventure and the fun, “The siege of Krishnapur” is also a very interesting novel of ideas.
First of all it’s a unforgivingly exact portrait of the British in 19th century India. The book analyses several topics like the Victorian attitude to progress and how this attitude changes during the siege. The characters under a rain of bullets discuss religion, bogey scientific theories like phrenology and what might be the best scientific way to cure cholera. You are not likely to forget the discussions on cholera and certainly not it’s hideously funny macabre conclusion.

Farrell explores how and why these starched Victorians start to wilt, and where their breaking point lies. There is a scene where a beautiful girl is attacked by millions of tiny flies which is so outrageously funny, you will have to put the book aside to gasp for air.

Farrell said that he wanted to show "yesterday reflected in today's consciousness", but by association, of course, he also holds a glass up to the modern world. His comically detailed descriptions of various residents' losses of faith - coupled with their outlandish religious beliefs and the way they adhere to now discredited theories like phrenology - forces us into a hard look at the accepted wisdom of the modern world.

Then, there is colonialism. The book has been criticised for cultural imbalance because in “the Siege of Krishnapur” the points of view of the Indians are almost nonexistent. But together with the besieged we are quiet happy that the “sepoy point of view” remains well outside the barricades. The criticism is unfair, the book is less about how the Victorian English react against the outside world than how they react to their “inside world” when everything they stand for collapses. In the book, the Indians become litteraly spectators, looking at the horrible scenes from a hilltop under the shade of their umbrellas and with binoculars not to miss any of the juicy details.

Finally, I'm really tempted to say that this is the best Booker winner I've read so far. As John Spurling said in “The New Statesman”: For a novel to be witty is one thing, to tell a good story is another, to be serious is yet another, but to be all three is surely enough to make it a masterpiece.

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The Siege of Krishnapur
J.G. Farrell
Sep 7, 2009 8:09 AM

Written in 1973, a historical novel about the Sepoy mutiny in India, 1857. The main protagonist is “The Collector”, the official in charge of the district administered by the East India company, a man initially with a great belief in progress, and ideas of propriety and duty typical of the Victorians. He muses often on the Great Exhibition of 1854, has many artifacts of the time in the official residence, and initially considers the role of the British in India that of bringing the “benefits of civilization” to the natives. He quietly, but bravely and consistently, manages the 6 months of the siege, and loses his belief in religion and the benefits of civilization. He is surrounded by strong characters. Fluery, an English gentleman, a free thinker and believer in “feelings” and poetry, is trapped by the siege and becomes much more of a practical and fighting man. He argues with the Padre about religious ideas; the Padre is convinced that the sins of the community were to blame for the disaster of the siege. The woman are bound by their ideas of correct behavior, initially, but gradually loosen as the horror continues. Dr. McNab, and Dr. Dunstable fight over the correct treatment of cholera; Dr. McNab, the scientific Scot, has the correct ideas and Dunstable, crazy and hot-headed, tries to prove him wrong by drinking rice water stools, and dying. Louise and Harry Dunstable are daughter and son of Dr. Dunstable. Louise changes from debutante to a strong-willed woman, and in the brief epilogue she will marry Fleury. Harry is the young military man, in charge of the artillery, becomes attached to a “fallen woman” Lucy and we learn he is a General in the 20 year epilogue. Dr. McNab marries Miriam, Fleury’s sister, who had come to India to avoid the pain of being widowed, and is admired as practical and composed. She will stay in India with McNab. The siege fills the narrative with excitement and color, and I read this compulsively in about one day. ( )

Sometimes funny, sometimes harrowing, the Siege of Krishnapur pretty much lives up to its billing of the best Booker winner. It's a scathing indictment of the incompetencies of British colonialism. But, paradoxically this novel is also quite gentle and sympathetic to the flawed and fated individuals that maintained it. A rich setting and deep characterisations lead you to empathise and care for the victims of the seige as their predicament becomes more and more perilous. ( )

Looking at the Prime Minister the Collector was overcome by a feeling of helplessness. He realized that there was a whole way of life of the people in India which he would never get to know and which was totally indifferent to him and his concerns. 'The Company could pack up here tomorrow and this fellow would never notice ... And not only him ... The British could leave and half India wouldn't notice us leaving just as they didn't notice us arriving. All our reforms of administration might be reforms on the moon for all it has to do with them.' The Collector was humbled and depressed by this thought. (p.210)

This is a fictional account of one town held siege during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_R...), when sepoys from the British East India Company's army staged a mutiny which then spread across a significant portion of the country. As the novel opens, the Collector (head of the British settlement in Krishnapur) is concerned about potential unrest. But author J.G. Farrell takes his time painting a picture of the British colonial lifestyle first, and spares no one. He captures western arrogance and superiority quite well. The Great Exhibition of 1851 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Ex...) is cited by many characters as an example of superior British science and intellect. Farrell also pokes fun at the Victorian fondness for possessions, describing the Residency's decor in vivid detail, and the impractical fashions worn by both men and women.

Eventually the inevitable happens and the British settlement finds itself under siege. At first the community tries to maintain some sense of normalcy, holding fast to their class structure and enjoying the odd brandy now and then. But as casualties mount and supplies dwindle, conflict inevitably arises. The Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy debate openly with each other and with certain members of their "flock." The two physicians engage in verbal sparring over the causes and cures of cholera, and members of the community take sides. Through it all the Collector attempts to remain in command, with varying degrees of success. The reader can only watch the situation deteriorate, and try to absorb the tragedy.

I struggled a bit with this book. In the opening portion I was enjoying what I considered a satirical view of British colonials. And then suddenly the satire stopped, and war took over. Yet the characters continued to behave according to the satire. My emotions were very much in conflict, until a friend hit on just the right word: sympathy. Yes, that's it. Farrell presents a very sympathetic portrait of the colonials and a situation gone very, very wrong. It was written at a time when people were beginning to re-examine the importance of empire. I suspect its message hit home, which is why it won the Booker Prize in 1973. So many years later, the impact is not quite the same but it is still an interesting story and a pretty good read. ( )