The Far Pavilions

I had read this a couple of decades ago and I wanted to reread it. The condition of the book want that great. It looks dirty and the edges of the pages are very dirty. Next time I order a book, it won’t be used.

The book was as described - in very good condition. Very satisfied with purchase and shipping time.

It took nearly 5 months, but I have finally finished this epic tale of star-crossed lovers searching for a place to belong, set amid the political intrigues, cruelties and hubris of the British Raj. At almost 49 hours, it's by far the longest audiobook I've yet tackled. Narrator Vikas Adam was an expert guide, and much of the story had me utterly captivated. But this novel had a couple of glaring flaws that kept me from giving it 5 stars (although, in the end, it did seem to add up to more than the sum of its parts).I will leave a detailed recounting of the plot to other reviewers. At the heart of the story is the struggle of Ashton Pelham Martin, born British but raised Indian, to reconcile the two halves of himself. His beloved, Anjuli, gives the book its soul. A neglected Indian princess, she too is "half caste," valued solely for the emotional support she gives her spoiled, volatile younger sister, Shushila. The same intolerance and prejudice that makes both Ash and Juli outcasts in their own country, places seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the path of their love.The story managed to have both a breathtaking scope - sweeping from the Himalayas to the parched deserts of India and back again to the Hindu Kush - and a remarkable intimacy, revealing the private inner lives of a huge cast of characters. The novel highlighted how people find both comfort and frustration in cultural customs and traditions. They give human beings a place to belong while simultaneously limiting and stifling them.Despite all of the other compelling characters, Ash and Juli's saga was so central to the book's emotional core that the story lost its way when its focus shifted to the Second Afghan War and the ill-fated British mission to Kabul. Try as I might, I was not as engrossed in the fate of Lt. Walter Hamilton, Ash's best friend, especially as both Ash and Juli were relegated to the role of bystanders. The final quarter of the book dragged, taking me a few weeks to finish. I wish M.M. Kaye had used that section as the basis for a second book, rather than trying to shoehorn it into Ash and Juli's story.The key figures in the siege against the British mission were based on real people. Therefore, the story seemed unnecessarily padded in this final section, as if Kaye were just marking time to arrive at the major historical events. Throughout the book, she also showed a weakness for heavy-handed foreshadowing, to the point I could predict major plot twists long before they happened. In the final quarter, she beat the reader over the head with it, until I was almost relieved to finally reach the end (where I felt Ash and Juli's story was wrapped up too hastily).However, the book's many strengths made it compelling and worthwhile, and I'll probably listen to or read the story again someday. Vikas Adam was an extraordinary narrator, giving consistent, distinctive voices to all of the characters. I especially loved how he used different accents for Ash, depending on whether he was thinking or speaking in English or in an Indian dialect.

This is a book that I have been recommended countless times and always declined reading. I can no longer really remember why, except that the first page always seemed a stiff and confusing. But this year, upon seeing the number of pages the book was (1200 pages in mass market paperback) and being recommended it one more time I decided to give it a shot.All I can say is wow! This is one of those historical epics that ranks right up there with  Gone With the Wind  in terms of scope, romance, and underlying issues. It's just an amazing novel.This is the story of Ashton, who is raised from birth by a Hindu foster mother while his father treks around Indian on linguistic missions. When his father dies and the sephoy mutiny happens, his foster mother Sita (a women with real courage) discuses the already dark skinned Ash as her own son and takes him to a remote state where the violence against the British has yet to spread. Here he becomes the servant/playmate of the heir to the throne and the boy's half-sister, Juli. But the heir is in danger from his wicked stepmother who wants him dead so her own son will be heir and when Ash prevents this one to many times he and Sita must flee for their lives. It is then that Sita revels Ash is really British and sends him off to find his own "people."Of course later Ash will find Juli again-when he is assigned to escort her and thousands of others to her wedding in a far away state. You can guess what kind of turmoil this turns up.While a great deal of this book is a romance, an adventure, a war story and a exploration of a culture, it is also about the search for identity for poor Ash, who is really neither British no Indian but "two men in one skin-which is an uncomfortable thing to be."There's also fantastic (and quite sensitive towards Indian considering it was written by a Brit) descriptions of the imperialism of the British and the stupidly of them in some situations (like the Afghan wars.) and a truly touching sentiment about finding a place in the world free or prejudice or danger where you can just be whatever you turn out to be.Anyway, this is an amazing book. The absolute only thing I didn't love was the ending, which seemed a little out of place with the main plot, but the last few pages tied it back in and then it was just perfect.Five stars. I should have read this long ago, and look forward to reading others by the author.

