Kalimantaan

This rich, reflective novel tells the story of a hard-headed Englishman's establishment of a private raj in Borneo. Plot summary: In spite of antihero Gideon Barr's misplaced attention to detail, the kingdom survives attacks by pirates, headhunters, cholera and the weather, and even Barr's tragic marriage, only to finally be undone by revolution and misplaced trust. Details of plot and place are wonderful here, but what really stands out is the characterization and the tensions of the many private and public relationships in this kingdom. More tension: the tropical environment consistently resists "civilization" or even comprehension from its European residents.Kalimantaan doesn't put characters with modern sensibilities in front of a quaint backdrop; it's a "historical" novel only in the sense that it interrogates history and historiography.

I chose to read this book because my son, a missionary in Indonesia, married a Chinese Indonesian Dyak born in Kalimantaan. Although her style is sometimes frustrating, Ms. Godshalk has written a most wonderful book, not just about Kalimantaan, but about inhumanity and greed; about the universality and timelessness of human emotions. I'm saving it for my beautiful grandchild to read.

C.S. Godshalk has done for the distant tropics what Patrick O'Brian has done for the Napoleonic Wars. Working with rich historical material and an abundance of exotica, she was woven a dense, intoxicating, multi-layered world. In one book, she's created an adventure story, a love story, a story of heartbreak, betrayal, devotion, passion, and contempt -- and an incredible view of a far-away place, in a vanished time, with characters who are at once alien and entirely understandable. Godshalk moves deftly between Linnaean naturalism, penetrating portraiture, and heartbreaking family insights. Her prose, like her plot, moves from postcard-pretty to bafflingly complex -- abrupt shifts of perspective, time, and narrative kept me fascinated, amused, and always alert. Her tale of Victorian conquest, colonial life, and the eddies and currents of human progress (psychological, emotional, and social) covers half a century and follows the British empire from its apogee to its unseen -- but still apparent -- undoing. It also follows Gideon Barr and his astonishing bride through a complex, flawed, utterly human marriage, blesses them with children and snatches them away, offers them victory seeded with disaster, and proffers pride at the price of self-worth. Through it all -- in only one of many nuanced layers of meaning in this wonderful book -- it offers a redemptory view of love as the ultimate human emotion -- love that echoes across time, distance, distraction, and even death to recapture its object and redeem its subject. Godshalk has echoes (as noted) of O'Brian, but also of Conrad, Naipaul, and a host of others -- and exceeds them all in her intense interior portraits of the characters who people her immense landscape. Thank you, C.S. Godshalk, for the best novel I've read this year. I'll be a devoted fan for life!

Over a century and a half have passed since Englishman Gideon Barr worked the Asian route for the East India Company. Gideon's travels took him into China, India, Malaysia, and countless other locales. He fights off deadly diseases and even deadlier weather. He battles with Asian merchants, who loathe the "British superiority" ethic that he easily flaunts at them bbecausethey are forced to trade under his rules. It is on the island of Borneo in the Malaysian Archipelago that Gideon takes all he has learned from his imperialistic bartering with the natives and carves out a small fiefdom based on Victorian ideals, but financed by opium. Gideon establishes his private raj through ruthless means. Most of his personal followers, especially his cousin, are even more brutal than himself with the native population. Gideon's teenage spouse does provide a serene counterpoint with her love of life. However, unless she can reach her beloved, it seems that the thriving but vicious transplanted society that he has established to surmount and destroy the local culture (which is also very brutal) is all that Gideon wille ver really care about. KALIMAMTAAN is an interesting work of historical fiction based on a real event from the early days of Queen Victoria's reign. The story line based on clashing cultures is extremely interesting, and the motivations of the lead characters and the support players (both English and Asian) are brilliantly brought out in the novel. Some readers may not like the use of nineteenth century vernacular even though it adds a touch of authenticity to this brilliantly written historical fiction. C.S. Godshalk demonstrates that she has done her research and has a wealth of talent that will surely be heard from in the future. Harriet Klausner