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A children’s fantasy set in modern India.
12-year-old Anand’s Kolkata family was happily middle-class until his father disappeared, his sister went catatonic, and the family sank into poverty. Anand had to drop out of school and work for a mean tea-stall owner.
But when he gives his last food to an old man, he is pulled into the old man’s quest to return a magic talking conch to a legendary brotherhood of healers. Accompanied by the old man and a homeless girl, Anand goes on a very traditional quest, complete with pursuing villain, magical obstacles, and powerful but obnoxious forces for good that keep setting up tests to pass.
The best part of this novel for me was the vividly evoked settings: the flavors of the food, the smell of the air, the discomfort of the journey. The characters are simple and the plot, if you’ve read a few childrens’ fantasy quest novels, was extremely predictable. However, I am no longer ten. I would recommend this for anyone looking for fantasy with POC protagonists (all the characters are Indian) for the eight-to-twelve set, with one caveat:
I regret to criticize the ending for being startling, given that predictability was my main problem with the rest of the story. But there is a middle ground between predictable and WTF.
At the end, Anand is given a choice between staying with the Brotherhood and learning magic, and returning to his family, now back together with Dad returned and Sister cured. He sees via magic that his family misses him and is worried about him. I expected him to choose his family and be rewarded by being allowed to stay with the Brotherhood after he explains to his family that he’s not dead, just pursuing a career.
He chooses to stay with the Brotherhood… and so his family won’t grieve over him, the Brotherhood erases the memory of Anand from their minds, so they won’t remember that he ever existed at all! (He still remembers them.)
Okay, am I the only person who is totally boggled by this, and not in a good way?
1. Way to make very important decisions for other people without their consent!
2. It’s never explained why he couldn’t tell them that he was okay but had to leave. I don’t see why he couldn’t have made up a story about being a healer’s apprentice in the Himalayas, since that’s basically true anyway.
3. The Brotherhood is creeeeeeeeeepy, but it’s presented as being a bit uptight but overall a force for good.
4. The whole thing is presented as “Yay happy ending.” Maybe for Anand, though that’s also creepy, but what about his family? He had important relationships with all of them, and those have now been wiped out of their lives.
5. How does that even work, anyway? More people than his family knew Anand. Were they all mind-wiped, too? If not, boy is his family in for a shock!
Buy at Amazon: The Conch Bearer (Brotherhood of the Conch)
12-year-old Anand’s Kolkata family was happily middle-class until his father disappeared, his sister went catatonic, and the family sank into poverty. Anand had to drop out of school and work for a mean tea-stall owner.
But when he gives his last food to an old man, he is pulled into the old man’s quest to return a magic talking conch to a legendary brotherhood of healers. Accompanied by the old man and a homeless girl, Anand goes on a very traditional quest, complete with pursuing villain, magical obstacles, and powerful but obnoxious forces for good that keep setting up tests to pass.
The best part of this novel for me was the vividly evoked settings: the flavors of the food, the smell of the air, the discomfort of the journey. The characters are simple and the plot, if you’ve read a few childrens’ fantasy quest novels, was extremely predictable. However, I am no longer ten. I would recommend this for anyone looking for fantasy with POC protagonists (all the characters are Indian) for the eight-to-twelve set, with one caveat:
I regret to criticize the ending for being startling, given that predictability was my main problem with the rest of the story. But there is a middle ground between predictable and WTF.
At the end, Anand is given a choice between staying with the Brotherhood and learning magic, and returning to his family, now back together with Dad returned and Sister cured. He sees via magic that his family misses him and is worried about him. I expected him to choose his family and be rewarded by being allowed to stay with the Brotherhood after he explains to his family that he’s not dead, just pursuing a career.
He chooses to stay with the Brotherhood… and so his family won’t grieve over him, the Brotherhood erases the memory of Anand from their minds, so they won’t remember that he ever existed at all! (He still remembers them.)
Okay, am I the only person who is totally boggled by this, and not in a good way?
1. Way to make very important decisions for other people without their consent!
2. It’s never explained why he couldn’t tell them that he was okay but had to leave. I don’t see why he couldn’t have made up a story about being a healer’s apprentice in the Himalayas, since that’s basically true anyway.
3. The Brotherhood is creeeeeeeeeepy, but it’s presented as being a bit uptight but overall a force for good.
4. The whole thing is presented as “Yay happy ending.” Maybe for Anand, though that’s also creepy, but what about his family? He had important relationships with all of them, and those have now been wiped out of their lives.
5. How does that even work, anyway? More people than his family knew Anand. Were they all mind-wiped, too? If not, boy is his family in for a shock!
Buy at Amazon: The Conch Bearer (Brotherhood of the Conch)
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This sentence made me chuckle.
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... I was getting ready, eventually, to leave a new comment over at your last Divakaruni Chitra Banerjee entry, because, thanks to your discussion of it, I read and mainly (but not entirely) enjoyed Palace of Illusions. This current book sounds like something I'd be curious about for the setting, but I don't know if I could deal with the predictable plot, and wow, that ending. So the human universe can basically be reordered (everyone's lives unraveled and reknit a new way) in order to accommodate one person's wishes. Awesome if you're Anand, I guess.
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I thought it was completely sick.
On a visceral, not choosing to think but just feeling level.
The only way it could make sense is if then there is a sequel where the evil brotherhood is taken DOWN!!! by an avenging and matured Anand.
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here via network
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I would be interested in your take on Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis. I am holding back from loving it until I know all that she got wrong beyond being way too soft on the British imperialists. :( (Except the talking tiger and the meta. I will always love the talking tiger and the meta.)
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Talking tiger and stories within stories and tricksy heroes! And bonus points for / bonus points off for the Alluring White Chick being a trial to be resisted and not The Prize.
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