Review
I had known of Amitav Ghosh from before, books whispered here and there, like a book on climate change he had written recently - a book I had not read. So, when I saw Ghost Eye in the e-library, I immediately put it on hold.
I am not a Bengali, so I can’t say that it took me back to my childhood days in Calcutta. And yet, it did. It took me back to the streets of J&K block in Laxmi Nagar in Delhi, where I used to live as a child. It took me back to the time I stood in the street and heard an aunty who lived in the building opposite to our own, tell us tales about her village, tell us tales of spirits and such.
This is a book about reincarnation, but also the world we are living in, about cooking (fish specifically) but also the art of cooking. And everything ties off beautifully by the end - the aha moment.
I’m not sure if the story overall had the required stakes. I don’t think it did. And it felt that a few things were unresolved. The reason I loved reading this book was the moments spent in Calcutta, those descriptions are everything. All the characters are so well sketched out.
I don’t usually read fiction with Indian settings and characters. Reading this book, I felt it could be done well. Give it a read.