It’s possible that Amitav Ghosh’s sense of place is his greatest writing talent. When we are removed from his works in memory, we recall visions of a landscape, a city, or a settlement on the edge of a desert. Perhaps this is what makes him such a master of travel writing, a genre whose characteristics are determined by the locations and their histories. The Sundarbans, a vast, sometimes submerged archipelago mostly covered in mangrove forests, is where his most recent work, The Hungry Tide, takes place as the Ganges empties into the Bay of Bengal.
Where the land meets the Bay of Bengal, in what is now India and Bangladesh, is a region known as the Sundarbans. Here, a number of rivers, notably the Ganges, join the sea and divide into countless smaller streams, creating a sizable archipelago of islands. As freshwater and saltwater combine between dry ground and mangrove swamps, it creates a complex ecosystem.
Despite the unstable conditions, people have lived in the Sundarbans for millennia. The region is vulnerable to cyclones coming in from the bay, which can completely destroy the communities there, and even daily activities come with the risk of crocodiles, sharks, and man-eating tigers, which probably kill more than even the locals realize. Habitable land is scarce and can be quickly reclaimed by swamps or the sea. Nonetheless, people still manage to make a meager existence there. asserting that they are “tide people,” incapable of understanding or desiring any other way of existence.
Two outsiders, each with a very different goal, travel to the Sundarbans in The Hungry Tide.
Kanai is a New Delhi-based businessman. He has developed a prosperous company offering translators, who are in high demand in the Indian capital, thanks to his gift for languages. His life has been one where he has never felt challenged, in danger, or in need thanks to talent, security, and confidence. Even though he is middle-aged, he has led a playboy lifestyle, choosing to pleasure himself with flings and lovers rather than getting married. Understandably, he got into difficulties as a young person due to these traits and views. In one such instance, after being suspended, he was sent to live with an uncle and aunt on the island of Lusibari in the Sundarbans to unwind.
The way Ghosh gives his works “color” is one of those things. I did not make any notes for many of the chapters in The Hungry Tide since they did not significantly advance the tale, the characters, or the ideas but rather helped the reader understand the location and its past. Such passages can be incredibly boring and seem forced in many works by many authors, but Ghosh has a talent for making these sections entertaining and seem natural. The use of brief chapters is likely helpful. Despite reading somewhat slowly, I breezed through this 400-page work.
I think a key element in what I call “intrigue”—a force that propels the reader forward—is what makes a book enjoyable and compelling. The mystery surrounding Nirmal’s final hours and what Kanai will learn after reading the things his uncle has left him is the key source of suspense in The Hungry Tide. The Hungry Tide could have utilized a lot more intrigue to pique the reader’s interest, even though events did not pan out as I had anticipated from the early portions of the book. Kanai is a character that might be challenging for the reader to relate to and support because of his arrogance and flirtatious nature. They are greatly offset by Ghosh’s approachable, simple writing style.
It’s fair to say that The Hungry Tide did not hold my attention or intrigue me as much as the other Ghosh books I have read, but his brilliance as a storyteller ensured that there was still a lot to enjoy, and I found myself reading this book faster than usual. The day after I finished it, even though the book was over, I expected and wanted to pick it back up to continue reading, which is not how I usually feel after finishing a book. That is likely evidence that I was actually more emotionally connected to the characters than I had realized. I believe it also captures the essence of the narrative; whenever a character goes through a transformational experience.
Writer:
Risalat Rahman Hridoy
Intern, Content Writing Department
YSSE