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| | The Far Pavilions |  | Author: M. M. Kaye
Publisher: St Martins Pr
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy Used: $0.66
You Save: $12.29 (95%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 394498
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 957
ISBN: 0312282591
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN: 9780312282592
ASIN: 0312282591
Publication Date: August 1978
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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Product Description
When The Far Pavilions was first published nineteen years ago, it moved the critic Edmund Fuller to write this: "Were Miss Kaye to produce no other book, The Far Pavilions might stand as a lasting accomplishment in a single work comparable to Margaret Mitchell's achievement in Gond With the Wind." From its beginning in the foothills of the towering Himalayas, M.M. Kaye's masterwork is a vast, rich and vibrant tapestry of love and war that ranks with the greatest panoramic sagas of modern fiction.The Far Pavilions is itself a Himalayan achievement, a book we hate to see come to an end. it is a passionate, triumphant story that excites us, fills us with joy, move us to tears, satisfies us deeply, and helps us remember just what it is we want most from a novel.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 78 more reviews...
The par pavilions July 31, 2008
This is my second time reading, Incredible touching lovestory with a historical backdrop.It is more relevant for me as it gives Indian point of view by a Europian I highly recomend this book Padmaja
One of the best HF ever written July 8, 2008
Follow the life and love of an orphan .. turned spy .. turned hero. Travel India and Afganistan with the back drop of the British Colonization of India.
This is one of the best Historical Fiction books ever written. A classic, must read. Don't expect to put this one down. Put aside a weekend or two - this is one book you'll want to read over and over again.
This was my introduction to historical fiction. M M Kaye brings India to life through her research and life experience. The detail is outstanding.
**Don't watch the movie. You'll be disappointed.
 Not just a good story - incredibly true to history July 5, 2008
Like a lot of other readers here, I read the book for the first time as a teenager, when the romance of the couple, the Raj, the Door Kahima and Rajasthan captured me. But at that age, to me it was a historical romance.
I had the opportunity to work and live in Afghanistan and got hooked on the history of the country, and then read the Far Pavilions again. It was then that I came to appreciate the nuances and authenticity of the detail of the Afghan war that are the latter part of the book.
A book that did stand the test of time from my teenage years to my adulthood - I'd recommend it to anyone.
This definitely stands the test of time June 15, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've found that often books I thought were fantastic when I was young have not stood the test of time when reread later. However, even though I've read and reread this book countless times over the years, each time it comes up trumps.
Set against a backdrop of India from the mutiny to the second Afghan War, this is a huge saga of the British Raj under Queen Victoria. It follows the lives of Ash, the son of British parents who is initially raised as a Hindu servant, and Anjuli, an Indian princess, from their childhood through their various emotionally charged meetings and partings.
M.M. Kaye obviously has a strong affinity with India, and it rings out through her wonderfully elegant and colourful descriptions of the landscape, customs and people. An added bonus is that she has obviously done a great deal of research into the history of the times, and many of the characters (such as Ash's friend Walter) and the events described are factual.
The Far Pavilions is a beautifully written novel and I thoroughly recommend it to those of you who (as I do) prefer your historical romances to be strongly rooted in history.
"That is the Truth, and You Must Face It..." January 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't read a lot of historical fiction, in fact the only other novel of that genre that immediately that comes to mind is Gone with the Wind, but I had heard only good things about this epic, the story of a young British boy who grows up in colonized India. Stretching over several decades and including many historical events (though with a few fictional locations) and a detailed portrayal of the culture and traditions of India, "The Far Pavilions" is certainly comparable to Margaret Mitchell's Civil War masterpiece.
Orphaned at a young age, Ashton Hilary Pelham-Martyn is born at the time of the Indian mutiny against the British Empire and the East India Company. As the son of an Englishman, six-year-old Ash is in terrible danger, and it is up to his Indian serving woman (who becomes his mother for all intents and purposes) to disguise his true nature, rename him Ashok, and raise him as an Indian. It would be wrong to give away too many of the wonderful twists and turns of this novel as Kaye recounts Ash's extraordinary life, but she manages to create a rich and vast experience without it ever seeming unrealistic or melodramatic. Although Ash's fortunes do hinge on a lucky turn of fate, he is very much the master of his own destiny, and the story itself never spirals into the realm of the silly (and I only say that because many historical-fiction-epics *do* tend to do this).
The story is quite episodic in form, with the events of Ash's life told in reasonably structured segments: his childhood, his time as a servant in a rajah's palace, his romantic youth, his great love story with Anjuli, and his time as a spy working at the time of the Afghanistan war. Naturally, some of these are more interesting than others: I loved reading about Ashok's time in the Indian court of the spoilt and pitiful Lalji, a young rajah who is surrounded by friends and foes - but has trouble differentiating between the two. It is here Ash befriends a young Indian princess named Anjuli who is an outcast in the court, despised by her stepmother and ignored by most of the court.
Years later, Ash and Anjuli are to cross paths again, but in the most impossible of circumstances: Anjuli, along with her little sister Shishula, are being sent as brides to a dangerous and loathsome rajah. As they attempt to keep their passion for one another secret, Ash desperately tries to find a way to help her escape from her arranged marriage, whilst Anjuli is torn between her love for Ash and her devotion to her little sister, whom she feels she cannot abandon to a loveless marriage. It's heartbreaking stuff, as these two lovers - who are obviously meant for one another - fight within themselves between their duty and their love for one another, in which you're not entirely sure what is the best course of action for them both. As in all epics, there are some sluggish parts and I must say that after the romance between Ash and Anjuli comes to its conclusion, the novel slows down a bit.
Since I've never studied Indian history or culture, I have no idea how accurate it all is - all I can say is that it certainly *seems* accurate. Kaye writes with a confidence and genuine interest in the historical workings of India during this time, and provides enough detail to bring India to life in the reader's mind. However, the real spirit of this novel lies in the rendering of the culture clash between two great countries, and within the protagonist himself. As an English boy who has been raised to believe he is Indian, and then returned to England to complete an English education (and returning to India as part of the military), he stands with one foot in both camps, empathizing with both, but belonging to neither.
This conceit provides a wonderful look into the inevitably tragic occupation of India by the British Empire, and the seemingly-impossible historical situation that this creates. On the one hand, only natural that the Empire would want to control India for the sake of Progress and Trading - and in the meanwhile, they did outlaw the terrible custom of the suttee (the burning of widows alive). On the other hand, it is absurd to suppose that any country or individual has the right to take over another country for the reason that they cannot be expected to run it properly themselves. In one of her best passages, Kaye has Ash wonder if his imperialist uncle would enjoy his household (which is full of corruption and tyranny in the servant's quarters) being taken over by an Indian man who could run it better than himself.
It is for this reason that Ash and Anjuli are perfect for one another, as Anjuli too is half-caste and so fated to belong nowhere. Throughout the story the couple make many friends from many different faiths, but in all cases in which they are shown kindness, there is also the sense that they are not given acceptance. Amongst Muslim friends, they are aware that they are considered infidels, among Hindu friends, they are aware that they cannot share the same food utensils, among British friends, there is the sense of social snobbery and bemusement. This sad sense of separation among the members of the human race permeate the entire book, and linger long after it's been finished.
It's a pretty hefty volume, but I definitely think it's worth the time it'll take to read it.
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