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Лед Бомбея
Своим романом "Лед Бомбея" Лесли Форбс прогремела на весь мир. Разошедшаяся тиражом более 2 миллионов экземпляров и переведенная на многие языки, эта книга, которую сравнивали с "Маятником Фуко" Умберто Эко и "Смиллой и ее чувством снега" Питера Хега, задала новый эталон жанра "интеллектуальный триллер".
Тележурналистка Би-би-си, в жилах которой течет индийско-шотландская кровь, приезжает на историческую родину. В путь ее позвало письмо сводной сестры, вышедшей когда-то замуж за известного индийского режиссера; та подозревает, что он причастен к смерти своей первой жены. И вот Розалинда Бенгали оказывается в Бомбее - средоточии кинематографической жизни, городе, где даже таксисты сыплют киноцитатами и могут с легкостью перечислить десять классических сцен погони. Где преступления, инцест и проституция соседствуют с древними сектами. Где с ужасом ждут надвигающегося тропического муссона - и с не меньшим ужасом наблюдают за потрясающей мегаполис чередой таинственных убийств.
В Болливуде, среди блеска и нищеты, снимают шекспировскую "Бурю", а на Бомбей надвигается буря настоящая. И не укрыться от нее никому!
Тележурналистка Би-би-си, в жилах которой течет индийско-шотландская кровь, приезжает на историческую родину. В путь ее позвало письмо сводной сестры, вышедшей когда-то замуж за известного индийского режиссера; та подозревает, что он причастен к смерти своей первой жены. И вот Розалинда Бенгали оказывается в Бомбее - средоточии кинематографической жизни, городе, где даже таксисты сыплют киноцитатами и могут с легкостью перечислить десять классических сцен погони. Где преступления, инцест и проституция соседствуют с древними сектами. Где с ужасом ждут надвигающегося тропического муссона - и с не меньшим ужасом наблюдают за потрясающей мегаполис чередой таинственных убийств.
В Болливуде, среди блеска и нищеты, снимают шекспировскую "Бурю", а на Бомбей надвигается буря настоящая. И не укрыться от нее никому!
512 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
10 people are currently reading
222 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Forbes
21 books14 followers"After dropping out of England's Royal College of Art without the Masters in Film and Design she had dropped out of studying physics and politics in Canada to get, Forbes won a talent contest at Vogue, where she worked as a designer until she couldn't stand fashion any more. She then became a designer for BBC-TV (once constructing a life-size working robot out of pasta) and the author of award-winning food/travel books including Table in Tuscany. A regular presenter/writer of BBC radio documentaries, since 1990 Forbes turned to fiction in 1995, when she wrote the internationally acclaimed thriller Bombay Ice, which wove Chaos Theory into a Bollywood remake of Shakespeare's Tempest. Her equally-acclaimed second and third novels, Fish, Blood & Bone and Waking Raphael (which 2003 Booker Prize chairman John Carey called "pretty well perfect"), also engage the ways in which science and art speak to each other. She is as involved with political and free-speech issues as she is with the relationship between art and science, and her writing is deeply inspired by her work as a volunteer "mentor" with refugee writers at the Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture."
http://www.scienceandliterature.org/s...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
August 4, 2020
Roz is an intricate, complicated protagonista with a worthy back story. Half Scot and half Indian, she travels back to India because of odd and vaguely threatening postcards from her half-sister as the Monsoon approaches. She knows a lot about meteorology; weather providing many metaphors, but none tiresome; Instability, Chaos, Where do cyclones start?
If you’re not afraid of death - I mean your own - it is possible that your curiosity and anger can result in bravery that, to the outside observer, seems a liminal space, not unlike madness. Roz carries all of this in a delightfully snarky, critical anti-heroine as she refuses to bend, well, actually, she bends...she refuses to break under the evil machinations of those she is trying to expose.
Her disdain for British mythology is as strong as her knowledge of, and resistance to, Indian myth. She brought to mind the Patti Smith lyrics:
“Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine
Meltin' in a pot of thieves
Wild card up my sleeve
Thick heart of stone
My sins my own
They belong to me, me”
The plot had me mesmerized up to the very end, as it whipped around and through all strata of Bombay society. Along the way Roz is an inspiration with her commentary:
“...to confirm my suspicions that the human race is blowing all its redundancy fuses. This century is going out in a global fireworks of watches that buzz the hour on the wrist of the unemployed, camcorders that recycle the daily life of the terminally dull, forests denuded to produce the newspaper record of ecological apocalypse.”
In response to the tiresome question:
“‘I have no children.’ There are enough unwanted mothers in the world.”
On religion:
“That same obsession with smoke and sacrifice, the magpie love of shiny baubles, almost interchangeable gods and goddesses. You can see why Hinduism and Catholicism are so popular. Something for everyone: gold, blood, sex, masochism, violent death, a place for the poor to spend their money.”
And finally:
“People can recover from snakebite, I learned. Like alibis, orgasm, property prices, it’s only a question of location and timing.”
A thoroughly enjoyable romp.
