Oh! How I wish that my copy of Sea of Poppies had come with a glossary! As it is, I feel that I have lost a great deal of the pleasure in not being able to understand all of the various pidgin language combinations spoken by the sprawling cast of characters. On the other hand, I got enough to appreciate the novel itself thoroughly. I haven't read The White Tiger, but it's hard to see how it could be better than this book.

This is the first volume of a trilogy and most of the narrative is used to introduce the characters and show how they end up leaving India on Ibis, a refurbished slaver now carrying opium to China in 1838. I was reminded of the structure of The Fellowship of the Ring as the disparate group comes to depend on each other for their lives, and as they separate at the end of this volume. Like other fans, I think that Ghosh should hurry to get the next in the series on the market. ( )

I liked this story because it is about the breakdown of the caste system in India and has links with the class system and oppression as it existed at that time around the world. The context for the story is the beginnings of the Opium Wars - taking in the international relationships between the Indian Aristocracy and the values of mother England, the Indian royalty themselves and the Chinese.

In the characters we are introduced to; Deeti ( the lowly Indian peasant), The Raja (Neel), Zachary (the mestizo American Indian), Jodul and Paulette are all in tenuous social positions - their place in the world - their rights, questioned by the powers that be. However the upheaval that is bought to bear on their world by the refusal of China to allow the Opium trade to continue offers up the hope that they can all break free of the oppressions that has marked them and seek you lives steeped in principles of egalitarian.
This is the hope that rides with Ibis as she sets sail and which haves you hankering for more of the story of these characters who you have just come to know in this first of the trilogy to come.

Amitav full scorn comes to rest on the arroagance of the British establishement in India and their supporters in England. His view of history, proabably painfully spot on, shows them, like the religious despots our history, justifying violence and oppression on the grounds of some trumped up higher ground which through the passage of time now clearly shows itself as a most henious ruse. ( )

Sea of Poppies is a fantastic page-turner. Set in India in the 1830's, this novel tells the story of a disparate group that board the Ibis as it sets sail for the island of Mauritius to deliver Coolies-indentured servants. Under British colonization, opium, sadly, influences the lives of many-- from the lower caste farmers to addicts to merchants and sailors, and leads ultimately to trade disputes and war between the British Empire and China. Never has the English language (with its Hindi influence) been more fun to read. Do not be put off by the difficult and unusual slang of the sailors (it appears early on but not frequently throughout the book). Their strange argot reminds me of the unique language of A Clockwork Orange--you won't always understand what they're saying, but it is bizarre and colorful(often naughty) and is appreciated within the author's capable context. This is the 1st of a proposed trilogy. A love story of mismatched castes, a Raja brought low, a "black" American first shipmate, a French orphan, even a man channeling a mystic woman, and many others- all of whom I've come to care deeply about-- I can't wait to read the next installments from the amazingly talented Amitav Ghosh. ( )

Deeti, an Indian woman who grows poppies, has a vision of a ship – an odd vision because she lives 400 miles from the sea and has never seen a boat such as this…but her vision is a premonition and the ship has a name: Ibis. Thus begins Amitav Ghosh’s sprawling, historical saga Sea of Poppies. What follows is a story with a vast cast of characters whose paths ultimately cross enroute to the island of Mauritius aboard the Ibis – a former slave ship manned by a motley crew including an opium addicted captain, a freed American slave, and a foul-mouthed first mate with a penchant for cruelty. The voyagers include Paulette (a French woman with a sense of adventure who is fleeing an unacceptable situation in India), and Neel (a man who has been convicted of a crime he did not commit). But it is the Indian indentured workers who take center stage in a novel about caste, freedom, and human connection. And it is Deeti who becomes the central figure – a strong woman who marries beneath her caste and is respected by the other women aboard the ship.

The novel is beautifully imagined and captures the hopelessness of the opium factory workers, the daily lives of the villagers, the violence of ship law, and the diversity of an India in the mid-nineteenth century. Ghosh’s use of language in the novel is brilliant. Filled with strange words, pidgin English, and unusual sentence structure – the book at first seems unwieldy. But Ghosh succeeds where other less talented authors might not. The language, used with appropriate context, becomes almost like a musical score in a movie. Ghosh’s use of language demonstrates the way language can unite or divide people, and confuse or clarify situations. It is a powerful technique that works.

Historically, Sea of Poppies is set just prior to the Opium Wars and revolves around the British involvement in India and their trade practices exporting opium from India to China. Ghosh reveals the damage done by British colonial rule and the devastation wreaked upon the Indian economy, as well as society at large. Although apparently Ghosh’s creative inspiration was the indentured people of India, he says in an interview: “[...] once I started researching into it, it was kind of inescapable – all the roads led back to opium. The indentured emigration [out of India] really started in the 1830s and that was [around the time of] the peak of the opium traffic. That decade culminated in the opium wars against China.”

Ghosh is skilled at creating character…and in Sea of Poppies the characters are memorable and complex.

Although filled with adventure and interesting plot twists, Sea of Poppies is also about what makes us human in the face of crisis. One particularly memorable part of the novel to me was when Neel loses his caste and is convicted of the crime of forgery. Thrown into jail, he is forced to share a cell with an Asian named Ah Fatt who is hopelessly addicted to opium and lies in his own waste. For Neel, a man of stature who is fastidously clean, the situation is almost unbearable. And then he makes a self-discovery about what it means to care for another human being. It was moments like these in the story which elevated it above the typical historical novel.

Some readers have found the ending of Sea of Poppies to be abrupt and unresolved. I would agree. However, this book is the first in a planned trilogy which may explain the ending. At any rate, Sea of Poppies completely enthralled me and I am looking forward to the next two books.

Readers who love world and historical literature, and who enjoy richly textured sagas will love Sea of Poppies.

Highly recommended. ( )

Audiobook. Liked the fact that this went back into the 19th century to explore the British (and an American) in India. I was very interested in this approach. Author did a good job of setting up a variety of stories that would enable the various strands of the historical story to clash within the bounds of the narrative. Something like a Ship of Fools with the story of the ship--the Ibis (listened so I'm not entirely sure how it's spelled in the story). But this is a loaded term. Wikipedia tells me that the Ibis was the bird sent out from Noah's ark. In other words, a new world. I like the ambition of this novel. I applaud that. I enjoyed this book. Liked that it ended in such an aggressive but open ended way. I also admired the way that "poltics" were woven into the book. A devastating presentation of the opium trade in India, it's connections to China. Again, the book is ambitious. I like this because the book doesn't end up seeming like a tract. It's an enjoyable narrative. I would recommend the book.