The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is like the tide it describes. All the characters stays with you until the book is complete and then all that remains with you is the tide, forests, rivers and dolphins.

The story is of Piya a cetacean scientist who comes to Lusibari to study Irrawady dolphins, Kanai, a not so ideal guide who is in Lusibari to read the letters left to him by his late uncle Nirmal and of all the people living in the tide country of Sunderbans.

The writing is smooth as it transports you through the tide country and the life in it with the tigers, struggles, and the mythical story of Bon bibi. The passage of conversation between Fokir and Kanai leading up to leaving Kanai alone in the forest and the one between Kanai and Piya after the tiger attack were pick of the reads in the book.

The quoting of Rania Maria Rilke's Dunio Elegies at the end of Nirmal's letters describing the circumstances left you with something to think about.

There are smaller beautiful stories of places and people interwoven through the main narrative which are like the stories that you get to hear from guides at historical places.

Overall, a beautiful book worth every second of your lazy Sunday afternoon.

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