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J. G. Farrell
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The Siege Of Krishnapur: Winner of the Booker Prize 1973 Kindle Edition

by J. G. Farrell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 out of 5 stars 1,784 ratings

In the Spring of 1857, with India on the brink of a violent and bloody mutiny, Krishnapur is a remote town on the vast North Indian plain. For the British there, life is orderly and genteel. Then the sepoys at the nearest military cantonment rise in revolt and the British community retreats with shock into the Residency. They prepare to fight for their lives with what weapons they can muster. As food and ammunition grow short, the Residency, its defences battered by shot and shell and eroded by the rains, becomes ever more vulnerable.

The Siege of Krishnapur is a modern classic of narrative excitement that also digs deep to explore some fundamental questions of civilisation and life.

'Suspense and subtlety, humour and horror, the near-neighbourliness of heroism and insanity: it is rare to find such divergent elements being controlled in one hand and being raced, as it were, in one yoke. But Farrell manages just this here: his imaginative insight and technical virtuosity combine to produce a novel of quite outstanding quality' The Times

'The magnificient passages of action in The Siege of Krishnapur, its gallery of characters, its unashamedly detailed and fascinating dissertations on cholera, gunnery, phrenology, the prodigal inventiveness of its no doubt also well-documented scenes should satisfy the most exacting and voracious reader. For a novel to be witty is one thing, to tell a good story is another, to be serious is yet another, but to be all three is surely enough to make it a masterpiece' John Spurling, New Statesman

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  1. Book 2 of 3
    Empire Trilogy
  2. Print length
    378 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  5. Publication date
    1 Jan. 2009
  6. File size
    3.8 MB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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Amazon Review

"The first sign of trouble at Krishnapur came with a mysterious distribution of chapatis, made of coarse flour and about the size and thickness of a biscuit; towards the end of February 1857, they swept the countryside like an epidemic." Students of history will recognise 1857 as the year of the Sepoy rebellion in India--an uprising of native soldiers against the British, brought on by Hindu and Muslim recruits' belief that the rifle cartridges with which they were provided had been greased with pig or cow fat. This seminal event in Anglo-Indian relations provides the backdrop for J.G. Farrell's Booker Prize- winning exploration of race, culture and class, The Siege of Krishnapur.

Like the mysteriously appearing chapatis, life in British India seems, on the surface, innocuous enough. Farrell introduces us gradually to a large cast of characters as he paints a vivid portrait of the Victorians' daily routines that are accompanied by heat, boredom, class-consciousness and the pursuit of genteel pastimes intended for cooler climates. Even the siege begins slowly, with disquieting news of massacres in cities far away. When Krishnapur itself is finally attacked, the Europeans withdraw inside the grounds of the Residency where very soon conditions begin to deteriorate: food and water run out, disease is rampant, people begin to go a little mad. Soon the very proper British are reduced to eating insects and consorting across class lines. Farrell's descriptions of life inside the Residency are simultaneously horrifying and blackly humorous. The siege, for example, is conducted under the avid eyes of the local populace, who clearly anticipate an enjoyable massacre and thus arrive every morning laden with picnic lunches (plainly visible to the starving Europeans). By turns witty and compassionate, The Siege of Krishnapur comprises the best of all fictional worlds: unforgettable characters, an epic adventure and at its heart a cultural clash for the ages. --Alix Wilber

Review

Tim Pigott-Smith...extracts maximum impact from Farrell's wicked comedy and deft characterisation. ― * The Sunday Times *

A novel of quite outstanding quality. ― * The Times *

Tim Pigott-Smith's tone...is beautifully judged. ― * The Guardian *

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002U3CBPW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Weidenfeld & Nicolson
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 Jan. 2009
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ New e.
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.8 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 378 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0297858034
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 2 of 3 ‏ : ‎ Empire Trilogy
  • Customer reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 1,784 ratings

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J. G. Farrell

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
1,784 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers thoroughly enjoy this book, praising its well-told story from various perspectives and its portrayal of empire expat life. Moreover, the book is thought-provoking, with one customer noting its brilliant insight into life during the Raj, and features humor in a black way. Additionally, the writing is well-crafted, with one review highlighting its vivid depiction of colonial life styles, and customers find the characters very believable.

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61 customers mention ‘Readability’53 positive8 negative

Customers find the book thoroughly enjoyable, describing it as a fabulous novel.

