Heaven 2024: October Book Club - A Rising Man by Abir Mukerjee
This month's book choice is A Rising Man by Abir Mukerjee.
Like last month's pick it is a crime novel, but a very different one as it is set in India in 1919 and the narrative is rather more traditional.
I found it interesting not just a a whodunnit but as a historical novel set in India at a time of unrest. I read it just after seeing RRR, an Indian film set in the same period which although very diffent does give a bit of insight into the politics of the situation from the Indian point of view.
As usual I'll post some questions on the 20th.
Minor code fix
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Like last month's pick it is a crime novel, but a very different one as it is set in India in 1919 and the narrative is rather more traditional.
I found it interesting not just a a whodunnit but as a historical novel set in India at a time of unrest. I read it just after seeing RRR, an Indian film set in the same period which although very diffent does give a bit of insight into the politics of the situation from the Indian point of view.
As usual I'll post some questions on the 20th.
Minor code fix
jj-HH
Comments
Consequently I have now read it right through with enjoyment more or less straight through in a few days. The Marama (who usually reads far quicker than me) is still only half-way through it yet.
Did you find the setting convincing?
Was it a satisfying mystery? Did you guess early on what might have happen
What did you make of Sam Wyndham, a good detective or not?
This is the first of a series, would you read the others?
Any other thoughts on the book.
Yes. The social setting of the era just after WW1 depicted in the book matched well to part of the famous film “Gandhi” and by the history of Indian history which was studied by my own wife. In particular, this book depicts the distance in social terms between the rulers and the wider population.
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Was it a satisfying mystery? Did you guess early on what might have happen.
Enough of a mystery to keep me reading. But given the much closer detail of the British characters, it seemed likely by half-way through the book that one of them was the real villain. But not so obvious it was which one of that group was underlying the villain.
Numerous side-plots suggested told well enough to be of fair plausibility about some potential villains, or at least partial villains, of his particularly case.
What did you make of Sam Wyndham, a good detective or not?
It was all too plausibly that he had wanted to move out of Britain after too many of deaths around his friends in the war – and in his case especially that one of the deaths was his then new wife. According to his prewar history of some success as a detective policeman, it’s not surprising that he got an invitation to restart a career somewhere else in the Empire. But as someone without any knowledge initially of the prevailing local language or culture has a considerable handicap of being a detective , though such outsiders were common in other professions if they looked like “good chaps”.
As to be successful in any job, picking up good colleagues is one of the most useful skills. He quickly finds himself prepared works well with a local Indian police sergeant ‘Surrender-not’ Banerjee. That this fellow is keen to use his newly promoted qualifications but looked downwards by most of his British colleagues, was certainly in history a common feeling in Bengal . That certainly helps some of the leader’s handicaps about the locality.
This is the first of a series, would you read the others?
I look forward to chasing some of the others in the series. Though I hope he manages to get rid of his occasional drug use, which I found a disdainful unnecessary part of the story.
Any other thoughts on the book.
As I noted earlier, the style of the book is easier reading than the thesis I have been reading at the same time!
The woman worker of the raj, Annie Grant, who is the office secretary of the deceased senior civil servant, makes an interesting character well worth brought in to the story. She too makes a helpful person to the new recruit, but her slightly not-white complexion which limits her career is another piece of real history.
The author, of Indian descendant, turns out to have been born in Glasgow, and lived most of his life there. So finding the history and character of the location of the book has been I daresay an interesting research of the background for the author’s own self, which helps him to convey it to readers.
I liked the atmospheric descriptions of the city of Calcutta, I imagine they’re accurate from the early photos I’ve seen, though I’ve never been there.
Was it a satisfying mystery? Did you guess early on what might have happened? I guessed part of the events but not all of them.
What did you make of Sam Wyndham, a good detective or not? He’s intelligent, persistent, unwilling to accept the easy answers or easy prejudices, attempts to understand the context of what’s happening. That, it seems to me, makes him a pretty good detective.
This is the first of a series, would you read the others? Yes certainly
Any other thoughts on the book. I found it interesting that a Scotsman of Bengali descent wrote this; in fact possibly no-one else could have. We’re concerned these days about representation; Muhkerjee, it seems to me is in an ideal position to use the language of the day (the use of ‘native’ is the most obvious example) without criticism, and evoke the thoughts and positions of both main protagonists. More power to him – I greatly enjoyed it.
Did you find the setting convincing?