If you’re not afraid of death - I mean your own - it is possible that your curiosity and anger can result in bravery that, to the outside observer, seems a liminal space, not unlike madness. Roz carries all of this in a delightfully snarky, critical anti-heroine as she refuses to bend, well, actually, she bends...she refuses to break under the evil machinations of those she is trying to expose.
Her disdain for British mythology is as strong as her knowledge of, and resistance to, Indian myth. She brought to mind the Patti Smith lyrics:
“Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine
Meltin' in a pot of thieves
Wild card up my sleeve
Thick heart of stone
My sins my own
They belong to me, me”
The plot had me mesmerized up to the very end, as it whipped around and through all strata of Bombay society. Along the way Roz is an inspiration with her commentary:
“...to confirm my suspicions that the human race is blowing all its redundancy fuses. This century is going out in a global fireworks of watches that buzz the hour on the wrist of the unemployed, camcorders that recycle the daily life of the terminally dull, forests denuded to produce the newspaper record of ecological apocalypse.”
In response to the tiresome question:
“‘I have no children.’ There are enough unwanted mothers in the world.”
On religion:
“That same obsession with smoke and sacrifice, the magpie love of shiny baubles, almost interchangeable gods and goddesses. You can see why Hinduism and Catholicism are so popular. Something for everyone: gold, blood, sex, masochism, violent death, a place for the poor to spend their money.”
And finally:
“People can recover from snakebite, I learned. Like alibis, orgasm, property prices, it’s only a question of location and timing.”
A thoroughly enjoyable romp.
July 21, 2013
This is one of my FAVORITE books, which is funny because the first time that I read it, I just couldn't get into it and half threw it back into its space on my bookshelf. Before heading out on a road trip, I picked it up and stuffed it in my bag - and I am so glad that I did. Reading it in the car while almost everyone else was asleep really gave me the chance to get into it and I loved it. That was a few years ago - and it sits on my bookshelf, it's special place being next to other ones that I have grown fond of over the years - and the other day I decided to pick it up and read it again. It was just as beautiful as I remembered it to be. The description and detail is amazing - you actually feel that you are there, as if when you look around you can see what they are describing. The story is well written and ... well ... amazing. Just make sure you cozy up in a quiet space when you sit down to read it because distractions will take away from the minute details that are important to this story.
November 25, 2013
a genius of a novel integrating monsoon historical maps and theories along with chaos theory to help explain the more unexplainable motives of people and their jealousies, hubris, and evils. so lots of atmosphere of mumbai, movie world, underworld, libraries and cops, food and politics, color of skins, slum living, megarich, hirjas and their lovers/murderers, the power and powerlessness of women in india. a beautiful and perverse mystery that seems impossible to figure out with all the lies and corruptions but then, is everything understandable anyway? great descriptions of slums and slum life, like this new one about colombia too Bogota: A Novel
May 27, 2021
tl;dr
Ta książka została napisana przez Terfa
Dawno nie przeczytałam tak obrzydliwej i tak złej książki. Autorka wprowadza tysiąc postaci, których nie sposób zapamiętać gdyż najczęściej ograniczają się do jednej roli. Ogarnięcie tego wszystkiego jest tak trudne, że polska tłumaczka zdecydowała się na stworzenie spisu postaci XD Niestety, niektóre postacie zostały pominięte, ale zakładam, że pewnie i ona nie wiedziała kim one są. Jeśli ktoś mi powie kim jest Jessica to będę bardzo wdzięczna.
Autorka konstruuje bardzo "misterną" intrygę, w której się cały czas gubi i której nie potrafi do końca rozwiązać. To jest jedna z tych książek, w których akcja rzekomo się toczy o wysoką stawkę, ale jednak nie do końca. Z jakiegoś powodu najgroźniejsi gangsterzy z Indii nie są wstanie jej zabić. Jeden próbuje ją dźgnąć nożem kiedy akurat kąsi go wąż (xD), inny gangster (również love interest głównej bohaterki) podczas kulminacyjnej rozmowy upada przez przypadek na kabel pod wysokim napięciem i umiera (XDDDDD).
Obraz Indii powstał z urojeń autorki. Z jakiegoś powodu nikt z Hindusów w tej książce nie odnosi się do literatury indyjskiej, ale wszyscy cytują Szekspira albo Audena.
No i na sam koniec - jest to po prostu książka transfobiczna. Autorka cały czas nazywa hidźry transwestytami, co nie jest prawdą. Do pieca dokłada również polska tłumaczka , która używa męskich zaimków opisując hidźry. Nie jest to przypadkowe ponieważ później hidźry w rozmowach używały damskich. Rozumiem, że był to zabieg, który miał podkreślić to, że hidźry chociaż myślą, że są kobietami to tak naprawdę nimi nie są. Potwierdzają to wszystkie fragmenty, w których autorka opisuje to jak bardzo niekobiece i obrzydliwe są hidźry. J K Rowling, is that you???
Sama główna bohaterka to w połowie Szkotka, a w połowie Induska. Ale z jakiegoś powodu jej skóra jest biała, oczy zielone, a włosy rude. Btw, jej przyrodnia siostra jest 100% Induską, ale jak coś to nadal są jak dwie krople wody XD Plus, główna bohaterka jest bardzo irytująca, "silna" i bez osobowości.
