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Gun Island

A spellbinding, globe-trotting novel by the bestselling author of the Ibis trilogy
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Gun Island follows Deen Datta, a rare books dealer whose quiet life is transformed by a mysterious word and an unexpected journey. Traversing from India to Los Angeles and Venice, Deen encounters a cast of charactersβ€”including Piya, Tipu, Rafi, and Cintaβ€”whose stories intertwine Bengali legends with present-day realities. The novel explores themes of displacement, environmental change, and hope, as Deen reconciles his past beliefs with a rapidly changing world.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers of historical fiction who appreciate narratives blending myth, environmental themes, and contemporary issues. Those who enjoy richly layered stories with cultural depth and global perspectives will find this novel compelling.

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A spellbinding, globe-trotting novel by the bestselling author of the Ibis trilogy

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Bundook. Gun. A common word, but one which turns Deen Datta's world upside down.

A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey. This journey takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way.

There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen's eyes to the realities of growing up in today's world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help someone in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the missing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey which will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood, and about the world around him.

Gun Island is a beautifully realised novel which effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised for its sweeping style and linguistic skill, Gun Island is lauded as a bold exploration of current global crises through myth and history. Critics commend its rich interweaving of human connection and environmental urgency, with the Sunday Times calling it a 'reckoning with our environmental declension' and the Spectator highlighting its 'transformative power.' Annie Proulx and Neel Mukherjee acknowledge Amitav Ghosh as a masterful storyteller offering a profound and extraordinary reading experience.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781473686687

Publisher: John Murray Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 03 September 2020

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: John Murray Publishers Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 24.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 226g

Pages: 320

About the Author

Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta in 1956. He grew up in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. He studied at the universities of Delhi and Oxford and published the first of eight novels, The Circle of Reason in 1986. He currently divides his time between Calcutta, Goa and Brooklyn. The first novel in his Ibis trilogy, Sea of Poppies, was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize.

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