3 / 5 stars.
Amitav Ghosh does not need an introduction. His fiction and non-fiction works are equally engaging. I have read most of his books and I was equally excited to have picked this one up. But, I found it a bit disappointing. Here’s why.
The first few chapters are of repetitive content as if the author wants to keep reminding you of his initial points lest you forget. You can skip some of the chapters after the couple of initial ones without disrupting your reading flow and missing any good piece of information.
The middle chapters make up the core of the book – backed with brilliant research and sound logic. Rather heavy to read in some places but still brilliant.
And, then comes the ending. The last few chapters that spoil the whole point of the book, I suppose. He arduously stacks up his initial points which are indeed strongly put and justifiably so but the ending topples the whole thing off. The thing about spirits, ghosts, nonhuman entities and “cold breeze blowing” is – blandly put – unrealistic, sentimental farce, in my personal and humble opinion.
However, read this book all the same. It’s illuminating in a lot of ways. But, take the ending with a pinch of salt.