Ogólnie to bardzo nie polecam książki 0/5
Ta książka została napisana przez Terfa
Dawno nie przeczytałam tak obrzydliwej i tak złej książki. Autorka wprowadza tysiąc postaci, których nie sposób zapamiętać gdyż najczęściej ograniczają się do jednej roli. Ogarnięcie tego wszystkiego jest tak trudne, że polska tłumaczka zdecydowała się na stworzenie spisu postaci XD Niestety, niektóre postacie zostały pominięte, ale zakładam, że pewnie i ona nie wiedziała kim one są. Jeśli ktoś mi powie kim jest Jessica to będę bardzo wdzięczna.
Autorka konstruuje bardzo "misterną" intrygę, w której się cały czas gubi i której nie potrafi do końca rozwiązać. To jest jedna z tych książek, w których akcja rzekomo się toczy o wysoką stawkę, ale jednak nie do końca. Z jakiegoś powodu najgroźniejsi gangsterzy z Indii nie są wstanie jej zabić. Jeden próbuje ją dźgnąć nożem kiedy akurat kąsi go wąż (xD), inny gangster (również love interest głównej bohaterki) podczas kulminacyjnej rozmowy upada przez przypadek na kabel pod wysokim napięciem i umiera (XDDDDD).
Obraz Indii powstał z urojeń autorki. Z jakiegoś powodu nikt z Hindusów w tej książce nie odnosi się do literatury indyjskiej, ale wszyscy cytują Szekspira albo Audena.
No i na sam koniec - jest to po prostu książka transfobiczna. Autorka cały czas nazywa hidźry transwestytami, co nie jest prawdą. Do pieca dokłada również polska tłumaczka , która używa męskich zaimków opisując hidźry. Nie jest to przypadkowe ponieważ później hidźry w rozmowach używały damskich. Rozumiem, że był to zabieg, który miał podkreślić to, że hidźry chociaż myślą, że są kobietami to tak naprawdę nimi nie są. Potwierdzają to wszystkie fragmenty, w których autorka opisuje to jak bardzo niekobiece i obrzydliwe są hidźry. J K Rowling, is that you???
Sama główna bohaterka to w połowie Szkotka, a w połowie Induska. Ale z jakiegoś powodu jej skóra jest biała, oczy zielone, a włosy rude. Btw, jej przyrodnia siostra jest 100% Induską, ale jak coś to nadal są jak dwie krople wody XD Plus, główna bohaterka jest bardzo irytująca, "silna" i bez osobowości.
Ogólnie to bardzo nie polecam książki 0/5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2013
Okay. This is kind of a difficult book to get into. It is very densely crafted with tidbits (some unsavory) about India, Indian poetry, lore of the gods, intricate and moving back stories for characters, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. It's a pretty long book, but the information-heavy chapters are fairly short, making them more easily digestible. Be warned: there aren't any "clean" characters in this book, except maybe Thomas, who drives the protagonist all over the city. That doesn't mean they're unlikable (though some are). The subject matter is also quite lurid.
Anyway, the book is very well-written, though I do prefer the author's second novel, Fish, Blood and Bone (it was awesome). However, this book does deserve a reread at some point, so I can more fully absorb all it has to offer. Which is a lot.
Anyway, the book is very well-written, though I do prefer the author's second novel, Fish, Blood and Bone (it was awesome). However, this book does deserve a reread at some point, so I can more fully absorb all it has to offer. Which is a lot.
April 21, 2012
Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down. At the beginning it was because everything was all over the place and I kept getting confused so I had to go back and re-read. It's all very mysterious and layer by layer, together with the heroine, I came to see how everything fell together. I really enjoyed this book, it felt like a journey from insanity.
November 10, 2013
Generally I choose not to read thrillers but this book called to me and I am glad I listened;it's filled with odd facts and great characterization. It gave me a real feel for modern India and filled in a lot of blanks.
I totally adored the gutsy heroine, such a bad girl but so endearing to someone of my experience;
and the writing is brilliant and often hilarious.
I totally adored the gutsy heroine, such a bad girl but so endearing to someone of my experience;
and the writing is brilliant and often hilarious.
October 12, 2015
Loved the descriptions. But it was all very confusing; would have benefited from a list of the characters. Did not like the heroine.
May 24, 2019
No, I did not take over three years to read this book. I started it, got about 25 pages in and it got stacked in the “I’ll get back to it someday” pile. Finally had the time to knock it out.
Fairly standard murder/conspiracy mystery set in Bombay, India. Main character continues investigating strange goings-on despite cultural complications and serious threats/attempts on her life. You know the drill. Could use a better edit to streamline the slow parts, but overall it is entertaining. Things can get a bit complicated and the “big reveal” lacks punch. Still, if you want a beach vacation or airplane book I wouldn’t try to dissuade you.
