Book: Gun Island-A
Novel
Author: Amitav Ghosh
Publisher: Penguin
Hamish Hamilton
Has it ever happened to you that a story that you heard as a
child have stuck with you, only to resurface years later, triggered by a recent
occurrence?
Gun Island is based on one such folk tale based in the
region of Bengal, both West Bengal (India) & Bangladesh. Dinanath Chatterjee
is a Brooklyn-based rare book dealer and our protagonist. On one of his visits
to Calcutta, he comes in contact with the legend of the Bonduki Sadagar
or The Gun Merchant accidentally when he is asked about that in a party by an
acquaintance, Kanai Dutta. Elaborating further on this, he mentions about a Dhaam,
a shrine, in the Sunderbans connected to this legend and dedicated to Manasa
Devi, the goddess of snakes. Kanai tells him that his Aunt Nilima had
mentioned this and Dinanath meet her to get more information on this purported dhaam.
On reaching Nilima’s place the next day, he comes to know that Nilima had come
across this legend while she was working in the Sunderbans and had met the
caretaker of the shrine and he had told her the first two lines of the legend. Knowing
that Dinanath had a keen interest in the folklore, she asked him whether he
would like to go and see the shrine since Nilima’s Trust does work in the area
and could help him seek that shrine out. Though reluctantly, he decides to take
the trip. Deep in the Mangroves of Sunderbans, he goes to the temple and has an
encounter with a King Cobra. What follows this incident is an uncanny series of
events that cannot be explained easily with rational arguments.
Gun Island is a powerful novel with the plots touching
multiple social topics. Amitav Ghosh has taken a folk tale and set it in
contemporary times with some very impactful characters. The plot of the book,
though seems to untangle the journey of the Bonduki Sadagar and the Gun
Island, but infact works with social topics such as Human trafficking, environmental
impacts and has a very deep usage of fate as a theme. Amitav has taken examples
of animal migration, forest fires, change in seasons to show that we, as humans
are impacting environment in a large way. At one point in the beginning we have
a discussion between Dinanath and Tipu about passports being a matter of belief,
which sets the tone of the parallel theme of the book-illegal migrations and
the methods people resort to. With apt examples and occurrings, the entangled
plots of environmental impact, human trafficking and the folk tale move
smoothly in the book.
The characters are created beautifully with each having a
relevant back story, which is introduced at the perfect time. Be it the
character of the depressed, rare book dealer Dinanath or the all-knowing
professor Cinta to the rational researcher Piya, each character has their role
perfectly defined and is related to one theme of the book or another.
The location of the book moves from Kolkata to the swamps of
Sunderbans and from Brooklyn to Venice, taking into its arms Egypt, Turkey and
Afghanistan. Each location has been chosen with its relation to the folktale of
the Gun Merchant that unfolds in the last part of the book, but not before we
have experienced a ride of paranoia, sadness, thrill and most of all, hope
through the eyes of our protagonist.
For me, the book is a 5/5.
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