A History of Insects

by Yvonne Roberts

trade 1st edition paperback, vg++

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2000

Reviews

[Hira · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just as I was about to sleep I had a sudden vision of the disturbing memory of the day I read this disturbing book and I feel sad now

[Trudy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story takes place in Pakistan in the 1950s, shortly after the partition of the British Indian Empire. The central setting is the enclosure of the British High Commission in Peshawar. The story centres around the relationships between those living in this hierarchical ex-pat community, upper class Pakistani society and the servants, and clearly shows what the Pakistanis and British thought about each other.

I found Ella, a nine-year-old girl, a very believable character. Much of the story is told through her eyes, as she struggled to make sense of the adult world around her. As I have come to expect when there is a mother in the story, dysfunctional parenting played a significant role in the course of events. I didn't find Ella's time at boarding school nearly as interesting as life in the compound, and I was anxious for her to return and have the story continue.

This story is full of history I knew little about. All in all, it was an interesting story, full of atmosphere, intrigue and power struggles. However, I couldn't quite overlook the parts of the story that stretched beyond believability.

[Kokila Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it deeply engrossing but lacking wit. For me it was Bland yet Engaging.
And despite myself I loved it !
If something can be good despite being bland then its this book.
So, an engrossing read with that little something amiss which could have turned it into Beea...uuutiful ... Sigh!
And I think All the wives of the story are real fine characters including the blink-and-you- miss performance of the poised, sheathed in a pale-linen dress,strikingly beautiful Mrs. Faryal Afridi Khan.
Read it for her.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing to do with insects. This is the title that 9-year-old Ella, an expat in newly created Pakistan, gives to her diary, to stop the grown-ups from reading it. A very good story, with interesting historical detail (makes me embarrassed to be British - again). Some - actually most - of the characters are so awful. Truth is a relative virtue, is the basic premise, with adults preaching one thing and doing another.

[Moushumi Ghosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nerve-wracking book of a kind I haven't read in a while.

Nine year old Ella discovers what grownups are and how untrustworthy they can be. At the heart of the story is Ella and her life and Betty Brocking, an American who is the voice of reason in the book. Ella's feeling of powerlessness on the face of apathy from the grownups causes her to keep a diary called The History of Insects, where she writes down her innermost thoughts. Set in 1956 Pakistan in the British diplomatic circles, the story goes through several twists each more astonishing than the one gone before it.

For some reason, parts of it reminded me of Sara Suleri's Meatless Days. Maybe it's the Pakistan connection.

The book deals with so many issues especially to do with trust and between people - man and woman, husband and wife, parent and child, children and grownups, Pakistani and British, British and Anglo.

Read because you like books with emotional depth and intellectual heft.

[F · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story very much. I felt very convinced by her depiction of ex-pat society in Peshawar in 1956 and found the characters functioned as individuals. The plot was interesting, in that it was not only about a murder, but rather about a girl growing up in that particular environment and her attempts to make sense of an adult world which she finds very bewildering. So this may make the story of interest even to those who are not particularly interested in stories set in the new-born Pakistan, as the child's bewilderment and its resolution apply to many times, many situations in many different parts of the world.

[Solenne HENRY · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book.

Firstly, for personal reasons as I myself lived in a compound of expats in a former colonised country. I remember the weird sense of community, bad marriages and racism all too well.

This said I also this book succeeded where many failed : not making a child narrator annoying. It goes smoothly. You don't feel trapped in the limited reasoning of a 9 year old.

The story is compelling and quite interesting. Overall solid read.

[Liz Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. A tale of an English girl growing up in Peshawar in the 1950s.
I wanted to like it - I did like some of it - but overall it was a bit clunky with too many slightly unsympathetic characters, and so it didn't really work for me.

[Shazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this in my 20s and this time round I still loved it. There are very few books that depict how things were in Pakistan in that era. Well written although I do think there were a few issues that were touched upon and then ignored (sexual abuse) so that was very confusing.

[Kerry Hennigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Peshawar, Pakistan in 1956, young Ella Jackson is a sharp observer of the life of the ex-pat families living close together in the foreign cantonment. When she notes some of her observations in her diary, not even the warning she has written on the cover keeps her mother from reading it. Honesty, it seems, is not considered the best policy in turbulent Pakistan, at least not when it causes unwanted scrutiny of the actions or personal behavior of others. Ella’s solution is to start a new diary, which she labels A History of Insects, and decorates with her drawings of the creeping, crawling creatures she know her mother cannot abide. Keeper her mother out of her diary doesn’t however, prevent Ella being sent away to boarding school. The reward for telling the truth of what one sees or overhears is, for Ella, the punishment of painful separation from all she knows and loves. Despite the back cover description that this book is told through the eyes of nine-years old Ella, it is an adult tale of deception and disillusionment and tangled relationships in the disintegrating years of the British Empire, not all of it viewed from Ella’s perspective. I’ve read many stories of this type, set mostly in India. The perspective here, being from the other side of the line drawn by partition, gives a fresh take to the familiar themes.

[Naomi Styles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed this book. It is an interesting look at the 'white man's burden' as he tries to survive his life in a British compound surrounded by all those pesky Paskistanis. Actally, the villain in this book is the characters themselves, as they get so wound up in the perils of keeping face, sucking up to the people of high rank, that they are prepared to put their marriages, friendships and children in peril. I can believe that this was (and still is) a real issue in some British families where your image is key.
Told through the eyes of a 9-year old girl, the book covers other issues such as education, treatment of the poor and sick, the Pakistani revolts against British rule, corruption and many other things. If I had any complaints, I'd wish the book were longer, so that I could see how Ella grew up; find out more about the country and get to know the main adult characters (who are all diverse and interestingly characterised) even more.

[Al · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable novel set in a Pakistan during the mid-fifties.
Ella is living in a British compound with her parents and befriends several adults there.
Her propensity for telling lies results in her mother constantly telling her that she does nto believe anything she says.
Ella's witnesses a crime which results in the wrong person being apprehended.
Kept my interest from the beginning to the very end - a well written book that I can highly recommend.

[Anzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story about Ella that lives with her parents in Pakistan.
It's a story about secrets and lies, a bit disturbing and confusing, but an enjoyable book

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit like 'The Kite Runner' or 'Septembers of Shiraz' only set in Pakistan, with less insightful writing, and a more predictable plot.

[Roberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because it lacked some pathos, this novel became blander than it should have been despite its interesting premise. On the other hand , it was a swift read given its short chapters.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not about bugs! It's set in Pakistan and completely resonates with my childhood experience.

[maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this story speeds along, the characters are fleshed and the unjust resolution believable. An interesting backdrop that mirrors the contemporary Pakistan/'The West' relationship.

[keeper · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't do historical fic.