The Circle of Reason
by Amitav Ghosh
On This Page
Description
A New York Times Notable Book: A policeman chases a falsely accused man on a wild journey around the world in this "utterly involving" novel (The Sunday Times).When eight-year-old Nachiketa Bose first arrives in the East Bengali village of Lalpukur, he receives the name Alu—potato—for the size and shape of his extraordinary head. His uncle Balaram, the local schoolmaster and phrenology enthusiast, sends Alu to apprentice as a weaver, and the boy soon surpasses the skill of his master. show more But when a tragic bombing leaves Alu suspected of terrorism, he flees across India to Bombay and the Arabian Sea, followed all the way by the dogged policeman—and avid ornithologist—Jyoti Das.
From East Bengal to the Persian Gulf and North Africa, Amitav Ghosh's wild and extraordinary novel "follows in the footsteps of magical realists like Gabriel García Márquez and Salman Rushdie" (The New York Times Book Review).
"A novelist of dazzling ingenuity." —San Francisco Chronicle
"A Scheherezade effortlessly spinning tales within tales, the possessor of a strong narrative voice quite like no other." —Newsday
"Ghosh's writing soars, producing electric images." —The Baltimore Sun
"A wonderful mix of magic and horror, wit and curiosity . . . Ghosh has really woven a fresh world for us to visit." —Providence Sunday Journal
. show less
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I don't have the issue that bother some with this book, the way characters disappear. But I've been to see Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines and it turned out I could pack up and go home about 20 minutes in. One of those life experiences that hardens you.
A young policeman, whose preference is painting birds, and who is in the police because it was the first civil service position for which he qualified, keeps changing the lives of odd but good people without having any interest in doing so. I want to call him corrupt in that he has a job he doesn't care about and he treats it in a way you can't treat that sort of job. He should care. But in fact he does what he is told, toes the line, hopes to get up the ranks, hopes mainly show more that he can spend as much time as possible with birds. And so. First he is responsible for the incineration of a group of crazy good people. One escapes and in chasing him down, he is responsible for a brutal police attack on another equally odd group which is doing nothing more than going shopping.
rest is here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/circle-of-reason-by-amita... show less
A young policeman, whose preference is painting birds, and who is in the police because it was the first civil service position for which he qualified, keeps changing the lives of odd but good people without having any interest in doing so. I want to call him corrupt in that he has a job he doesn't care about and he treats it in a way you can't treat that sort of job. He should care. But in fact he does what he is told, toes the line, hopes to get up the ranks, hopes mainly show more that he can spend as much time as possible with birds. And so. First he is responsible for the incineration of a group of crazy good people. One escapes and in chasing him down, he is responsible for a brutal police attack on another equally odd group which is doing nothing more than going shopping.
rest is here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/circle-of-reason-by-amita... show less
I don't have the issue that bother some with this book, the way characters disappear. But I've been to see Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines and it turned out I could pack up and go home about 20 minutes in. One of those life experiences that hardens you.
A young policeman, whose preference is painting birds, and who is in the police because it was the first civil service position for which he qualified, keeps changing the lives of odd but good people without having any interest in doing so. I want to call him corrupt in that he has a job he doesn't care about and he treats it in a way you can't treat that sort of job. He should care. But in fact he does what he is told, toes the line, hopes to get up the ranks, hopes mainly show more that he can spend as much time as possible with birds. And so. First he is responsible for the incineration of a group of crazy good people. One escapes and in chasing him down, he is responsible for a brutal police attack on another equally odd group which is doing nothing more than going shopping.
rest is here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/circle-of-reason-by-amita... show less
A young policeman, whose preference is painting birds, and who is in the police because it was the first civil service position for which he qualified, keeps changing the lives of odd but good people without having any interest in doing so. I want to call him corrupt in that he has a job he doesn't care about and he treats it in a way you can't treat that sort of job. He should care. But in fact he does what he is told, toes the line, hopes to get up the ranks, hopes mainly show more that he can spend as much time as possible with birds. And so. First he is responsible for the incineration of a group of crazy good people. One escapes and in chasing him down, he is responsible for a brutal police attack on another equally odd group which is doing nothing more than going shopping.
rest is here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/circle-of-reason-by-amita... show less
I don't have the issue that bother some with this book, the way characters disappear. But I've been to see Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines and it turned out I could pack up and go home about 20 minutes in. One of those life experiences that hardens you.
A young policeman, whose preference is painting birds, and who is in the police because it was the first civil service position for which he qualified, keeps changing the lives of odd but good people without having any interest in doing so. I want to call him corrupt in that he has a job he doesn't care about and he treats it in a way you can't treat that sort of job. He should care. But in fact he does what he is told, toes the line, hopes to get up the ranks, hopes mainly show more that he can spend as much time as possible with birds. And so. First he is responsible for the incineration of a group of crazy good people. One escapes and in chasing him down, he is responsible for a brutal police attack on another equally odd group which is doing nothing more than going shopping.
rest is here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/circle-of-reason-by-amita... show less
A young policeman, whose preference is painting birds, and who is in the police because it was the first civil service position for which he qualified, keeps changing the lives of odd but good people without having any interest in doing so. I want to call him corrupt in that he has a job he doesn't care about and he treats it in a way you can't treat that sort of job. He should care. But in fact he does what he is told, toes the line, hopes to get up the ranks, hopes mainly show more that he can spend as much time as possible with birds. And so. First he is responsible for the incineration of a group of crazy good people. One escapes and in chasing him down, he is responsible for a brutal police attack on another equally odd group which is doing nothing more than going shopping.
rest is here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/circle-of-reason-by-amita... show less
Das Waisenkind Alu wächst bei seinem Onkel Balamaren in den Bengalen auf und wird dort Zeuge der wechselhaften Geschichte nach dem Bangladesch-Krieg. Als er fälschlicherweise des Terrorismus beschuldigt wird, flieht er nach Arabien, später nach Nordafrika.
