34 - River of Smoke, by Amitav Ghosh
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by my friend Wendy
ELAPSED TIME: 5 Days
RATING: Good
The second book in Ghosh's trilogy about the opium wars, this book was a lot more history and not enough fiction. The protagonists failed to capture my heart.
One interesting (and redeeming) feature by Bahram, the Indian businessman whose fortune was tied to the British, was the acknowledgement that the Westerners only speak of Free Trade when it benefits them... and when the opposition is winning, they rely on their government to step in and protect their space in the market.
All in all, I won't recommend this book... and likely will forget the characters and storyline in short order.
This blog is a simple review of every book that I read... For all books I’ll tell you why I picked it, how long it took me to read it, and give it a rating (burn it, not good, meh, good, very good, and required reading). I ask (encourage?) all readers of my blog to post their thoughts of any of the books in my comments :). Thanks!
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