This was a fishy, fishy book.

Reincarnation theory forms one of the pillars of Hinduism as a religion, within which the origin of life itself is cyclic in nature. The purpose of a soul is to relieve itself (attain salvation) of this cycle through actions pertaining to a higher purpose — put in simplified terms. Ghosh’s ‘Ghost-Eye’ plays around this idea as a central theme.

In 1960s Calcutta three year old Varsha, born to the prosperous Guptas is believed to be a reincarnation of a rural Bengali fisher woman much to the dismay of her insufferable, close minded mother (loved her dad though 10/10 good man).

First the positives :

The author himself was born and raised in the city. Consequently the nostalgia, fondness and the rhythm of Calcutta is evident through his pen. He invites those from the land to dive into the omnipotent nostalgia, because Calcutta lives both in the present and in the past. To those not from here he offers an intimate look into modern, upper and, lower middle-class Bengali life, interweaving it with the intrinsic socio-politics. He makes effort to be inclusive in his writing so that the book is not restricted by culture.

There is enough commentary on several horrific, course altering modern political events across India, that it invites curiosity without sounding preachy. The subtle nods to the weaponization of cuisine that piggybacks on religious beliefs; the imposed religious superiority; the intimate ties of language, dialects and origin, help to paint a vivid picture of rural and urban Bengal simultaneously with the conditions/freedom of women being linked to class and wealth.

That is all the positives I have.

Despite its many, many hiccups the book made me sit through to the end because the themes were interesting enough, even though some of them felt rushed. Though marketed as climate fiction , to me it felt more like the author’s personal commentary on climate and environmental crises. There are attempts to tie in local folklore with the themes though none of it was explored well enough.

Hinduism itself being ancient, over time as it spread and divided it began to absorb a lot of local folktales and deities within its larger mythology. One such being the one eyed serpent goddess primarily worshipped among farmers and fisherfolk around Bengal and the eastern regions of India. She is a nature goddess hailed as the keeper of snakes who grants wishes, and protection from their venom, it is evident why she would be popular among agricultural communities .

Her myth and origin was touched upon but not enough to make any sort of solid connection with the main narrative. It was lackluster at best. It does not help that there are also attempts to incorporate Buddhist and Burmese religious beliefs. The point being to show that natural order and the spirit world is its own self-governed system, it does not land as smoothly.

Writing, dialogue, and, flow is clunky. The lingo feels like a caricature of itself making the prose sound disjointed at best. The entire book was littered with too many plot conveniences shoe-horned in to resolve questions readers may have. The preset timeline set during the pandemic felt the weakest and the most frustrating to read. It made the narrator insufferable to me with his self-proclaimed importance. The second half veered too far from the main story. Here I was wanting to learn more of Varsha and her obsession with fish but the narrator’s childhood held me hostage — great opportunities to explore the multicultural fabric of the province of Bengal in relation to the country were abandoned in favor of a weird love story between two reincarnated beings.

Well that was a jump scare and absurd to the core.

The author seemed to be juggling too many ideas, concepts, and events both spiritual and mortal. I understand the need to provide in-depth descriptions of the dominant pescetarian diet of Bengal especially in the rural villages near the deltaic region where fishing is the primary livelihood. I do not understand why I am supposed to be interested in that many scientific fish names except to applaud Ghosh uncle on his extensive research and knowledge. (We get it you read papers to write this).

P.S: I am about certain the local uth biral (colloquial nomenclature) species he refers to are the small Indian civets and not the small clawed otters though both are known to aid fisherfolk.

What a weird read (grumbles)!

“I will always find you” “I am already found”

I want to wipe my memory so I can reread this for the first time again and again and again.

Merriam Webster should update their definition of “yearning” to just be this book.