"...in India, but it is largely driven by humour, irony, an entertaining sense of the absurd and a detached examination of how the British ex-patriates..." Read more

"...the destination made what had felt like a long and sometimes tedious journey worthwhile...." Read more

"...It is a wise book too, rich with observations about human nature which the reader instinctively recognises and knows to be valid, though it remains..." Read more

"Very enjoyable but (in my view) not so different from the estimable Flashman novels of George MacDonald Fraser (which are superior in satire) or the..." Read more

42 customers mention ‘Storytelling’36 positive6 negative

Customers praise the storytelling of the book, appreciating how it is well-told from various perspectives and serves as an excellent siege war story about empire expat life.

"...The book is extremely well researched and very interesting in that respect - for example, on contemporary views of the causes of cholera, a subject..." Read more

"...There’s no doubt that Farrell has researched the period well and, while Krishnapur and his characters are fictional, much of the action is based on..." Read more

"...The story is well-told from various perspectives (except that of any Indians), which eventually narrow down to that of the Collector, or chief..." Read more

"...such an incomparable style and vocabulary to make these people both tragic, heroic, and - oddest perhaps of all - at times extremely humorous...." Read more

32 customers mention ‘Thought provoking’29 positive3 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and fascinating, with one customer highlighting its brilliant insights into life during the raj and another noting its rich observations about human nature.

"...The book is extremely well researched and very interesting in that respect - for example, on contemporary views of the causes of cholera, a subject..." Read more

"...It is a wise book too, rich with observations about human nature which the reader instinctively recognises and knows to be valid, though it remains..." Read more

"...It is very thoughtful too. At the end of 'Ideas and the Novel' Mary McCarthy credits it with almost singlehandedly reviving the Novel of Ideas...." Read more

"This was a wonderfully well researched and beautifully told story that takes stories from Victoria's England and weaves them into a compelling tale..." Read more

31 customers mention ‘Humor’26 positive5 negative

Customers appreciate the book's humor, with one noting its black humor and another highlighting its comedy of English manners and Empire era attitudes.

"...a satire on the British rule in India, but it is largely driven by humour, irony, an entertaining sense of the absurd and a detached examination of..." Read more

"...Never salacious or patronising, his characterisations of females are multifaceted, diverse, alluring and edifying...." Read more

"...so comfortably from one mode to another - from pure, delirious, hilarious farce, to gripping action, to sombreness and tragedy...." Read more

"...both tragic, heroic, and - oddest perhaps of all - at times extremely humorous. One of the best books I've read in years." Read more

22 customers mention ‘Writing quality’22 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, with one customer noting its vivid depiction of colonial life styles and another highlighting its realistic descriptions of India.

"...It is very well-written, the work of an intelligent man who really can use words. It is also very funny...." Read more

"...chance for some thoroughly enjoyable set-pieces - such as the marvellously realistic and absurd combat between the vaguely effete Fleury and a..." Read more

"...There is a reason it was nominated for the Booker prize. The writing is delightful and the story is an old fashioned morality tale well told." Read more

"...those reviewers who have given it three stars: it’s undoubtedly very well-written, but somehow it didn’t catch light for me...." Read more

21 customers mention ‘Characterisation’21 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the characterisation in the book, finding them very believable, with one customer noting the long philosophical discussions between the main characters and another highlighting the multifaceted portrayals of female characters.

"...The Collector himself is a rather engaging character, dutiful, thoughtful, usually right, but with a strong sense of what benefit the British are..." Read more

"...And, in the end many of the characters show true heroism, even the most unlikely of the men facing the fighting with all the courage and initiative..." Read more

"...Never salacious or patronising, his characterisations of females are multifaceted, diverse, alluring and edifying...." Read more

"...The characters are very well drawn and you do care about what happens to them...." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Style’6 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's style, describing it as incomparable and alluring, with one customer noting its Dickensian scope and tone.