Fairly standard murder/conspiracy mystery set in Bombay, India. Main character continues investigating strange goings-on despite cultural complications and serious threats/attempts on her life. You know the drill. Could use a better edit to streamline the slow parts, but overall it is entertaining. Things can get a bit complicated and the “big reveal” lacks punch. Still, if you want a beach vacation or airplane book I wouldn’t try to dissuade you.
June 9, 2019
I am a big Sidney Sheldon fan & I have read Bloodline, Rage of angels & Stars Shine Down at least 4 times each! That should explain my addiction to well written thrillers.
When I first bought Bombay Ice, I was quite excited to dive into the thrill & mystery its plot promised. I almost expected something half as good as Sheldon's thrillers (by that I mean, my expectations were fairly high because I believe no one writes thrillers even half as good as Sheldon did), with a female protagonist and mysterious murders amid the glamor of Bollywood, but 150 pages down, I gradually lost interest and then it took me more than a year to complete this book.
Bombay Ice has too many poorly developed characters & a plot that could be shrunken to only 250 pages. I almost abandoned reading for weeks and once for 2 months straight but then, the only reason I decided to continue reading was because I never leave a book unfinished!
Two stars for bombay ice, both for the plot because that's all there's interesting about the book.
When I first bought Bombay Ice, I was quite excited to dive into the thrill & mystery its plot promised. I almost expected something half as good as Sheldon's thrillers (by that I mean, my expectations were fairly high because I believe no one writes thrillers even half as good as Sheldon did), with a female protagonist and mysterious murders amid the glamor of Bollywood, but 150 pages down, I gradually lost interest and then it took me more than a year to complete this book.
Bombay Ice has too many poorly developed characters & a plot that could be shrunken to only 250 pages. I almost abandoned reading for weeks and once for 2 months straight but then, the only reason I decided to continue reading was because I never leave a book unfinished!
Two stars for bombay ice, both for the plot because that's all there's interesting about the book.
July 20, 2021
Absolutely beautifully written, it can read more like poetry at times. It's also stuffed full of actual poetry, both western and Indian, mythology and science, all whirled together into a well-crafted atmosphere.
I don't know if this is the sort of book you enjoy, but I think it's the sort of book that is fascinating to read. Nobody is super sympathetic (except for Thomas. I love Thomas. I hope he makes it to Cannes and has a wonderful time), but they aren't supposed to be. Broken, and jagged, and ugly. All wrapped in the history and present of Bombay.
I also learned a lot about Indian art and culture.
I don't know if this is the sort of book you enjoy, but I think it's the sort of book that is fascinating to read. Nobody is super sympathetic (except for Thomas. I love Thomas. I hope he makes it to Cannes and has a wonderful time), but they aren't supposed to be. Broken, and jagged, and ugly. All wrapped in the history and present of Bombay.
I also learned a lot about Indian art and culture.
February 10, 2010
Started May 21st...ugh...this is taking far too long...I'm on page 100 (of 570) after two weeks. Gawd. I seriously don't like crime novels all that much. But I hate hate hate not finishing a book after I've started it. *sigh* I'll just try and read faster.
June 18th: ...still reading...on page 143...43 pages in nearly a month? Seriously, this book is killing me.
July 3rd: Okay fuck this book. This will be the second book in my life that I haven't finished. It's dreadful.
June 18th: ...still reading...on page 143...43 pages in nearly a month? Seriously, this book is killing me.
July 3rd: Okay fuck this book. This will be the second book in my life that I haven't finished. It's dreadful.
June 14, 2011
I didn't finish it. It's just not my type of book, and the main character to me is so unlikeable.
January 26, 2014
Did not finish it. I liked the write's style, but the plot was convoluted, not compelling.
January 18, 2023
Наверное, первое, что надо сказать, что оценка означает три с минусом. Занудная книженция, но об этом ниже.
И так, мы имеем автора, который знает много всего связанного с киноиндустрией и вот все свои познания она пихает в эту книгу. Вот тут и вспоминаются слова бабушки Манюни, потому что, ну знаешь, ну молодец, но зачем же все это пихать в книгу? А еще знаешь историю, ну, небольшую часть истории и ее тоже пихаешь. И опять этот чертов паж! (с) Шекспир и его Буря, больше всего меня поражает какая-то свихнутость людей на Буре. Я честно ее прочитала и я не понимаю на чем они там все так свихаются... свихиваются... в общем, отчего их как наркоманов так прет от Бури. И вот этот винегрет сыпется из книжки так, словно вся Индия решила прошагать по твоей голове. А уж сколько персонажей... Теперь понимаю зачем она завела список действующих лиц в самом начале книги, там же во всех этих лицах с наскока не разобраться, а уж семейные хитросплетения... возникает стойкое понимание, что все люди братья... а еще сестры, мамы, папы, сыновья.
Я как-то умудряюсь в нескольких книгах позиционирующихся как детективы разочароваться. Что очень удивительно для меня, потому что я люблю этот жанр в литературе, да в принципе и в кино тоже. Но мне то вместо детектива мелодраму подсунут, то таких героев напихают, что их убить хочется, то вот пожалуйста, напишут такую книгу, что начинаешь думать, а вот когда уже весь этот кордебалет закончится? Там не детектив, а какая-то пародия на все. На индийское кино, на мелодрамы, на драмы, на детектив и все это как-то бесконечно долго. Два дня потратила на эту тягомотину.
