The Siege of Krishnapur

"The first sign of trouble at Krishnapur came with a mysterious distribution of chapatis, made of coarse flour and about the size and thickness of a biscuit; towards the end of February 1857, they swept the countryside like an epidemic."

Like the mysteriously appearing chapatis, life in British India seems, on the surface, innocuous enough. Farrell introduces us gradually to a large cast of characters as he paints a vivid portrait of the Victorians' daily routines that are accompanied by heat, boredom, class-consciousness and the pursuit of genteel pastimes intended for cooler climates. Even the siege begins slowly, with disquieting news of massacres in cities far away. When Krishnapur itself is finally attacked, the Europeans withdraw inside the grounds of the Residency where very soon conditions begin to deteriorate: food and water run out, disease is rampant, people begin to go a little mad. Soon the very proper British are reduced to eating insects and consorting across class lines. Farrell's descriptions of life inside the Residency are simultaneously horrifying and blackly humorous. The siege, for example, is conducted under the avid eyes of the local populace, who clearly anticipate an enjoyable massacre and thus arrive every morning laden with picnic lunches (plainly visible to the starving Europeans). By turns witty and compassionate, The Siege of Krishnapur comprises the best of all fictional worlds: unforgettable characters, an epic adventure and at its heart a cultural clash for the ages. --Alix Wilber

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How did this win the Booker? - Rated
Hang on a minute. An interesting story, well written, multiple themes, an absence of naval gazing; how did this book ever win the Booker prize? To start with the book doesn't concern itself with how hard it is growing up in some underdeveloped hell-hole such as Kenya, Sri Lanka or Ireland; it isn't concerned with "long-buried relationship issues" such as recent Booker-winning snorefest "The Gathering". Instead it is part Flashman style satire on the Brits in India, part philosophical (God, culture, science) peppered with occasional flashes of Magnus Mills style dark humour. If you want to read an engaging historical novel and a Booker prize winner you will actually finish then this is the book for you.

Excellent - Rated
An excellent book telling of the mutiny. Whilst the book almost neglects the natives this isn't fiction dressed up as colonial propaganda. This is an incredibly humorous tale of a group of Englishmen trapped within a residency, besieged by a whole host of natives. As the siege progresses civilization, science and religion are all discussed along with the odd smattering of phrenology. An incredibly entertaining book and one very worth reading.

The Raj must go on ... - Rated
An amazing story - Life continues as normal for the colonial outpost at Krishnapur with poetry readings and all the trappings of genteel society back in England. But there the comparisons with 'Carry on up the Khyber' stop once the Sepoys start their siege. It all becomes grim, dirty, diseased and everyone is forced to find their hidden reserves of strength as the food rations start to run out.
This winner of the Booker Prize from 1973 is full of strong characterisation, and doesn't shy away from describing the decay and rotting from the high body count and cholera with attendant vultures and jackals.
Its style has similarities with A.S.Byatt's Victorian romances, but also has a sense of humour throughout in that life must go on!
A dense but fabulous novel.

Interesting but dull in places - Rated
Personally I don't understand what all the fuss around the book is about. I mean it was alright, interesting insight into that life with some excellent characters and plots. I just found that it dragged, the start was very slow and when it continued to change pace I became disinterested in stories that could have been riveting.
Possibly I have a different view as I had to study this book for A-levels against another book that I much preferred. Being young as well some of the deeper philosophical points may have been lost on me. I loved the characters indeed though I would have liked to have known whether it was Harry who got Lucy pregnant and several more little mysteries but sometimes that is the fun. I think the story is good but it's long-winded if you want detailed characters you get it, the main narrator is very observant. I would say it reminds me a little of Gabriel Garcia in places but that said I enjoyed Love in the Time of Cholera immensely and this not much at all.

Stunning achievement - Rated
The Great Mutiny in 1857 has been a major inspiration for writers of fiction (and non-fiction too off course). Some of those fictional books I've read, though by far not all (has anyone read them all?), but never have I been as impressed by one as by `The siege of Krishnapur'.

This is really a most extraordinary book. I may perhaps not read it as people born and bred in England (to them Krishnapur is probably a household-name and a legendary part of their national history) but in fact this matters little. `The siege of Krishnapur' is much much more than a book about the siege of that particular place. The entire story is told from the point of view of a number of the English residents, while the sepoys are merely present as a part of the setting (almost as the summer heat, the monsoon rains, the bugs, ...). And it is in the description of these characters and their thoughts and feelings that this book surpasses all others I've read. Mr. Hopkins (the Collector), Mr. Willoughby (the Magistrate), George Fleury, Harry Dunstable, the Padre, and many more, will impress themselves upon you as if you know them in the flesh.

Their near-sighted views of most everything (the `civilizing' influence of British rule over India and science's progress, the roles of men versus women), their stubborn adherence to `proper' conduct and society's rules and regulations ever after 3 months of siege, the proverbial British phlegm in the face of desperate odds, it is all described with such an incomparable style and vocabulary to make these people both tragic, heroic, and - oddest perhaps of all - at times extremely humorous.

One of the best books I've read in years.