| Books | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| DVD | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Music | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Buying Tools | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| How to Order |
|---|
| You can either browse our store directories or search the item you want to know. You can search using keywords, title, publisher, ISBN, artist, and so on. If you see the item you want, click Add to Shopping Cart. After that, you can either Continue Shopping or Proceed to Checkout. After clicking Proceed to Checkout, you can simulate your total charges based on your preferred shipping method and enter the shipping address. When you are done, you will receive instruction where to send your payment and you're done! Simple, isn't it? |
|
|
Home
Books : East of the Sun
Rating: 
- Starts off well then is so boring
At first this book was promising but it quickly deteriorated into a muddle of forgettable characters doing forgettable things.Very disappointing.
Rating:
- A good summer read for those who are interested in Colonial India
Bought the book as it was a recommended summer read, and I have always been interested in India and the connections to British "rule".
Was not dissapointed, enjoyed the book, liked the characters and the places visited by them, about a time of change.
Cannot vouch for its accuracy, but feel that a lot of effort was made by the author. Believe there was a small error in the part when they were in Cairo, and will try to pass this on.
Liked it and was happy I made that choice.
Rating:
- Well-researched!
Having just read this, and found it fascinating as well as very enjoyable, it was interesting to come to the Amazon site and see what others thought.
Knowing something about the subject, I cannot agree with one reviewer, KA Roy, that it is incorrect to refer to people speaking Marathi in 1928 in Bombay. In fact, the majority of people in the area would have spoken Marathi, and neither is it incorrect to call someone Maharashtrian, as the regional political concept was already current in the 19th century.
I thought the author seemed to have gone to a great deal of trouble to present an accurate picture of India in the 20s and 30s, and the characters, both English and Indian, had a thoroughly authentic ring to them. This is a great read, and I would strongly recommend it.
Rating:
- Pleasant but not exceptional
This is the story of three women venturing to India in the 1920s, each with her own hopes and dreams, her own fears. While it is pleasant enough - ideal as a holiday read perhaps - it hardly excites or lingers in the memory. The writing is sufficiently fluid not to jar, but there is little to entice the reader back to seek deeper insight, nothing particularly thought-provoking, no phrase or paragraph so poetic that it must be read and re-read for the sheer pleasure of the language.
Nineteen-year-old Rose is travelling to India to marry Jack Chandler, an army officer she barely knew before he proposed and whose regiment sailed to India shortly after their engagement. By the time Rose approaches Bombay she can hardly remember what he was like and is nervous of meeting him again. Her best friend Tor (unusually, short for Victoria), who cannot wait to be free of her overbearing mother, is to be Rose's bridesmaid and hopes to find a husband of her own. Viva, the young woman employed as their chaperone, has her own hang-ups about India where she lived as a child before losing both her parents and her sister.
Overall, the story is interesting if somewhat bland and there are sections missing that cry out to be told. One such is Rose's wedding. The voyage to India, which dominates the early chapters, is a build-up to the forthcoming marriage, full of Rose's fears and feelings, with a couple of chapters on Jack's perceptions. But the wedding itself is passed over in the briefest description from Tor's viewpoint, without our ever knowing how the bride herself viewed the day.
Of the girls' stories, it was Viva's that came most alive and was most fully developed. Tor's story achieved a satisfying roundness, but Rose's seemed to fizzle out as if unfinished, leaving questions unanswered. There were hints but nothing more. Maybe this was deliberate, but for me it left a sense of incompleteness, as if the author had forgotten to add the finishing touches to Rose's viewpoint.
For all that the book is enjoyable, so long as you treat it as a light read and don't expect too much. Recommended for holiday or bedtime reading, or whenever you don't want to be too challenged!
Rating:
- Very disappointed
Considering this book is a Richard & Judy's recommended summer read I am extremely disappointed. While the story line appears to be quite good the writing is stilted and awkward. How can you take a book seriously, and carry on reading it, when a sentence reads "She'd slammed the door and left the room". (page 75, second para.)
The description of male genitalia at the top of page 79 is clumsy and ridiculous and the explanation of Tor's father stemming her 'monthlies' with some old rags and his regimental tie is laughable (bottom of page 121).