I'm absolutely amazed to find negative reviews about this book!I first read it almost 40 years ago, around the time that it was dramatised on TV - and it is just as good today as it was then. In fact, now I am older & wiser, I found myself understanding Anjuli's decisions much more than I did all those years ago.I think this has a lot to do with the fact that the author really knew her subject, having ties to India herself. The characters really come alive and the story is gripping (with some factual basis). You really feel that you are there, living in the India of the Raj.Yes, there is a love story in there - but I'm no lover of romantic fiction, so can safely say "don't let that put you off". It's a realistic love story - not a "sloppy" one!I wanted to listen to this on Audible - but luckily listened to the sample before purchasing that version. To my horror, I heard a drawling American accent attempting to narrate the story of a British officer and his Indian friends & accomplices (and sometimes, enemies) in 19th century India - no, No, NO!!!What a shame Amazon hadn't managed to get someone like Art Malik to narrate - or Michael Maloney, who narrated "Captain Corelli's Mandolin" (complete with believable Greek and Italian accents) so beautifully.

Ein tolles Buch. Nicht nur weil es zeigt, wie schwierig ein Balanceakt zwischen den Kulturen ist. Der Held der Geschichte ist Engländer, wächst als Inder auf und sein Adoptiv Vater ist Afghane. Seine große Liebe ist halb Inderin, halb Russin. Am Ende muss er erkennen, das sie beide zu keiner Kultur richtig dazu gehören. Es zeigt auch klar und deutlich auf, das, wenn ein Volk in seiner eigenen Kultur leben möchte, es die stärksten Armeen der Welt besiegen kann, wenn nur ein Wille dafür vorhanden ist. Somit sehr aktuell, denn das letzte Drittel des Romans spielt während des zweiten Afghanistan Krieges. Pelham-Martyn versteht die Afghanen, war sein Adoptiv Vater doch Afghane, und warnt, während er als Britischer Agent hinter den feindlichen Linien arbeitet, die Engländer ständig davor, das sie die Afghanen falsch einschätzen. Dafür, das er die Wahrheit sagt, wird er geschmäht, als Sympatisant mit Afghanen dargestellt. Von den Afghanen wird er als Ungläubiger aber nie akzeptiert. Als nicht Hindu ist er aber auch für die Inder nicht akzeptabel. Dann werden, trotz aller Warnungen von seiner Seite alle Engländer, darunter sein bester Freund von den Afghanen massakriert. Am Ende findet er zu sich selber, er kehrt nicht mehr zu den Engländern zurück und reitet mit seiner Frau Anjuli in die Berge des Himalaya, denn beide erkennen, das sie sie selbst sind, nicht Teil einer Kultur, ob Englisch, Afghanisch oder Indisch, von der sie nie akzeptiert worden sind. Das Buch habe ich ein Dutzend Mal gelesen, und habe es nur als E Book gekauft, um es von Alexa vorlesen zu lassen.

I wavered between 4 and 5 stars on this one but in the end it has so much in it that I had to go up to 5. The book paints a really vivid picture of life in India under the Raj through Ashok’s changing circumstances. It covers a number of historical events (I was grateful for the summary of fact vs fiction at the end) and has left me wanting to read more which is always a good sign.I did feel that the last section about the fighting in Afghanistan dragged on a bit but throughout the rest of the book all the details and asides really added to the richness and sometimes became important to the plot. At times I felt the section when negotiating the bride contract dragged on too but in the end I think the repetition just served to build an understanding of the frustration.A key theme in the book was Askok’s/Ashton’s lack of belonging and confusion over his identity although he was a fictional character it all seemed very credible and really made me think of the impact of colonisation.I switched between kindle and audible and although the narrator seemed very authentic when speaking the Indian parts I found the foreign accents, pronunciation and emphasis cringeworthy. I also found the female voices really irritating which was a shame as on the whole he did a good job of switching between a cast of characters and making a very long book engaging.I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the camps and life in the palace where the ruling families lived in fear.Definitely recommend to anyone who likes to read about other cultures

All Well Sorry I look forward to reading really enjoyed Shadow of the Moon

Ich kenne dieses Buch sowohl auf Deutsch wie (jetzt) auf Englisch, wobei mir die englische Version lieber ist: man kann bei der Gelegenheit wunderbar Englisch üben, denn sprachlich ist das Buch auf eine Weise schon anspruchsvoller.Letztlich ein Buch mit Happy End (was eine der Hauptpersonen angeht) und ohne Happy End (was eine andere Hauptperson angeht), aber ganz en passant erfährt man etwas über ein Land, das gerade im Moment wieder in allen Nachrichten ist - aus negativen Gründen: Afghanistan! Damals so wenig wie heute haben es westliche Staaten geschafft, diesem Land eine Richtung zu geben; wie es damals den Briten erging, ist an dieser Stelle für mich interessant zu lesen, und wer immer sich bis zu dieser Stelle durchgelesen hat, lernt unauffällig eine Menge Geschichte, denn das, was dort erzählt wird, ist bis auf wenige Ausnahmen authentisch. In der deutschen Version schreibt M. M. Kaye am Ende über sein Buch; von der englischsprachigen weiß ich noch nicht, weil ich nocht nicht so weit gekommen bin.