The Calcutta Chromosome: A Novel of Fevers, Delirium & Discovery

There are plenty of nice things to take away from this book. First off, its science fiction. I realised this pretty late. Secondly, heres a book that stays with you well after you've turned the last page. In summary, I liked the bold effort to fuse 3 timelines - past (Ross'), middle past (Murugan/Shonali/Urmila) and future (Antar/computer). The idea of re-incarnation is brought in towards the end - though not very convincingly. This could have been dealt with better - the fact that the tantric woman gets re-incarnated and all that .. all in all, a thought provoking book that surprisingly hasn't been very popular.

This book hooked me from page one, and didn't let me down. It's the most suspenseful story I've read in a while, full of conspiracy and Illuminati and sci-fi technology and history. Published in 1995, it's set in the near future, and 1995, and the end of the nineteenth century. It reminded me of Snow Crash and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainence and maybe even The Da Vinci Code if I'd read it (which I didn't), only in India, and with malaria. Oh, also? It's more William Gibson than William Gibson himself. (Only in India instead of Japan. And with malaria.) The Ava/IIe computer (character?) is one Gibsonesque piece of technology; there are a few others. This book is extremely fun - pure page-turning escapism, and a perfect example of a "wild ride."

Amitav Ghosh is a bright man, a very bright man. A bright man with a good imagination and a sure touch with plot development. On first reading I , like many of the other reviewers, said "Huh?" when I reached the end. Unlike many of the readers, I went back and read it again. And again, and again. And I realized that I just hadn't kept up with him the first time 'round. Like the reader from Calcutta mentioned, every word, every story, has a purpose. What seem like disparate threads come together in Ghosh's hands to form a sure knot. There are few "mysteries" that one can take pleasure in reading once the answer is known, but this is an exception, because each time I find one more clue when I reread the novel. Who is this Antar character, anyhow, and why does this information come to him--on this day, in this way? The entire novel pivots on this question, but it is one the reader never asks. This is a novel worth reading twice.

This colorful, literate science thriller ranges from drop-dead funny to drop-dead eerie, juggling 4 timeframes with masterful narrative drive. I defy anyone with half a curiosity to yawn at the p. 60 teaser.Although I like my heroes more heroic and less mystical, they intrigued me, then charmed me, and finally gripped me emotionally, with every twist wrung out at the end. Thank you, Amitav.

The Calcutta Chromosome is incredibly constructed. So well, in fact, that it gives the reader the feeling that it actually turns in on itself. In the beginning there are a few seemingly unrelated plotlines that merge gracefully until they become one at the end of the book and leaving the reader want much more (and a warm bed with tea!). If you like Michael Crichton, Jon Grisham, and the X- Files, this book is for you.