Не, книжка как - посмотрите на Бомбей, неплохая, честно, там много интересного, только всего этого много, порой с переизбытком много. Там порой столько лишних подробностей, что ты к концу сцены забываешь вообще зачем они были нужны и с чего все началось. А сцены секса какие-то странные, вы уж если решились их написать, что мол это был жесткий секс, так и пишите, чего там было-то, а не лебеди приплыли, картинку закрыли. А то что это такое, я оголю ягодицы, но не покажу вам члена. Глупость какая-то. То есть описывать трупы, жестокие убийства - это мы можем, а жесткий секс, только намекнем, чтобы вы сами придумали чего там было, да я бы и придумала, но мне надо что-то больше голых ягодиц, я по ним меру жесткости определить не могу. Но это понятно вообще моя боль в книгах, люди как-то не умеют нормально написать секс, чтобы было не противно и не видно как им стеснительно.
Если говорит о самом детективе, то да, он там был. Только там все так навертели накрутили, что я бы их всех просто засадила бы скопом, хуже никому бы не стало. Потому что разбираться в том кто и зачем почти невозможно. Но просто действительно все виноваты. Просто каждый в своем.
Читать ли? Ну, можно в принципе и прочитать, только вот я предупредила сразу, в голове у вас прошагает все население Индии.
И так, мы имеем автора, который знает много всего связанного с киноиндустрией и вот все свои познания она пихает в эту книгу. Вот тут и вспоминаются слова бабушки Манюни, потому что, ну знаешь, ну молодец, но зачем же все это пихать в книгу? А еще знаешь историю, ну, небольшую часть истории и ее тоже пихаешь. И опять этот чертов паж! (с) Шекспир и его Буря, больше всего меня поражает какая-то свихнутость людей на Буре. Я честно ее прочитала и я не понимаю на чем они там все так свихаются... свихиваются... в общем, отчего их как наркоманов так прет от Бури. И вот этот винегрет сыпется из книжки так, словно вся Индия решила прошагать по твоей голове. А уж сколько персонажей... Теперь понимаю зачем она завела список действующих лиц в самом начале книги, там же во всех этих лицах с наскока не разобраться, а уж семейные хитросплетения... возникает стойкое понимание, что все люди братья... а еще сестры, мамы, папы, сыновья.
Я как-то умудряюсь в нескольких книгах позиционирующихся как детективы разочароваться. Что очень удивительно для меня, потому что я люблю этот жанр в литературе, да в принципе и в кино тоже. Но мне то вместо детектива мелодраму подсунут, то таких героев напихают, что их убить хочется, то вот пожалуйста, напишут такую книгу, что начинаешь думать, а вот когда уже весь этот кордебалет закончится? Там не детектив, а какая-то пародия на все. На индийское кино, на мелодрамы, на драмы, на детектив и все это как-то бесконечно долго. Два дня потратила на эту тягомотину.
Не, книжка как - посмотрите на Бомбей, неплохая, честно, там много интересного, только всего этого много, порой с переизбытком много. Там порой столько лишних подробностей, что ты к концу сцены забываешь вообще зачем они были нужны и с чего все началось. А сцены секса какие-то странные, вы уж если решились их написать, что мол это был жесткий секс, так и пишите, чего там было-то, а не лебеди приплыли, картинку закрыли. А то что это такое, я оголю ягодицы, но не покажу вам члена. Глупость какая-то. То есть описывать трупы, жестокие убийства - это мы можем, а жесткий секс, только намекнем, чтобы вы сами придумали чего там было, да я бы и придумала, но мне надо что-то больше голых ягодиц, я по ним меру жесткости определить не могу. Но это понятно вообще моя боль в книгах, люди как-то не умеют нормально написать секс, чтобы было не противно и не видно как им стеснительно.
Если говорит о самом детективе, то да, он там был. Только там все так навертели накрутили, что я бы их всех просто засадила бы скопом, хуже никому бы не стало. Потому что разбираться в том кто и зачем почти невозможно. Но просто действительно все виноваты. Просто каждый в своем.
Читать ли? Ну, можно в принципе и прочитать, только вот я предупредила сразу, в голове у вас прошагает все население Индии.
September 10, 2025
A difficult story to get through but I thought it was definitely worth it. The descriptions of India, the sights, smells and sounds of Bombay were a perfect backdrop for a murder mystery. Roz, the heroine, was seriously in over her head at times but bravely, albeit stupidly, carried on. Toss in government corruption, Bollywood movie sets, Shakespeare, family drama and the Monsoon and you get a confusing but worthwhile novel.
April 11, 2019
Who cares? I wanted to like this book and engage with the poorly developed characters, but it fell short of the claim on the back, comparing it to “An Instance of the Fingerpost”. I almost feel like there was a critical chapter omitted, that would give me a reason to care about the outcome. Spend your time elsewhere.
