This was a very impressive accomplishment. Sugden employed a thorough array of sources to document a man whose history is not well documented. The speculations in the absence of details seem reasonable and the minimum needed to advance the biography. I imagine this work will set some type of standard for reconstructing the histories of a people lacking written records. He brought in enough local color to make me miss growing up in Ohio, too.
A good read. I enjoyed the ample details and backstory provided to delineate a country I have never tried hard enough to understand previously. Some of the plot was embarrassingly simplistic (the romance between Sardjay and the Christian was crude and silly as any Bollywood production). But, jeez, I was unable to put it aside for more than a day. I didn't read it in a sitting or 2, but I was eager to resume the story daily. Best of all, like all good fiction, it helped define a real place and its history better than a non-fictional work could have. I have missed big, fun novels like this.
A good read. I enjoyed the ample details and backstory provided to delineate a country I have never tried hard enough to understand previously. Some of the plot was embarrassingly simplistic (the romance between Sardjay and the Christian was crude and silly as any Bollywood production). But, jeez, I was unable to put it aside for more than a day. I didn't read it in a sitting or 2, but I was eager to resume the story daily. Best of all, like all good fiction, it helped define a real place and its history better than a non-fictional work could have. I have missed big, fun novels like this.
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Tecumseh: A Life by John Sugden
lee kissick, February 19, 2008
This was a very impressive accomplishment. Sugden employed a thorough array of sources to document a man whose history is not well documented. The speculations in the absence of details seem reasonable and the minimum needed to advance the biography. I imagine this work will set some type of standard for reconstructing the histories of a people lacking written records. He brought in enough local color to make me miss growing up in Ohio, too.Sacred Games Signed
lee kissick, February 19, 2008
A good read. I enjoyed the ample details and backstory provided to delineate a country I have never tried hard enough to understand previously. Some of the plot was embarrassingly simplistic (the romance between Sardjay and the Christian was crude and silly as any Bollywood production). But, jeez, I was unable to put it aside for more than a day. I didn't read it in a sitting or 2, but I was eager to resume the story daily. Best of all, like all good fiction, it helped define a real place and its history better than a non-fictional work could have. I have missed big, fun novels like this.Sacred Games: A Novel by Vikram Chandra
lee kissick, February 10, 2008
A good read. I enjoyed the ample details and backstory provided to delineate a country I have never tried hard enough to understand previously. Some of the plot was embarrassingly simplistic (the romance between Sardjay and the Christian was crude and silly as any Bollywood production). But, jeez, I was unable to put it aside for more than a day. I didn't read it in a sitting or 2, but I was eager to resume the story daily. Best of all, like all good fiction, it helped define a real place and its history better than a non-fictional work could have. I have missed big, fun novels like this.(3 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)