"...precious but useless valuables with them – exquisite china, beautiful paintings, even large items of furniture which they had paid a fortune to have..." Read more

"...his characterisations of females are multifaceted, diverse, alluring and edifying...." Read more

"...The manoeuvrings of the various white women are charmingly displayed and for a while it seems that there are to be no military tales of heroic hand-..." Read more

"...in the face of desperate odds, it is all described with such an incomparable style and vocabulary to make these people both tragic, heroic, and -..." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • hillbank68
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ingenious, very amusing, a good story - would it win the Booker now?
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 January 2010
    Verified Purchase
    This book won the Booker prize in 1973 and was voted second-best of the Bookers (after 'Midnight's Children') in 2008. It is extremely well written and most enjoyable. It tells of the four-month siege of Krishnapur (a fictitious town) in the Indian Mutiny (or Rebellion if you prefer) in 1857. The Collector, the effective 'governor' of the town, sees trouble coming (no-one else does) and organises the defence of the town and its Anglo-Indian community.

    The book is not quite a satire on the British rule in India, but it is largely driven by humour, irony, an entertaining sense of the absurd and a detached examination of how the British ex-patriates think and act in extreme circumstances.

    There are conventional young women - a young widow (Miriam), a beautiful and initially empty-headed girl (Louise), a 'fallen woman', Lucy - and a literal, anti-evolutionist Padre (the Mutiny came two years before 'The Origin of Species' was published), a free-thinking (and unpopular) Magistrate, a young man who believes in beauty, progress and the excellence of science (Fleury), two doctors who are at each other's throats because of differences of view on diagnosis and treatment, and so on. Through these characters Farrell explores many of the interests and pre-occupations of the time. The book is extremely well researched and very interesting in that respect - for example, on contemporary views of the causes of cholera, a subject which Drs. Dunstaple and MacNab debate publicly towards the end. That particular debate also illustrates neatly how an audience can be won over not by sense, evidence and argument, but by other, less rational, influences - it has strong resonance now in the politics of soundbites and spin.

    The Collector himself is a rather engaging character, dutiful, thoughtful, usually right, but with a strong sense of what benefit the British are bringing to India (why can the Indians not see that they are being offered a superior culture? why do they not welcome it with open arms?). But neither he nor anyone in the book is fully or deeply characterised. Instead, they represent values and attitudes which, no doubt, were present in mid-19th century Victorian Britain and particularly that part of it which went out and conquered the world.

    In the end, what makes the book such a delight to read are two things. It is very well-written, the work of an intelligent man who really can use words. It is also very funny. This is really almost impossible to exemplify. The Padre tries desperately to bury corpses in such a way that their feet don't stick out of the ground ; Fleury, facing a huge sepoy and on the point of death, defends himself with ... a violin ; the British guns are eventually loaded with old cutlery and false teeth ; the Collector is uncomfortably aware as he makes his rounds of the besieged town that two of his children are watching him constantly through a telescope ; the Maharajah's son, taking Fleury on a tour of his palace, explains to his guest as they watch the sleeping but somewhat explosive Maharajah, 'Father is breaking wind' ; why, wonders the Padre, did God write the Bible in Hebrew and Greek when English would have been a much better language ; desperate for ammunition and on their last legs, the garrison discovers that a bust of Shakespeare has excellent ballistic properties when fired from a cannon whereas a bust of Keats does not.
    But really, you just have to read it, and that is well worth doing.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • FictionFan
    4.0 out of 5 stars Mocking the Raj…
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 January 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Although life in the small fictional town of Krishnapur is currently peaceful for the British colonial community, the Collector fears trouble – he has been coming across small piles of chapattis left in odd places, and he’s sure he’s heard that this happened somewhere else, just before a native uprising against the representatives of the Raj. His fears are soon to be realised, and the British will be driven to take refuge in the Residency where they will have to withstand constant attacks, disease and starvation as they wait for the Army to come to their rescue…

    Gosh, I don’t remember feeling quite so conflicted about a book for a while! On the one hand, it is written as a sort of farcical comedy which is totally at odds with the serious subject matter, especially as the siege progresses and the suffering and death of the British contingent grows. On the other hand, there’s no doubt it is quite funny in places. On the one hand, it is clearly mocking the whole concept of colonialism and the British attempts to force their culture onto another society. On the other hand, the natives are still shown as kind of comedy characters – none are fully characterised, they are mostly simply one agglomerated mass, and, unlike the Brits, they get no opportunity to redeem themselves through heroism before the end. On the one hand, Farrell mocks the position of colonial women – seen as useless but pretty ornamentation at best, or, should they fail to remain within the restrictive rules of the British society, embarrassments at worst. On the other hand, for the most part this is exactly how Farrell treats them too, suggesting his egalitarianism wasn’t much more than skin deep.