Alu begegnet im Laufe seines Lebens zahlreichen skurrilen Figuren und besteht groteske Abenteuer. Ghoshs Werk zeichnet sich durch das Zusammenfügen vieler grotesker, teilweise sehr humorvoller Geschichten aus dem Leben der schrägen Wegbegleiter Alus aus. Der Autor nutzt sohin die Vielzahl skurriler Figuren und deren Einzelschicksale um ein Gesamtbild sozialer und kultureller Verflechtungen des heutigen Indiens zu zeigen. Er widmet sich dabei der indischen Diaspora, welche sich als show more Gastarbeiter in Arabien verdingt ebenso wie überbordender Bürokratie und dem Kastenwesen und Flüchtlingsleid. show less
Alu begegnet im Laufe seines Lebens zahlreichen skurrilen Figuren und besteht groteske Abenteuer. Ghoshs Werk zeichnet sich durch das Zusammenfügen vieler grotesker, teilweise sehr humorvoller Geschichten aus dem Leben der schrägen Wegbegleiter Alus aus. Der Autor nutzt sohin die Vielzahl skurriler Figuren und deren Einzelschicksale um ein Gesamtbild sozialer und kultureller Verflechtungen des heutigen Indiens zu zeigen. Er widmet sich dabei der indischen Diaspora, welche sich als show more Gastarbeiter in Arabien verdingt ebenso wie überbordender Bürokratie und dem Kastenwesen und Flüchtlingsleid. show less
Jan 9, 2026German
> LES FEUX DU BENGALE, de Amitav Ghosh Traduit de l'anglais par Christiane Besse Seuil, 1990; 29,95$
Se reporter au compte rendu de Yvon POULIN
In: (1991). Compte rendu de [Littérature étrangère]. Nuit blanche, n° 43, (mars–avril–mai 1991), p. 53.… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/19904ac
> Par Flora (EdiLivre.com) : Les Feux du Bengale d'Amitav Ghosh
23 avr. 2017 ... Prix Médicis étranger en 1990, Les Feux du Bengale est un roman à la fois hilarant et déroutant. L'auteur nous présente une panoplie de personnages drôles et attachants. On pourrait facilement se croire dans un conte des Mille et une nuits. On voyage à travers des pays imaginaires et fabuleux sans s'ennuyer une seule seconde. Amitav Ghosh est show more un conteur qui flirte avec le surréalisme, et l'on s'amuse beaucoup dans ce roman délicieux. show less
Se reporter au compte rendu de Yvon POULIN
In: (1991). Compte rendu de [Littérature étrangère]. Nuit blanche, n° 43, (mars–avril–mai 1991), p. 53.… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/19904ac
> Par Flora (EdiLivre.com) : Les Feux du Bengale d'Amitav Ghosh
23 avr. 2017 ... Prix Médicis étranger en 1990, Les Feux du Bengale est un roman à la fois hilarant et déroutant. L'auteur nous présente une panoplie de personnages drôles et attachants. On pourrait facilement se croire dans un conte des Mille et une nuits. On voyage à travers des pays imaginaires et fabuleux sans s'ennuyer une seule seconde. Amitav Ghosh est show more un conteur qui flirte avec le surréalisme, et l'on s'amuse beaucoup dans ce roman délicieux. show less
Dec 9, 2018 (Edited)French
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
44+ Works 15,893 Members
Born in Calcutta, and spent his childhood in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Northern India. He studied in Delhi, Oxford, and Egypt and taught at various Indian and American universities. Author of a travel book and three acclaimed novels. Ghosh has also written for GRANTA, THE NEW YORKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES, and THE OBSERVER. He lives in New York City show more with his wife and two children. (Publisher Provided) Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta, India on July 11, 1956. He studied in Delhi, Oxford and Alexandria. His first book, The Circle of Reason, won France's Prix Médicis. He has won several other awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Ananda Puraskar for The Shadow Lines, the Arthur C. Clarke award for The Calcutta Chromosome, and the Crossword Book Prize for The Hungry Tide and Sea of Poppies. His other works include In an Antique Land, Dancing in Cambodia, The Glass Palace, and River of Smoke. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest honors, by the President of India. He made the New Zealand Best Seller List in 2015 with his title Flood of Fire. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Awards
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Il cerchio della ragione
- Original title
- The circle of reason
- Original publication date
- 1986
- Dedication
- For my parents
- First words
- The boy had no sooner arrived, people said afterwards, than Balaram had run into the house to look for the Claws.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Hope is the beginning.
- Original language*
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 401
- Popularity
- 77,773
- Reviews
- 7
- Rating
- (3.37)
- Languages
- 7 — Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 31
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 5
