Book review n°1 : The Glass Palace, by Amitav Ghosh ****

The Glass Palace (Le Palais des Miroirs) is an excellent novel written by Amitav Ghosh.
It takes place in Asia - between Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia and India.
Since my trip to Thaïland a year ago (which was absolutely awesome by the way), I have read a couple of novels taking place in Burma - The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason (L'accordeur de piano) and La Vallée des Rubis by Joseph Kessel - and really enjoyed the atmosphere, the fiction, the history and the cultural background of these novels.

The Glass Palace begins in 1885 with the British invasion of Mandalay and the capture of the Burmese king and queen. The novel first follows two characters : Rajkumar, a young Indian boy aged 11 who happened to be in Mandalay at that time - and Dolly, young maid of the Burmese royal family. As the years go by, this saga stretches through 3 generations and at least 3 countries that are undergoing major changes in politics and culture. It ends in 1996 with Aung San Suu Kyi, charismatic figure of the democratic opposition in Myanmar.

The novel is full of descriptions of life and customs at this time, which are fascinating. I learned so much about Burma and India. It is full of both history and fiction which transported me to places I have never been. I could feel time passing by as I read and the novel gave me a great insight of South West Asia at different times.

To put it in a nutshell, this is a fascinating novel.
If you are curious about Asian cultures, if you're interested in History and Politics, or if you like reading sagas, I definitely recommend this book !

More about the author : http://www.amitavghosh.com/