    The first section before the siege goes on way too long and there were times when I wasn’t sure whether to stick with it. At this stage, though, at least the humour feels in keeping with the rather light-hearted depiction of the fairly pointless existence of most of the Brits. However, it becomes much more interesting once the siege finally gets underway. There’s no doubt that Farrell has researched the period well and, while Krishnapur and his characters are fictional, much of the action is based on the real Siege of Lucknow of 1857. The humour persists too long into the bleaker aspects of the story, but gradually style and content begin to match more and I began to find that at last I was beginning to care about some of the characters as people rather than seeing them solely as caricatures of colonial “types”.

    As well as colonialism, Farrell plays with contrasting themes of faith and science, civilisation and materialism, and honour and reputation. It all feels quite light and superficial because of the overall humorous tone, but I found that after I had finished reading it was these questions that lingered in my mind, more than the specifics of what had happened to the characters.

    As cholera strikes the besieged community, the two doctors argue bitterly over how it is spread – by miasma, as was then mostly accepted, or through contaminated water, as some were beginning to think. As the people are trying to decide which medical advice to follow, the clergyman is insisting that their troubles are all a judgement from God on their sins, and exhorting them to trust in prayer.

    When the Brits retreat to the Residency they bring all their precious but useless valuables with them – exquisite china, beautiful paintings, even large items of furniture which they had paid a fortune to have shipped out from England. But as hunger and danger strike, some of them begin to see the futility of possessions and would cheerfully give up their priceless antiques for a square meal and an unbroken night of safety. Some however cling onto their goods as if they are the markers of what makes them superior to the marauding natives out there.

    But when the situation becomes one of life and death, some of the old moral and societal standards fall away, and people begin to behave in ways that would have been unthinkable in the safe days, the respectable and the disreputable finding that they may have to rely on each other after all. And, in the end many of the characters show true heroism, even the most unlikely of the men facing the fighting with all the courage and initiative they can muster, and some of the ornamental women turning their hands to the sordid, dirty and dangerous job of nursing the sick and wounded.

