The premise and story are interesting but the overlong descriptions make the book hard to read. Ghosh has a vast amount of knowledge about the different Asian cultures and the lives they lead. Unfortunately his strength becomes his weakness as he extensively illustrates the settings to the point where it gets tiresome. While the story and characters are interesting, the book is hard to read.

The characters feel real and there is a lot of depth in each. However we see very little of them as the focus appears to be directed at their surroundings rather than the individuals themselves.