The Strangler Vine: A Novel. M. J. Carter. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. March 2015.
384 pp. ISBN#: 9780399171673.
India in 1837 is a very frightening place. William
Avery is an intelligent person but uses his brains to gamble and drink too
much. The result? He’s seriously in debt
and in no position to turn down any command he is ordered to obey in his
position as a soldier working for the East India Company. The natives are dependent on the British for
jobs but it is very clear they are not bonding very well. Avery’s possessions are gradually being
stolen and his friend Frank who seems so calm, collected and focused is about
to experience a disaster. Avery cannot
believe what he hears about Frank later on because Frank seemed so perfect.
The
writings of Xavier Mountstuart on India had so entranced Avery that he decided
to serve in India but the writings and the reality don’t quite match. Now Mountstuart seems to have gone “native,”
meaning he’s living like an Indian and causing trouble wherever he
appears. It’s Avery’s job to serve
Jeremiah Blake, who is a secret political agent supposedly retired, in their
quest to find Mountstuart. India is
described on this journey in all of its ugliness and enchanting beauty. The weather is described as fairly
intolerable as it’s excruciatingly hot and rainy since it’s the monsoon
season. I couldn’t help thinking I was
reading descriptions that vie Joseph Conrad’s writing – that dark, mysterious
atmosphere that seems to pass from dangerous, life-threatening trails to
momentary periods of relative safety but in which one cannot relax for fear of
the unknown suddenly appearing to end life.
The
characters are mysterious as well.
Jeremiah has gone native in more ways than one as he knows the terrain
through which they travel and after some definitely antagonistic skirmishes
with Avery he actually comes to like Avery.
For Avery is really not stupid but more like a bumbling fool, who seems
to get into every possible danger on the trip up north. Avery finally learns to let go of his
“British arrogance” stance with Jeremiah and trust him. They gradually become friends.
Readers
will meet a group of natives called Thugs who kill for ritual sacrifice
purposes. We are told they will not kill any British person because they are an
unworthy and disgusting bunch and not worthy of their sacred rites. Who are they really and are they a threat to
Avery and Jeremiah? The reader will not
be able to put this down because it’s so riveting in unique ways.
M.
J. Carter is a master writer who knows how to populate a story with unusual
characters, an unpredictable fierce plot, and enough indirect and ironic satire
to condemn the entire East India Company although the reader isn’t sure about
that until well into the complex plot.
Fine,
fine novel that is highly recommended historical fiction! It would make quite a unique movie!
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