    Although I had mixed feelings about a lot of it, I found that as it darkened my appreciation grew, and by the end I was glad I had stuck with it – the destination made what had felt like a long and sometimes tedious journey worthwhile. Perhaps it’s of its time – Farrell was clearly modern enough to be critical of colonialism, but perhaps not yet modern enough to prevent himself from falling into some of the attitudes he was mocking. Or perhaps he was so modern that he was mocking the attitudes of the people who were mocking the attitudes of the colonialists! I’ll quickly pull myself out before I get even more lost down that rabbit hole, give it four stars and add the other two books in his Empire Trilogy, Troubles and The Singapore Grip, to my wishlist, which I suppose can be taken as some kind of a recommendation!
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Eleanor Rigby
    5.0 out of 5 stars "Please yourself!"
    Reviewed in Germany on 22 October 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Die Geschichte, die uns J.G. Farrell hier ausbreitet, gründet lose auf der realen Belagerung Lucknows während des Sepoy-Aufstands 1857/8 in Indien und zeichnet ein eindrucksvolles Bild davon, wie Menschen sich in Ausnahmesituationen verändern können.
    Zu Anfang der Lektüre scheint die Welt allerdings noch in feinster britischer Ordnung zu sein und die Protagonisten werden uns als kultivierte, zivilisierte Exemplare der Britischen Upper-Middle-Class vorgestellt. Der verweichlichte, dem Romantizismus anhängende Fleury, der Collector, der von der Great Exhibition schwärmt, Dr. Dunstaple, der noch der alten medizinischen Schule angehört und der Padre sind nur einige der Figuren, die uns in diesem Buch begegnen und eine unabdingbare Rolle spielen.
    Auf den Inhalt möchte ich an dieser Stelle allerdings gar nicht weiter eingehen (den können Sie auch anderswo lesen), sondern ich möchte lieber darauf hinweisen, dass Farrell hier mit kleineren Abzügen ein ähnlich interessantes Buch gelungen ist wie William Golding mit Herr der Fliegen". Farrell allerdings kombiniert die Beschreibung individueller Personenentwicklungen mit dem Zeichnen und kritisch-unter-die-Lupe-Nehmen verschiedener Denkmuster der damaligen, aber auch heutigen Zeit.
    Farrell gelingt ein ausgewogener Querschnitt durch die britische Gesellschaft das 19. Jh. und lässt uns die Denkmuster der einzelnen Charaktere sehr gut nachvollziehen. Dies gelingt ihm oftmals mit einem leicht ironischen Unterton, der einen immer wieder schmunzeln lässt. Interessant ist hierbei auch, dass Farrell einen größtenteils viktorianischen Schreibstil nachahmt und Themen wie sexuelle Erregung dementsprechend verpackt, was für den heutigen Leser sehr amüsant ist. Gleichzeitig kommentiert er unterschwellig die Meinungen der Figuren aus unserer heutigen Weltanschauung.
    Es werden Themen und Diskussionen verarbeitet, die zu der damaligen Zeit auch thematisiert wurden. Z.B. spielt die Great Exhibition eine wichtige Rolle und nachdem im Lager die Cholera ausgebrochen ist, diskutieren Dr. Dunstaple (der an eine Cholerawolke glaubt) und Dr. McNab, wie die Krankheit verbreitet würde und wie man sie am besten behandeln sollte. Dies wird öffentlich diskutiert, vor den Ohren all der anderen Belagerten, die selber in Furcht leben, angesteckt zu werden, und sich während des hitzigen Schlagabtauschs immer wieder umentscheiden, von welchem Arzt sie behandelt werden wollen, und dies auf kleinen Kärtchen vermerken und verbessern. Farrells Buch bietet einige solcher aberwitzigen Situationen, die sich mit den ernsteren Beschreibungen der Charakterwandlungen und dem Sich-Zuspitzen der Situation vermischen.
    Und je mehr die zivilisierte Gesellschaft durch die Belagerung zerbricht, wird einem klar, welch oberflächliche Fassade das doch nur war. Zudem wird einem auch klar, dass diese britische Gesellschaft zu der indischen, die die Briten ständig als minderwertig und hinterwäldlerisch abtun, doch einige Parallelen aufweist. So lässt sich das Kastensystem einfach mit dem Klassensystem vergleichen, das mit der Figur Lucy (einer jungen Frau, die sich mit einem Herren wohl zu sehr vergnügt hat) sogar seine Unantastbare hat.
    Mir fallen allerdings auch zwei kleinere Schwächen des Buchs ins Auge. Zum einen habe ich an einigen (wenigen) Stellen das Gefühl, dass Farrell dem Leser nicht zutraut bestimmte Situationen/ Aussagen richtig zu deuten und einem die Interpretationen vorausnimmt. Das passiert nicht am laufenden Band, aber doch oft genug und teils recht auffällig.
    Zum anderen finde ich es ab und an ein wenig verwunderlich, wie bestimmte Charaktere plötzlich bestimmte Gefühle für andere entwickeln. Vielleicht erklärt der Autor sowas absichtlich nicht (Farrell scheint sich durchaus sehr genaue Gedanken dazu gemacht zu haben, in welche Personen er uns wann Einblick gewährt und welche wir lange nur durch die Beschreibungen anderer charakterisieren können).
    Nichtsdestotrotz würde ich dieses Buch aus vollem Herzen weiterempfehlen. Die Thematik fand ich sehr interessant, genauso wie die Charaktere und ihre Entwicklung und auch den leisen ironischen Humor. Und auch wenn man das Buch wohl als Historien-Roman bezeichnen würde, ist die Geschichte nicht so trocken, wie man glauben könnte, und auch für Leute geeignet, die kein Vorwissen zum Sepoy-Aufstand oder dem Victorianischen England haben (auch wenn ich behaupten möchte, dass sich das volle Potenzial des Buches erst fassen lässt, wenn man die Hintergründe ein wenig besser kennt).
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  • Peter M
    2.0 out of 5 stars A Hard Slog to Read.
    Reviewed in Australia on 20 April 2024
    Verified Purchase
    I purchased this on the premise that a Booker Prize book would be a high quality work.
    I was sorely disappointed to say the least.
    Whilst I appreciate that the use of archaic language fits the narrative, the whole thing became tedious and predictable .
    There are many better accounts of the Indian Mutiny. Not recommended.
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  • holmes keith
    5.0 out of 5 stars À lire
    Reviewed in France on 20 May 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Le récit tellement drôle et acerbe d'une des tragédies de la colonisation britannique s. Toute la mauvaise foi des soi-disant "gens supérieurs" mise à nu.
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  • Pippin O' Rohan
    5.0 out of 5 stars WHEN THE BRITISH DRANK BOILED WATER AT TEA DURING THE INDIAN MUTINY: An Account of Imperial Colonialism in 1857
    Reviewed in the United States on 23 March 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Recently on a narrative journey to Co. Bantry in Ireland with the late author Brian Moore, where he writes about a young American poet in search of his ancestry, his novel led me further to another Irish writer James Farrell (1935-1979), who had taken up a farmhouse in the elbow of Bantry Bay a few years before. At first I wedged a bit at the title of J.G. Farrell's award-winning Booker novel, "The Siege of Krishnapur" (1973), not being one for historical military accounts, and I cautiously read the first few pages only to be highly entertained, while keeping some misgivings under gun-powder lock when it came to the deployment of this historical event. This mutiny was to take place between The British East India Company and the sepoys, their recruited Indian soldiers, who turned against them in a great uprising in 1857. Raging on for about 120 days, it was violently crushed and then The Raj came in to rule the following year under the proclamation of Queen Victoria, now deemed 'The Mother of India'.

