Gun Island

Growing up, I've listened to my mother read out stories and folk lore about gods and goddesses as prayers. As a kid, these stories enthralled me and I'd listen to them with rapt attention. One such story was that of Devi Manasha and Behula.

And it is one of those stories that form the backdrop of Amitav Ghosh's new novel Gun Island. Based on the legend of the Bonduki Saudagar and Devi Manasha, the book is set years after the end of Ghosh's previous book, The Hungry Tide. While in The Hungry Tide, Ghosh took us on a journey of the beautifully dangerous waters and jungles of the Sunderbans, in Gun Island, he takes us from the waters of Sundarbans to Venice and then further out to the ocean. Dinanath Dutta or Deen, the rare books dealer, Cinta, the Venetian historian and Piya, the marine biologist from the previous book form the pillars of Gun Island. Fakir's son, Tipu and Rafi, one of the last descendents of the entrusted caretaker of the shrine of the goddess further the story. It is at this shrine that the story perhaps takes its first turn towards what can be described as a intricate entanglement of reality and supernatural. 

We follow Deen as he takes us through his journey since rediscovering the legend of the Gun Merchant, while he dissects his own rational thinking in face of what he considers the impossible. 

But what really pulls this book is not the legend but the parallels that Amitav Ghosh has drawn between the Gun Merchant's journey centuries ago and that of the immigrants of today. Climate change and climate immigrants, their lives in the lands they belong to and their lives in the lands they dream about, especially in the face of the right wing ideology against migration and hegemony are the essence of the book. With all these elements, Ghosh creates a spellbinding tale that isn't too far removed from reality. In the mix are poisonous snakes and spiders, and dolphins. 

But these are not the only poisonous things in the mix. Corporate warfare, trolls, politics and human avariciousness find space in the book as we read along. Billowing forest fires, unusual and large migration of animals and insects from their places of habitat, Ghosh's book is a mirror of the reality that we have been a mute witness to this past few years. 

The book isn't perfect, no. I'd have loved to read more about Cinta, Lubna Khala and Palash. Some plots felt a bit too hurried and perhaps undercooked but it does not take away the fact that Gun Island is a must read work of this century. Because the reality we are in today is no more stranger than fiction.