The Calcutta Chromosome.
Aug. 9th, 2010 19:06![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starladyGhosh, Amitav. The Calcutta Chromosome. New York: Random House, 1995.
I wrote a paper on the influenza pandemic of 1918 in high school, as well as a paper on Clara Maas and the discovery of an effective yellow fever treatment (she was from New Jersey!) in elementary school, and ever since then I've had a sideline interest in epidemiology. (in point of fact I should have written that high school paper on the 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic, but that's another story; you should read Laurie Halse Anderson's book Fever 1793 if you're curious). Thus, this book sounded pretty cool to me, and all in all it didn't disappoint.
The Calcutta Chromosome is a thriller following three semi-separate protagonists simultaneously: Antar, an Egyptian-born non-profit staff member in New York in the early years of the 21st century, who is looking into the disappearance of his former colleague L. Murugan, the world's foremost expert on Sir Ronald Ross and the discovery of the malaria parasite, in Calcutta in 1995; Murugan, who is looking into the details of Ross's research in Calcutta in 1995; and Urmila Roy, a Calcutta journalist whose reporting converges with Murugan's research and with Murugan himself.
As you might guess even from this brief summary, all three storylines converge by the end, and at separate points I was reminded both of Charles Dickens, for the complex web of coincidences and connections that conjoins the characters, and of Dan Brown, for the suspenseful writing style and some plot elements. But Ghosh is a better writer than Brown, and ultimately I enjoyed the book for its own considerable merits, particularly for its featuring chromatic characters in virtually every role, even in New York City. I could have done with a bit more at the end--more explanation, more demonstration of what secrets were revealed--but it was quite good, and a quick read. And then I opened Newsweek at breakfast and saw this story about the malaria parasite, and was reminded forcibly of the book's central premise: prescient? Scary.
Ghosh has written lots more books, which makes me happy.
I wrote a paper on the influenza pandemic of 1918 in high school, as well as a paper on Clara Maas and the discovery of an effective yellow fever treatment (she was from New Jersey!) in elementary school, and ever since then I've had a sideline interest in epidemiology. (in point of fact I should have written that high school paper on the 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic, but that's another story; you should read Laurie Halse Anderson's book Fever 1793 if you're curious). Thus, this book sounded pretty cool to me, and all in all it didn't disappoint.
The Calcutta Chromosome is a thriller following three semi-separate protagonists simultaneously: Antar, an Egyptian-born non-profit staff member in New York in the early years of the 21st century, who is looking into the disappearance of his former colleague L. Murugan, the world's foremost expert on Sir Ronald Ross and the discovery of the malaria parasite, in Calcutta in 1995; Murugan, who is looking into the details of Ross's research in Calcutta in 1995; and Urmila Roy, a Calcutta journalist whose reporting converges with Murugan's research and with Murugan himself.
As you might guess even from this brief summary, all three storylines converge by the end, and at separate points I was reminded both of Charles Dickens, for the complex web of coincidences and connections that conjoins the characters, and of Dan Brown, for the suspenseful writing style and some plot elements. But Ghosh is a better writer than Brown, and ultimately I enjoyed the book for its own considerable merits, particularly for its featuring chromatic characters in virtually every role, even in New York City. I could have done with a bit more at the end--more explanation, more demonstration of what secrets were revealed--but it was quite good, and a quick read. And then I opened Newsweek at breakfast and saw this story about the malaria parasite, and was reminded forcibly of the book's central premise: prescient? Scary.
Ghosh has written lots more books, which makes me happy.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-10 02:22 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-11 13:44 (UTC)And yes on the epidemiology. There's also a side order of epistemology, which I liked too.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-13 04:56 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-10 11:01 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-11 13:42 (UTC)