    On being introduced by this author to some familiar Victorian characters depicted in Part One (for the novel is divided into four), it engendered quite a bit of laughter here while knowing this was most likely all going to end in some ghastly fashion where our World is not always a wedding party. Farrell, from the first and onwards, was to catch this reader's attention in describing the mores and behavior of the British ruling class at the time in Calcutta, settled comfortably in elegant residences with their furniture from home, their familiar wardrobe and picnic baskets from Wilson's "Hall of All Nations", along with hunting weapons, cricket bats, splendid displays of polished tea sets and crystal ware.

    The violent conflict begins to unravel with a mysterious trail of chapatis, hard biscuits of coarse flour, first found in a desk box of Hopkins, the Collector at the fictional duty station of Krishnapur near the region of Crawnpore. This tragical farce, a dark witty account of colonialism, shortly becomes a horrific if droll nightmare, and these English people now trapped under the Siege of Krisnapur are soon huddled up at the large splendid Residency of the Collector. Every day brings more armed sepoys who amass in a growing tangled jungle of foliage on the outskirts of the compound, and these mutinous soldiers are now going for British blood and not taking any prisoners, while the bird and animal predators outdoors wait for their next gruesome meal with relish.

    Before this unexpected rebellion, however, and although 'spots of trouble' had been noted by British officials in Crawnpore and Lucknow among other regions, the Victorians depicted here are living in an exotic, colorful and embroidered tapestry frame, fringed with rich tassles, one which they intend eventually to bring home with some ceremony, along with a bevy of memorabilia and trophies such as sumptuous Indian fabrics, brass candle-stick holders and tiger mats to list just a few offerings and trappings on their return to England. The Collector, the central character in this narration, an aptly name as he is renowned by many for his great passion for beautiful European possessions, is a handsome tall figure with magnificent whiskers and impeccably attired to the official button. A commanding and dignified man, he is compassionate with a pacifying disposition. Only the readers are privy to his inner thoughts which he usually keeps wisely from others, and while listening to them, he drifts away at times into his own musings of the world. A married man slightly irritated with six children whom he moodily keeps at a distance, his wife has just left for England to escape the unbearable heat of the Summer Season, leaving behind her hapless daughters who tremble in awe and reverence at a sighting of their aloof father on moderate occasions.

    In this picture there is also the Magistrate, Hopkins' counterpart and second-in-command, a pessimistic, caustic and sardonic man who loathes his job, and takes it out on the gentle ladies of the Community, while sprouting off on the science of phrenology, and shredding with sharp sarcasm their poetic verses read to him weekly with a tremor in their voices. Then the long-awaited visiting young George Fleury finally arrives in Calcutta for the first time. A fatuous pompous youth with delicate sensibilities, Fleury is considered a catch among the mothers and daughters of the Elite, and feels troubled keeping up with romantic postures of the day, with an eye to Louise Dunstaple, the great vaporous Beauty of two cold Indian Seasons. Fleury has brought along his recently widowed sister, Miriam, whose husband was killed in battle in Crimea, and with plans to visit his mother's grave for the first time. Miriam is the most sensible of the women in this story and perhaps proves to be the wisest.

