| ||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"Hugo Baumgartner, the central character of Anita Desai's dazzling novel, is a wandering Jew all his life. From the agonizing scenes of his childhood in pre-war Berlin, through his spell in business in Calcutta and then Bombay, he
simply does not belong. Too dark for Hitler's society, he is too fair for India; he remains a firanghi, a foreigner, wherever he goes." - "Daily Telegraph
"Cleverly constructed, and full of sharp perceptions about human nature under the skin, whatever the colour." - "The Times
Book Description
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
I was struggling with the flu this week - an ideal time to finish reading a novel, and what a read it turned out to be :-)
I had to persevere for the first half - I like books to cheer me up and Baumgartner's Bombay is not exactly a cheery little tale. It plots the life of Baumgartner, a Jew growing up in pre-war Germany, his flight as a young man to India via Venice, his incarceration in an Allies' prisoner of war camp, and his continued existence as India struggles with Independence and
Partition.
Suddenly the insight into his endurance came and transformed the reading of the rest of the novel. I hypothesised that a certain strength can result from continually having one's spirit broken, again and again and again. We rely so much for our 'identity' and peace of mind on being able to control things, to say who we are, to make choices. It's a way of 'defining' or 'knowing' ourselves almost by seeing ourselves as a reflection of the
choices we make. When choice is taken away, we have to reach very deep within ourselves to have the confidence to continue, which Baumgartner, without relying on religion, manages to do.
In a way this is a 'spiritual' issue without being (necessarily) connected to mainstream religion, and many might feel (as I do) that this is something strangely reflected by India as a country. Many people who go to India are deeply affected by the country, but what is it about India? Like Baumgartner's character, one could say that, above all else, India endures.
I recall putting my hands on a wall in Delhi and feeling transported in time - Indian civilisation had stood for longer than most history books can recall, and compared to many societies, stood relatively unchanged for thousands of years. There are wars, religious conquerors, political upheavals, yet that unwashed looking peanut seller at the side of the road
could be oblivious to what century he's in. This unchanging face of India (without making any comment on whether it is good or bad) has a very powerful force and the timelessness is almost woven into the national character ("Hurry up" is not a phrase that makes much practical sense anywhere in India)!
As soon as I thought of this, I felt strongly for the main character, for the devotion of his stinking cats, his acceptance of everything that life threw at him, and the (remarkable yet believable) changelessness of his character through both riches and poverty. Then I could smell the air in Bombay (have you ever noticed how the smell, the air, in hot countries, is so distinctive? Does the heat bring out the unique social smells and imprint them on our consciousness the way the rain imprints itself on our consciousness in Northern climes?), how you could feel the sea in the late afternoon, how the foods, the squalor and the splendour constantly assault the senses, how the relentless and teeming mass of humanity is still made up of individual people.
Baumgartner's Bombay is not a 'happy' read but I can forgive it that in the same way that Shakespeare's grandeur lets him get away with tragedy as well as comedy. And because it moved me.
And so the reader begins to follow Hugo Baumgartner's life, starting with his childhood in Berlin. At the age of about eight, his father, a Jewish furniture retailer, soon loses his business, his store is ransacked by the Nazis and he is taken to a concentration camp. Baumgartner and his mother are forced to leave their beautifully furnished apartment and hide in the former office of the shop. At school, Baumgartner's situation becomes unbearable: his classmates chant to him: "Baumgartner, Baum, hat eine Nase wie ein Daum" (Baumgartner's dumb, has a nose like a thumb.) Eventually, his survival in Germany becoming a matter of days, his mother agrees to Herr Pfuehl's idea to send his son to India, since he has a few connections there in the furniture production business.
There are many moving scenes as the reader discovers, along with Hugo, the sights, sounds and smells of Calcutta and Bombay. And moving too, the life of this pathetic and insignificant man Baumgartner who simply does not belong. Neither to Hitler's Germany nor to India's society, where he is a perpetual "firanghi", foreigner, a wounded survivor.
This novel is the achievement of a superior writer with a sharp perception about human nature, loss, solitude.
The eponymous character is a kindly, benevolent old man, a foreigner in India, who is totally out of kilter with the world in which he lives. His fondness for cats betrays his need for relationships, given the evident absence of personal contact in his everyday experiences. In many ways, the only satisfying aspect of his life is the past, where he spends much of his time reflecting. His sole relationship with any meaning is with another extremely unhappy, demoralised expatiate who hates everyting about the circumstances in which she now finds herself.
Together, they make a sorry pair. He is kind, mild-mannered, gentle, unassuming and much put upon. She is much more aggressive, though an anchronism, living very much in the better days of yesteryear. The world in which they now live is extremely unfogiving and unkind to them. The past they left behind, however, was equally unattractive.
The ending was in many ways a blessing. The misery of the surroundings and the leading characters will live in my mind for a long time, as will the conduct of the self-absorbed young foreigner who brought this tale to a climax. In many ways, he is the epitome of all that is unacceptable today. The small kindnesses he experienced are disregarded and his selfish demands take precedence over anyone else's needs.
If you are looking for a fast-paced thriller full of action, you have come to the wrong place. If, however, you want to enjoy a real story which challenges all of the emotions as well as having a beginning, a middle and an end then this book will deeply move you.
All in all, a very sad story, made all the sadder by some of the most beautiful, compact writing you will ever encounter.
Another problem I had was that India has been potrayed by the author in excessively poor light. I know that over population, poverty, squalor etc. are major problems all Indian cities are faced with - but seriously, is that all Anita Desai knows about India? Being an Indian, it is a shame that she has nothing positive to say about a diverse and fascinating country with a rich culture.
Well I guess 3/5 sounds about right for this book.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