Yes I thought it was convincing, though on a second read some of it felt a little staged to get some points across, the way Annie was refused entry to a restaurant for instance. There were some things I wasn't quite so sure about, were there that many cars around in 1919 and would Annie have worn a knee length dress? I envisage women of this period, specially in a conservative society wearing something more like this. I thought the casual racism was well done, something that even Sam wasn't immune to. He might have recognised that Sergeant Banerjee was a good officer, but he never bothered to use his real name, Surendranath, even though when we are introduced to him it seems apparent he isn't that comfortable with the nick-name he's been given.
Was it a satisfying mystery? Did you guess early on what might have happened
I never really read detective stories trying to work out who did it by carefully following the clues, but I thought in this one it was obvious fairly early on that there was some mis-direction going on.
What did you make of Sam Wyndham, a good detective or not?
Sam came across as an honest person, his uncomfortableness at framing someone for the murder for instance. The problems of trying to work out what happened while working in an environment that was still alien to him was well done. For instance the clue of the note. I'm sure if that had been a note in Gaelic while he was working in the UK he'd have found a native speaker to look at it rather than just accepting Digby's word. The drug habit did come across as a bit of a McGuffin. I'm sure in real life he'd probably not actually managed to function and would have been on the next boat back to the UK. Having said that I've read the blurbs for the other books in the series and in one Sam's addiction is a key part of the plot.
This is the first of a series, would you read the others?
I've read the second one A Necessary Evil and enjoyed it more if anything. There are now five in the series and I'll get round to reading the others when my to read pile gets a bit smaller. He has also written a stand alone novel Hunted. I saw him speak at our local book festival this summer and the premise of this book, parents trying to understand how their children might get caught up in extremist politics, sounds interesting.
Any other thoughts on the book.
I found it so interesting to read a book about a period and place I know little about. As I mentioned when I opened this thread I saw the film RRR set at about the same time I read this. That too has a freedom fighter, though a very different one to Sen, and a very dashing Indian Indian Imperial Police officer not at all like Banerjee. If you have a few hours to spare and enjoy block-buster movies and Indian dance I'd recommend it.
Did you find the setting convincing?
I don't know too much about Calcutta in 1919, but from what I do know it seemed convincing. I was a bit surprised when Wyndham's uniform got destroyed and he didn't have a spare one or immediately replace it, though it seemed he did have regular clothes as well and wasn't running around in rags. In my understanding the armed forces have always been really strict about things like uniform and polished shoes outside of direct battle, as they are part of the discipline of being in an army and obeying orders without question.
Was it a satisfying mystery? Did you guess early on what might have happen
I guessed some parts but not the full solution. I surmised that Annie Grant did not care for Wyndham as much as he did (or thought he did) for her and may have ulterior motives in being so friendly. Sam seemed so much of a mess much of the time and was not particularly high ranking, yet as a white man would find life difficult if he married Annie, so it seemed unlikely she would favour him over other men of her acquaintance.
It also seemed fairly obvious that the murderer would either be one of the white characters or that the murder would be organised by them, but I didn't guess it was Digby or that the LG planned it. I did notice Digby was a bit shady and insistent or pushing Sam's investigation in certain directions.
What did you make of Sam Wyndham, a good detective or not?
Sam Wyndham seemed like he was a good detective in England, but was still finding his footing in India, which is understandable. I don't know much about the forces in India at this time - were they mostly recruited from the white population in India, ensuring they were familiar with Indian languages, politics and cultures or was it common to recruit people from British families not linked to India? Was this changed by the deaths of many young British men in World War 1 and many men being unable to work due to severe mental and physical disabilities caused by the war?
The language barrier and Wyndham's drug addiction and PTSD made his job more difficult, along of course with the racism that stopped him treating Banjeree as an equal and prevented Banjeree completing his assignments as well as he could have. I got the impression that Banjeree might be the better detective.
Wyndham reminded me a bit of Hastings in the Poirot series in that he was easily fooled by a pretty woman and sometimes looked for obvious answers rather than looking outside the box or thinking more critically. Will Banjeree turn out to be more of a Poirot/Sherlock in future books? Will Wyndham be able to think more critically once he gets used to working in India and understands more about the country?
This is the first of a series, would you read the others?
The sequels aren't at the top of my to read list but I might read more in the future. I would be interested to see a more equal relationship between Banjeree and Wyndham develop and how the fight against British colonialism and related events influences their cases.