    The resident Doctor is the father of Louise and her brother Harry Dunstaple, a young Lieutenant in training. The latter, a keen sportsman and athlete, he shows a great interest in weaponry and the improving of it, with other artillery on hand. Over time, we see the respected Doctor develop an obsessive resentment towards his new assistant Dr. McNab, a younger doctor from Scotland, who is far more knowledgeable and advanced when it comes to saving lives and healing patients. Miss Lucy Hughes, deemed a fallen woman for a brief doomed affair, is eventually brought into the Residency by cautious invitation, and reflects the epitome of femininity. Attracting the attention of all the men, even the cold Magistrate if for other reasons, she becomes later in the Siege, a surrealistic art nightmare when she is covered from head to toe in a black robe of flying beetles, turning her into a live nude statue and into a deep faint. Revived and tidied up by the virginal and curious Fleury and Harry, Lucy holds up well as days go by, and flirting prettily away, gives a semblance of tea parties to the last, securing the heart of the young gruff and awkward military-minded Harry.

    The Collector is planning to fight until the end, and when ammunition runs out, Harry comes up with ingenious weapons made of silver cutlery, hair brushes, sugar-tongs, toys, stockings from the women and scrap metal, while enlisting the help of the languid Fleury. Fleury once moved to action shows himself to be an unexpected hero, and when the enemy finally enters the Residency, his close shaves and daring feats from chandelier to chandelier add some comical relief to this story of bloodshed.

    There are other individuals of interest in this cast of characters: an increasingly fanatic Padre, a kindly Irish priest, some rogues and villains, and somehow they all ring true to life as portrayed brilliantly by Farrell. When it comes to the Indian population, the crowds of natives and servants remain 'invisible and nameless' to British eyes, and the victims of their indifference and oppression. Thus the author only introduces us to Hari, an enthusiastic young, spoiled and bored Indian prince, who finds the British fascinating if disappointing and disconcerting on closer inspection. Before the Siege when Fleury pays him a courtesy visit at his palace on a long afternoon, their encounter is one of the funniest misinterpretations ever of inept communication between two young poorly informed men from different cultures. It never occurs to Fleury after his visit that he has narrowly escaped deliberate injury from Hari, after being unwittingly and outrageously rude to the bombastic and now enraged young prince, whose Prime Minister is perhaps the most curious Indian figure in this epic tale.

    The novel is full of other absurdities and ironies, while Farrell has a way about him of making us feel sorry, without plunging most of the readers into a deep gloom, of inspiring pity and admiration on hearing of the trials, the horrors and losses that these now skeletal British people are enduring. And, in the midst of the intolerable suffocating heat, floods and rotten food, suffering, cholera and death, the survivors continue to divide carefully their last few sugar lumps to place in their tea cups of boiled water during this daily ritual, too weary to shed more tears, too weary to even give much thought to their loved, or lost ones.

    Farrell's writing style is beautiful and a pleasure to read. His admirers may have favorite sentences of his that they find evocative and memorable. As for India, so vast and mysterious, the author on a visit was to find it overwhelming in scope and beyond his mental horizons, letting his Collector reflect in hindsight over the years that what he really only brought back with him was the vision of two village men and two bullocks drawing water from a well for every day of their lives. The Collector was much changed when he returned home and came to believe that 'a people, a nation does not create itself according to its best ideas, but is shaped by other forces of which it has little knowledge'.

    A famous author recently was to say of J.G. Farrell that had he not died so young, he might have been considered one of our finest British writers in contemporary literature today. But just as the author Brian Moore was to publish a work that takes place along the coast of Bantry Co. in 1979, James Gordon Farrell in the Summer of that same year was washed out to sea while fishing in Bantry Bay. It is always a gift to be led to a winning author previously unknown to a reader, and while securing now his other writings, I will leave this historical mutiny in India with thoughts of the small 'Cities of the Silent', and the many other casualties of colonialism.
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  • mch
    5.0 out of 5 stars Not to be missed
    Reviewed in Canada on 11 October 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Love this book, love the entire Empire trilogy. Farrell was a genius wordsmith and incorporated social/historical critiques in his work supremely well. In awe of his capacity for creating the worlds of the times and locations he chose to address. How sad that he died at such a young age, he doubtless had so much more to contribute.
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