How this book can be included in the same list as 'Mr. Pip' is beyond my understanding. The proof reader needs to be fired. I should have been warned by the fact there are no excerpts from reviews anywhere in the book.
I'm sorry Ms Gregson, but I cannot waste my time finishing it when there are so many good books waiting to be read.
East of the Sun
- Starts off well then is so boringAt first this book was promising but it quickly deteriorated into a muddle of forgettable characters doing forgettable things.Very disappointing.
Rating:
- A good summer read for those who are interested in Colonial IndiaBought the book as it was a recommended summer read, and I have always been interested in India and the connections to British "rule".
Was not dissapointed, enjoyed the book, liked the characters and the places visited by them, about a time of change.
Cannot vouch for its accuracy, but feel that a lot of effort was made by the author. Believe there was a small error in the part when they were in Cairo, and will try to pass this on.
Liked it and was happy I made that choice.
Rating:
- Well-researched!Having just read this, and found it fascinating as well as very enjoyable, it was interesting to come to the Amazon site and see what others thought.
Knowing something about the subject, I cannot agree with one reviewer, KA Roy, that it is incorrect to refer to people speaking Marathi in 1928 in Bombay. In fact, the majority of people in the area would have spoken Marathi, and neither is it incorrect to call someone Maharashtrian, as the regional political concept was already current in the 19th century.
I thought the author seemed to have gone to a great deal of trouble to present an accurate picture of India in the 20s and 30s, and the characters, both English and Indian, had a thoroughly authentic ring to them. This is a great read, and I would strongly recommend it.
Rating:
- Pleasant but not exceptionalThis is the story of three women venturing to India in the 1920s, each with her own hopes and dreams, her own fears. While it is pleasant enough - ideal as a holiday read perhaps - it hardly excites or lingers in the memory. The writing is sufficiently fluid not to jar, but there is little to entice the reader back to seek deeper insight, nothing particularly thought-provoking, no phrase or paragraph so poetic that it must be read and re-read for the sheer pleasure of the language.
Nineteen-year-old Rose is travelling to India to marry Jack Chandler, an army officer she barely knew before he proposed and whose regiment sailed to India shortly after their engagement. By the time Rose approaches Bombay she can hardly remember what he was like and is nervous of meeting him again. Her best friend Tor (unusually, short for Victoria), who cannot wait to be free of her overbearing mother, is to be Rose's bridesmaid and hopes to find a husband of her own. Viva, the young woman employed as their chaperone, has her own hang-ups about India where she lived as a child before losing both her parents and her sister.
Overall, the story is interesting if somewhat bland and there are sections missing that cry out to be told. One such is Rose's wedding. The voyage to India, which dominates the early chapters, is a build-up to the forthcoming marriage, full of Rose's fears and feelings, with a couple of chapters on Jack's perceptions. But the wedding itself is passed over in the briefest description from Tor's viewpoint, without our ever knowing how the bride herself viewed the day.
Of the girls' stories, it was Viva's that came most alive and was most fully developed. Tor's story achieved a satisfying roundness, but Rose's seemed to fizzle out as if unfinished, leaving questions unanswered. There were hints but nothing more. Maybe this was deliberate, but for me it left a sense of incompleteness, as if the author had forgotten to add the finishing touches to Rose's viewpoint.
For all that the book is enjoyable, so long as you treat it as a light read and don't expect too much. Recommended for holiday or bedtime reading, or whenever you don't want to be too challenged!
Rating:
- Very disappointedConsidering this book is a Richard & Judy's recommended summer read I am extremely disappointed. While the story line appears to be quite good the writing is stilted and awkward. How can you take a book seriously, and carry on reading it, when a sentence reads "She'd slammed the door and left the room". (page 75, second para.)
The description of male genitalia at the top of page 79 is clumsy and ridiculous and the explanation of Tor's father stemming her 'monthlies' with some old rags and his regimental tie is laughable (bottom of page 121).
How this book can be included in the same list as 'Mr. Pip' is beyond my understanding. The proof reader needs to be fired. I should have been warned by the fact there are no excerpts from reviews anywhere in the book.
I'm sorry Ms Gregson, but I cannot waste my time finishing it when there are so many good books waiting to be read.
