East of the Sun

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Excellent historical novel - Rated
I bought this book for a work trip which meant I would spend a few days away from my family. What a joy it was to be transported into the last days of Colonial India. A really splendid well written book which I kept going back to until I had devoured every last word. The most un-put-downable book I have read for some time. Thought provoking and fabulous storytelling.

Starts off well then is so boring - Rated
At first this book was promising but it quickly deteriorated into a muddle of forgettable characters doing forgettable things.Very disappointing.

A good summer read for those who are interested in Colonial India - Rated
Bought the book as it was a recommended summer read, and I have always been interested in India and the connections to British "rule".

Was not dissapointed, enjoyed the book, liked the characters and the places visited by them, about a time of change.

Cannot vouch for its accuracy, but feel that a lot of effort was made by the author. Believe there was a small error in the part when they were in Cairo, and will try to pass this on.

Liked it and was happy I made that choice.

Well-researched! - Rated
Having just read this, and found it fascinating as well as very enjoyable, it was interesting to come to the Amazon site and see what others thought.
Knowing something about the subject, I cannot agree with one reviewer, KA Roy, that it is incorrect to refer to people speaking Marathi in 1928 in Bombay. In fact, the majority of people in the area would have spoken Marathi, and neither is it incorrect to call someone Maharashtrian, as the regional political concept was already current in the 19th century.

I thought the author seemed to have gone to a great deal of trouble to present an accurate picture of India in the 20s and 30s, and the characters, both English and Indian, had a thoroughly authentic ring to them. This is a great read, and I would strongly recommend it.

Pleasant but not exceptional - Rated
This is the story of three women venturing to India in the 1920s, each with her own hopes and dreams, her own fears. While it is pleasant enough - ideal as a holiday read perhaps - it hardly excites or lingers in the memory. The writing is sufficiently fluid not to jar, but there is little to entice the reader back to seek deeper insight, nothing particularly thought-provoking, no phrase or paragraph so poetic that it must be read and re-read for the sheer pleasure of the language.

Nineteen-year-old Rose is travelling to India to marry Jack Chandler, an army officer she barely knew before he proposed and whose regiment sailed to India shortly after their engagement. By the time Rose approaches Bombay she can hardly remember what he was like and is nervous of meeting him again. Her best friend Tor (unusually, short for Victoria), who cannot wait to be free of her overbearing mother, is to be Rose's bridesmaid and hopes to find a husband of her own. Viva, the young woman employed as their chaperone, has her own hang-ups about India where she lived as a child before losing both her parents and her sister.

Overall, the story is interesting if somewhat bland and there are sections missing that cry out to be told. One such is Rose's wedding. The voyage to India, which dominates the early chapters, is a build-up to the forthcoming marriage, full of Rose's fears and feelings, with a couple of chapters on Jack's perceptions. But the wedding itself is passed over in the briefest description from Tor's viewpoint, without our ever knowing how the bride herself viewed the day.

Of the girls' stories, it was Viva's that came most alive and was most fully developed. Tor's story achieved a satisfying roundness, but Rose's seemed to fizzle out as if unfinished, leaving questions unanswered. There were hints but nothing more. Maybe this was deliberate, but for me it left a sense of incompleteness, as if the author had forgotten to add the finishing touches to Rose's viewpoint.

For all that the book is enjoyable, so long as you treat it as a light read and don't expect too much. Recommended for holiday or bedtime reading, or whenever you don't want to be too challenged!