June 5, 2021
Leslie Forbes kan zeker schrijven, toch boeide het boek me matig om twee redenen: 1. ik vind het verhaal onwaarschijnlijk en 2. Ik vind het hoofdpersonage emotieloos. In de seksscènes toonde ze geheel geen gevoelens, ze liet alles maar gebeuren, zelfs toen het voor mij op verkrachting leek. Hierdoor kon ik niet met haar meeleven.
July 29, 2021
This is a debut novel about 2 Bollywood film producers and a murder that takes place in Bombay India. The story had interesting notes on Indian culture and way of life. However...it was difficult keeping all the players straight. I am amazed how the heroine is able to crack the puzzle that no one else is able to figure out.
April 19, 2018
I couldn’t get more than 30 mins in to this. The victims are possibly kidnapped boys who have been castrated. I know this horrible stuff happens in real life but I have no desire to read about it for entertainment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 29, 2019
Another re-read. A great thriller that has more to it than thrills.
March 18, 2023
2,5/5
"Żadna zagadka nie będzie rozwiazana
Historia nie znajdzie swego zakończenia
Pozostanie tylko niepokój w sercu".
Nie zachwyciła mnie, choć początek sprawiał dobre wrażenie.
"Żadna zagadka nie będzie rozwiazana
Historia nie znajdzie swego zakończenia
Pozostanie tylko niepokój w sercu".
Nie zachwyciła mnie, choć początek sprawiał dobre wrażenie.
August 6, 2023
Detalles sobre cultura hindú interesantes,novela distinta
February 28, 2025
DNF, Read 93/418 pages
Usually, I give my DNF reads one star, but this is the rare case where I'm giving two because my issue with the novel is not the story or even the way that the story is being told in terms of pacing and such. I am giving up because this is a first-person POV story and the lead's incredibly strong narrative voice does not click with me in the slightest. It is constantly dragging me out of the story even though I find the plot and the setting quite interesting.
Rosalind (or Roz) narrates the tale like the most stereotypical noir detective - or in this case, reporter - to ever exist. To explain what I mean, I'm just going to pull some quotes:
This is how she describes the weather: "Outside, the heat hovered impatiently, like an actor waiting for his cue offstage."
This is how she introduces the fact that there's a poster outside of her hotel window: "I woke with the feeling of other eyes watching me: deep-lidded, long-lashed, set in a face the colour of the kippers my maternal grandmother used to buy from the Aberdeen fishmonger on our road to Edinburgh, before my mother moved us to London." The stuff about her grandmother goes on for another long paragraph before Roz finally tells us that she's talking about a poster and not a person. Up until then, you have no idea if there's actually someone in her hotel room.
These styles of description happen at least once a page and, every time one showed up, all I could think of was Noir Spiderman from the movie Into the Spiderverse. They could also make scenes quite confusing as you can hopefully see from the second example above or this example, which takes place directly after Roz leaves a film set where lots of special effects are going on, including fake rain. She is standing outside of the studio, waiting for a ride:
"The stage manager had laid on big raindrops as well, warm as tears, which managed to reach me under the shelter of the doorway. I stood there for two minutes, hoping my taxi would reappear, and using the time to record the individual raindrops as they built into a single liquid cord."
I read that and assumed that she was talking about special effects coming from inside the building. Only a few paragraphs later did I realize that it was actually raining outside.
If none of that bothers you and the story premise sounds interesting, then I would say to give this a chance. The pacing is a little slow, but the setting is quite interesting and I am sad that I won't get to see the mystery play out, but I just couldn't handle over 300 more pages of Roz's weird descriptors dragging me out of the story
Usually, I give my DNF reads one star, but this is the rare case where I'm giving two because my issue with the novel is not the story or even the way that the story is being told in terms of pacing and such. I am giving up because this is a first-person POV story and the lead's incredibly strong narrative voice does not click with me in the slightest. It is constantly dragging me out of the story even though I find the plot and the setting quite interesting.
Rosalind (or Roz) narrates the tale like the most stereotypical noir detective - or in this case, reporter - to ever exist. To explain what I mean, I'm just going to pull some quotes:
This is how she describes the weather: "Outside, the heat hovered impatiently, like an actor waiting for his cue offstage."
This is how she introduces the fact that there's a poster outside of her hotel window: "I woke with the feeling of other eyes watching me: deep-lidded, long-lashed, set in a face the colour of the kippers my maternal grandmother used to buy from the Aberdeen fishmonger on our road to Edinburgh, before my mother moved us to London." The stuff about her grandmother goes on for another long paragraph before Roz finally tells us that she's talking about a poster and not a person. Up until then, you have no idea if there's actually someone in her hotel room.
These styles of description happen at least once a page and, every time one showed up, all I could think of was Noir Spiderman from the movie Into the Spiderverse. They could also make scenes quite confusing as you can hopefully see from the second example above or this example, which takes place directly after Roz leaves a film set where lots of special effects are going on, including fake rain. She is standing outside of the studio, waiting for a ride:
"The stage manager had laid on big raindrops as well, warm as tears, which managed to reach me under the shelter of the doorway. I stood there for two minutes, hoping my taxi would reappear, and using the time to record the individual raindrops as they built into a single liquid cord."
