Rating: 
Summary: The Glass Palace
Review: This is a wonderful piece of historical fiction. Ghosh must have spent copious amounts of time researching his subject matter, I was struck with his attention to details (he could describe the very flowers use in traditional Burmese cooking, the species of trees and shrubbery, etc.). Ghosh has a fairly forthright political agenda in this book (a clear condemnation of British colonialism). Occasionally, the dialogue and a few characters appear to function primarily as instruments in Ghosh's tireless efforts to convince us of the rightness of his political position. However, I found his research so compelling, and his plot so engaging, that I did not mind at all. Few people know how truly destructive imperialism has been, I believe India in particular is often seen as having been benefited by the British (the usual "British railways" argument). Those who believe that should read this book. Politics aside, the book is accessible and engaging enough to read for pure entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile story well told
Review: Amitav Ghosh's novel is a multi-generational saga chronicling the interconnected lives and fortunes of two families -- one Indian, the other Burmese -- set against the backdrop of British colonial rule and, finally, the rise of the Indian independence movement in the midst World War Two. Ghosh paints a stunning panorama, providing the reader with a compelling story, interesting characters, and a concise introduction to the late 19th/early 20th century history of the region. He is most successful when portraying the conflicting loyalties of a generation that, having grown up under colonial rule, must face the end of a way of life they have always known and the emergence of something entirely different that goes against everything they have ever been taught to believe. My only real criticism -- if it can be called that -- is a difficulty, at least on the part of this reader, in keeping straight the familial relationships of the novel's middle generation (and by far the novel's biggest focus.) I wish a family tree had been included in the front matter. Overall, however, a triumph of its genre.
Rating: 
Summary: The Glass Palace
Review: Read this book during a vacation or, at least, during a long weekend, for you will not be able to put it down. A tremendous story!
Rating:
Summary: Read it!
Review: I did not like Shadow Lines all that much but I loved "In an Antique Land" as well as this book. True that the writing is a little uneven at times but what a wealth of knowledge and so perceptive. Also, being interested in photography, I loved the little sections on photography and early 20th century photographers. I won't say anything else except that I felt like re-reading the book after I finished it.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven but worthwhile
Review: There is probably a good chance that most Americans know more about outer space than Burma and that's a shame because it is an interesting land. Ghosh does a wonderful job of bringing the last 120 years of Burmese history to life, along with a good deal of Indian history as well, through the eyes of Rajkumar, his Burmese wife, Dolly, their family and friends. It is a delightful way to get an education. It's not difficult to be swept along with the crowd looting the royal palace at Mandalay, watch elephants working in the teak industry, see Japanese war planes bombing Malaysia. I only wish Ghosh had given his characters a bit more depth so that we could have a better understanding for why they do some of the things they do. He offers an amazing look at the many sides of colonialism and the uncertainty even among the colonized over which is the best path to the future. But unfortunately the characters are more likely to orate on the topic than have anything that sounds like a real conversation. All can be forgiven though by the way everything is tied up in the end, which I won't give away except to say that it's worthwhile to stick it out.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I saw Amitav Ghosh at the Melbourne writer's festival last year not knowing anything about him and was very impressed. However this book does not live up to the promise. It glosses over everything and its very one dimensional. A story of Burma? Only about a third of the book is set there! It was more a story of how Indian workers and soldier were exploited in all parts of Asia. This book did nothing to develop charaters, nor did we learn about what motivated them. And they were such an intermarrying bunch, weren't they? A convention that I find a little too convenient. I agree with another review which said that he felt this book was written in a hurry. I'm am so surprised that so many other people have found this book to be a masterpiece when it is so shallow. I read this book between Vikram Seth's a Suitable Boy and Abib Khan Seasonal Adjustments in a particulary Asian period of reading, and Glass Palace paled into insignificance between these great novels. These books are the one's to read if you want to get a feel for Asia.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: The Glass Palace is a must-read for anyone with an interest in patterns of migration, communities in exile and the effects of colonization. Amitav Ghosh's work is so exhaustively reported, its details help create a level of intimacy between reader and character. My tears literally plopped on its pages. The book feels so historical in scope yet because it is so rooted in human experience, it is very hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: A great dissection of lives caught in colonialism
Review: I really enjoy Ghosh, and this book is engrossing, if not quite up to par with Antique Land (a hard act to follow). Particularly engaging is tracking the lives of people caught in turn-of-the-20th century colonialism, and exploring all the contradictions: the paradox that colonial subjects can and have capitalized off their very entrapment and wars(as Rajkumar does) and the dichotomy of two women, one freed by widowhood to become independent and political (Uma) and one always docile, maternal and dutiful (Dolly) and her fate. Also interesting is the imagery of a native, jungle landscape transformed to geometrical, western precision (the aligned, perfectly straight rubber tree farm cultivated in the jungles). A great epic love story, too.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: I could not put down this book. It has fascinating characters and introduces the reader to a trubulent time in South Asian history. Like many wartime novels, it provides a study in how characters are transformed by their world. As one published reviewer has said, it is the Dr. Zhivago of the East. Even if the end of the novel may seem rushed, the texture and depth of this book make this book the best book I have read this year.
Rating:
Summary: first taste of, ghosh -not what i expected
Review: i am one third of the way through "the glass palace" and am tempted to let the last third slip away without reading. if it weren't for the information on burmese history, of which i know nothing, i would have let it go completely. the novel is flat like uncorked champagne. one dimensional characters slide through a bland plot which rushes over decades like an oil spill. i have read other books on indian topics and found them so enthralling: vikram seth, naipaul, even john irving writing son of a circus. these characters were juicy and i found myself intrigued with their complexity. "the glass palace" was like diet ice cream. no substance.
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