Review of River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh

Many fans of the film Raiders of the Lost Ark were disappointed with the sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  The second film just did not live up to the quality of entertainment that had been established by the first film.  Sadly, this same pattern also fits Amitav Ghosh’s second book in the Ibis trilogy, River of Smoke.  Where Sea of Poppies was fast-paced, interesting, and entertaining, River of Smoke falls short of that mark.  Several factors contribute to the failure of River of Smoke to live up to expectations, including characters that are sluggish and inactive, the inclusion of many real-life historical figures, and far too much descriptive narrative.

Readers seeking to know more about the continuing adventures of the characters from Sea of Poppies, like Deeti, Jodu, Ah Fatt, and Zachery , will be disappointed not to learn more about their fates.  While several make minor appearances in River of Smoke, the story line generally follows the life of Ah Fatt’s father, Bahram.  While readers learn of Bahram’s early life through flashbacks, once those flashbacks are complete, the character becomes lifeless and one-dimensional.  He floats along with the decisions of others, his place in the story being told only through his emotions and some very vivid descriptions of the food he eats.  The character of Paulette loses the agency and exuberance that were hers in Sea of Poppies, her only place in River of Smoke seeming to be as a vehicle for the author’s lessons on the exchange of flora amongst the nations of the world and China.  Zadrig Karabedian begins the book as an active character, only to fall into victim to a second-rate role as told through the letters of Robin Chinnery.  As for Chinnery himself, he is mainly seen through his interminable letters, the content of which appears solely designed to “tell” rather than “show” activity.  The tone of Chinnery’s letters is so ridiculously fey as to set a reader’s teeth on edge.  His commentary may befit a book written for teenage girls, but it is out of place and jarring in a work from author Amitav Ghosh.



Canton with the Thirteen Factories



The characters that do exhibit agency and drive are those taken from real life.  In River of Smoke, there were many historical figures included in the story, including George Chinnery (painter), William Jardine (merchant), Lancelot Dent (merchant), John Slade (editor of the Canton Register), Charles W. King (merchant), William Wetmore (merchant), James Innes (troublemaker), Samuel  Fearon (translator), and more.  It is through these characters that we see the build-up to the First Opium War, the thinking that led the siege of Fanqui-Town (the Thirteen Factories). 

This use of historical figures is not uncommon in works of historical fiction.  It does, however, come with risks.  Staying reasonably close to an historical figure’s actual character, words, and actions requires a great deal of research, and it appears from his sources that Ghosh has done this admirably.  The only suggestion that might be made to Ghosh is to take the example from other authors, such as Sharon Kay Penman, who also write historical fiction using true-life figures.  Ms. Penman is careful in her afterward to provide information on just who was real and who was not in her work, and she also confesses to any literary license she may have employed when telling her story.  While Ghosh provides wonderful information on his source material, he does not distinguish for the reader the characters who really lived and those who lived only in his imagination.  As some of the historical figures in River of Smoke are somewhat obscure (to those not intimately familiar with nineteenth trade in China), this would have been a great help to the reader.



In the book, the character of
Paulette pursues the elusive
Golden Camellia



Unfortunately, there is one historical figure who stands out as completely foreign to the entire plot of the book—Napoleon Bonaparte.   The author uses a visit by Bahram and Karabedian to Bonaparte in exile only as a means of providing the reader with a great deal of information on the establishment of, and life in, Canton during this period.  This use of Napoleon Bonaparte exemplifies another flaw prominent in River of Smoke—the overabundance of descriptive narrative.  One of the features that made Sea of Poppies such an enjoyable read was the near seamless way in which the author wove historical fact with fictional action.  It was through the characters themselves that readers could learn more about the history of the opium trade in India, the technology of sailing, etc.  Sadly, in River of Smoke, Ghosh relies heavily on description rather than action to give the kind of background historical information that readers of historical fiction generally enjoy.  For example, much of the information on the exchange of flora around the world is conveyed through Chinnery’s letters, while the background of Canton is explained in the discussion with Napoleon Bonaparte.  At several points, the author completely disregards both action and character, launching into pure descriptive narrative that could have found a suitable home in a textbook on world history.



William Jardine is one of
the many historical
figures included in
River of Smoke



All the above does not detract from the valuable information contained within the pages of River of Smoke.  Readers of world history will recognize facets of the Columbian Exchange (flora exchange) and The Plantation Complex (the “drug” commodities).  Perhaps the most interesting connection with world history comes from Ghosh’s description of the route taken by Lin Tse-hsu on his journey from Beijing to Canton.  Along the way, Lin is described as stopping to meet with intellectuals and academicians who are considered experts on foreign peoples.  These experts have determined, among other things, that Europeans cannot live without rhubarb.  This fact that the Chinese compiled a body of information on Europeans is a mirror reflection of what James Hevia wrote in English Lessons about the information gathered by the British on the Chinese people.  Sadly, neither nation knew the other very well.

It is true that River of Smoke did not live up to the promise of Sea of Poppies any more than Temple of Doom lived up to Raiders of the Lost Ark.  All is not lost, however.  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade may have been the best of the series of Indiana Jones movies.  This gives one hope that the third book in the Ibis trilogy will recapture the glory of Sea of Poppies, teaching as it entertains.