I read that and assumed that she was talking about special effects coming from inside the building. Only a few paragraphs later did I realize that it was actually raining outside.
If none of that bothers you and the story premise sounds interesting, then I would say to give this a chance. The pacing is a little slow, but the setting is quite interesting and I am sad that I won't get to see the mystery play out, but I just couldn't handle over 300 more pages of Roz's weird descriptors dragging me out of the story
August 15, 2016
Interesting mystery in Bombay, India.
Roz Benegal was born in India. Her mother was Scottish and the mistress of an Indian. It was in India that her father taught her about meteorology, specifically storms & monsoons. At an early age she returned to Scotland. Her mother committed suicide by drowning while she was present. Years later in her thirties, she receives strange notes from her half-sister, Miranda, who is the second wife of a well-known Bollywood director. The eunuch (hijra) who was following her has disappeared. She´s also hearing rumors from friends that her husband had his first wife killed. For Roz, whose work at BBC documents the macabre and death, she had to return to India to investigate and also to reclaim her Indian heritage.
While in India, she meets Proper, Miranda´s husband, who is making a movie based on Shakespeare´s Tempest but set in India. His first wife, Maya, supposedly committed suicide by falling off a balcony. She meets Caleb Mistry who was mentored in the film industry by Prosper. His late wife also committed suicide by drowning but had razor cuttings on her body. The missing eunuch (hijra) Sami was found on a Bombay beach drowned but also with razor cuttings on his (her) body. Is there a connection between the deaths? It seems that no one cares except for Roz. What could be the motive? Property dealings? Forged artwork? Roz investigates and often gets too close to the source.
Well written novel. Since Prosper is one of the main characters and he is making an Indian film based on Shakespeare´s Tempest, the book is written in acts and scenes. There are literary comparisons between The Tempest and the actual mystery that Roz is trying to unravel.
Roz has a fascination for storms and the chaos it brings to our life. There is quite a bit of discussion on meteorology woven into the story. And, as the story unravels, the monsoon season is about to begin its deluge.
There are also some good quotes in the story as well:
"Brain is our government, heart is our legal system, precisely meting out life and death. A living record of our own and our parents´abuses of its country´s laws."
"Religion is what we would like to believe...Policitics is the result of trying to put those beliefs into practice."
Well written but a lot of characters. This is also as much a psychological analysis of returning to ones roots as it is a murder myster.
Roz Benegal was born in India. Her mother was Scottish and the mistress of an Indian. It was in India that her father taught her about meteorology, specifically storms & monsoons. At an early age she returned to Scotland. Her mother committed suicide by drowning while she was present. Years later in her thirties, she receives strange notes from her half-sister, Miranda, who is the second wife of a well-known Bollywood director. The eunuch (hijra) who was following her has disappeared. She´s also hearing rumors from friends that her husband had his first wife killed. For Roz, whose work at BBC documents the macabre and death, she had to return to India to investigate and also to reclaim her Indian heritage.
While in India, she meets Proper, Miranda´s husband, who is making a movie based on Shakespeare´s Tempest but set in India. His first wife, Maya, supposedly committed suicide by falling off a balcony. She meets Caleb Mistry who was mentored in the film industry by Prosper. His late wife also committed suicide by drowning but had razor cuttings on her body. The missing eunuch (hijra) Sami was found on a Bombay beach drowned but also with razor cuttings on his (her) body. Is there a connection between the deaths? It seems that no one cares except for Roz. What could be the motive? Property dealings? Forged artwork? Roz investigates and often gets too close to the source.
Well written novel. Since Prosper is one of the main characters and he is making an Indian film based on Shakespeare´s Tempest, the book is written in acts and scenes. There are literary comparisons between The Tempest and the actual mystery that Roz is trying to unravel.
Roz has a fascination for storms and the chaos it brings to our life. There is quite a bit of discussion on meteorology woven into the story. And, as the story unravels, the monsoon season is about to begin its deluge.
There are also some good quotes in the story as well:
"Brain is our government, heart is our legal system, precisely meting out life and death. A living record of our own and our parents´abuses of its country´s laws."
"Religion is what we would like to believe...Policitics is the result of trying to put those beliefs into practice."
Well written but a lot of characters. This is also as much a psychological analysis of returning to ones roots as it is a murder myster.
May 23, 2016
I thought I might like this better than I did. I have read several books based in India and usually find it interesting to read about the culture and the place. It seemed that a thriller based here would be especially fun to read.
But for me it wasn't. What other reviewers call a "literary thriller" didn't strike me that way, in spite of the numerous literary references throughout. The protagonist, Rosalind Benegal, simply irritated me all the way through, and her interactions with others confused me. But first a bit about the story:
Rosalind travels to India as a freelance correspondent for the BBC. She tells customs officials that she is there to report on the monsoon, which is due soon. She is really there to suss out more from her sister Miranda, who has sent odd short notes to her, suggesting all is not well. Before she is able to get with Miranda, however, she is caught up in a murder.
She then follows all kinds of paths, all the time with the suspicion that her brother-in-law, her sister's husband, is at the heart of everything she finds that's evil. Throughout the novel she pursues him, blatantly, rudely, and often, to me, unfathomably. That is, she meets people, does strange things, has strange things done to her, and then goes on to the next. All the while spouting insults that one would think would get her an invitation to leave. That happens sometimes but often not. I did not find it strange that she was found by many to be "crazy".
I gather some people find this kind of gate-crashing rudeness endearing. To me it was the last way to get results. Yet of course in some way she does manage to find things out. Why people would talk to her I have no idea.
I had difficulty sorting people out. Maybe I should have started the book with a chart where I could write names and associations so I could follow along better. Seems like that should not have been necessary. I'll admit that I don't always focus all my attention as well as I could so I would not be surprised to find that I am at least partly at fault here.
As for the literary references. They didn't do much for me. Maybe if I had read more of the original sources they would have. Maybe this just wasn't the book for me, but is the book for some others.
But for me it wasn't. What other reviewers call a "literary thriller" didn't strike me that way, in spite of the numerous literary references throughout. The protagonist, Rosalind Benegal, simply irritated me all the way through, and her interactions with others confused me. But first a bit about the story:
Rosalind travels to India as a freelance correspondent for the BBC. She tells customs officials that she is there to report on the monsoon, which is due soon. She is really there to suss out more from her sister Miranda, who has sent odd short notes to her, suggesting all is not well. Before she is able to get with Miranda, however, she is caught up in a murder.
She then follows all kinds of paths, all the time with the suspicion that her brother-in-law, her sister's husband, is at the heart of everything she finds that's evil. Throughout the novel she pursues him, blatantly, rudely, and often, to me, unfathomably. That is, she meets people, does strange things, has strange things done to her, and then goes on to the next. All the while spouting insults that one would think would get her an invitation to leave. That happens sometimes but often not. I did not find it strange that she was found by many to be "crazy".
I gather some people find this kind of gate-crashing rudeness endearing. To me it was the last way to get results. Yet of course in some way she does manage to find things out. Why people would talk to her I have no idea.
I had difficulty sorting people out. Maybe I should have started the book with a chart where I could write names and associations so I could follow along better. Seems like that should not have been necessary. I'll admit that I don't always focus all my attention as well as I could so I would not be surprised to find that I am at least partly at fault here.
As for the literary references. They didn't do much for me. Maybe if I had read more of the original sources they would have. Maybe this just wasn't the book for me, but is the book for some others.
Read
November 11, 2015This is the second time I've read this one, and I liked it much better the first time around. The question is whether I simply wasn't able to read it properly this time and therefore couldn't follow it, or whether too much is simply overly obscured.
Forbes crafts an incredibly rich and unsavory mix of crime, film, sex, death, rich, poor, and Bombay. She's a stunning writer in many ways, but on both reads I found it difficult to follow the narrator's elliptical train of thought, despite the fact that none of the other characters ever had much trouble grasping what she was insinuating. On the first read, I did not take long breaks mid-read, so I had an easier time keeping the characters and action in mind. This time, while I was in the mood for the book initially, I soon found it heavy going and kept putting it down, which made it all that much harder to keep track of anything. On the plus side, it's full of sensory detail, metaphor, literary and scientific reference, and the setup and characters capture one's interest. Possible spoiler: the narrator is somewhat unreliable, although it's never clear how unreliable since she has a sense of righteous mission throughout and comes up against some definite bad guys.
Forbes crafts an incredibly rich and unsavory mix of crime, film, sex, death, rich, poor, and Bombay. She's a stunning writer in many ways, but on both reads I found it difficult to follow the narrator's elliptical train of thought, despite the fact that none of the other characters ever had much trouble grasping what she was insinuating. On the first read, I did not take long breaks mid-read, so I had an easier time keeping the characters and action in mind. This time, while I was in the mood for the book initially, I soon found it heavy going and kept putting it down, which made it all that much harder to keep track of anything. On the plus side, it's full of sensory detail, metaphor, literary and scientific reference, and the setup and characters capture one's interest. Possible spoiler: the narrator is somewhat unreliable, although it's never clear how unreliable since she has a sense of righteous mission throughout and comes up against some definite bad guys.
August 1, 2014
I love books that take the reader to India, and in this instance, it transports the reader to modern day India with a step into the seamy side. As you enter this mystery thriller, you'll encounter interesting characters, the Indian cinema, the poor, the powerful, journalism and the science of weather. Strangely enough, the author successfully manages to tie it all together in a beautiful fragrant package. Really enjoyed this one.
July 22, 2021
Book Club Nov 2020 - I didn’t finish the book and unfortunately also missed our zoom discussion of it. ( my notes before stopping - loved first page, kept a list of characters so I can refer to, thought details of props were great, Roz feels at home in India with foods, riding rains etc., country seems poor,
July 13, 2014
A murder mystery set in ... and it draws you in with its authenticity. Unusual in its description of Bombay but the story was difficult to follow. The review that inspired: �a massive eclectic triumph... cynically hard-boiled and acutely satiric�
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