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| Author | Amitav Ghosh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | 2005 |
| Publication place | India |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 0-00-714178-5 |
| OCLC | 59204287 |
The Hungry Tide (2004) is the fourthnovel byIndian author,Amitav Ghosh. Set in theSundarbans, it follows an unlikely trio who travel up river together to find the rareIrrawaddy dolphin. It won the 2004Hutch Crossword Book Award for Fiction.
Off the easternmost coast of India, in theBay of Bengal, lies the immense labyrinth of tiny islands known as theSundarbans. For settlers here, life is precarious: attacks bydeadly tigers are common, and the threat of eviction and consequent social unrest is ever present. Without warning, at any time,tidal floods rise and surge over the land, leaving devastation in their wake. In this place of vengeful beauty, the lives of three people from different worldscollide.
The main character, Piyali Roy, is a youngmarine biologist of Bengali-Indian descent but identifying as stubbornly American. Raised inSeattle, she studies at theScripps Institute of Oceanography inLa Jolla. She travels to the Sundarbans in search of a rare endangeredriver dolphin,Orcaella brevirostris. She meets Kanai Dutt, a translator and businessman, on theKolkata Suburban Railway heading towardsPort Canning, on her way to the Sundarbans. Upon her arrival, she hires a boat to look for the dolphins, but her journey begins with a disaster, when she is thrown from a boat intocrocodile-infested waters. Rescue comes in the form of an illiterate young fisherman, Fokir. Although they have no language between them, Piya and Fokir are powerfully drawn to each other, sharing an uncanny instinct for the ways of the sea. Piya engages Fokir to help with her research and finds a translator in Kanai, whose idealistic aunt and uncle are longtime settlers in the Sundarbans. As the three of them explore the tidal backwaters, they are drawn unaware into the hidden undercurrents of this isolated world, where political turmoil exacts a personal toll that is every bit as powerful as the ravaging tide.
TheMorichjhanpi massacre of 1978–79, when the government of West Bengal forcibly evicted thousands of Bengali refugees who had settled on the island, forms a background for some parts of the novel. The novel explores topics such ashumanism andenvironmentalism, especially when they come into conflict.
Alfred Hickling gave the book a mixed review inThe Guardian, saying describing it as "aConradian expedition, and aForster ish collision between western assumptions and Indian reality, which throws in someIndiana Jones-style encounters with tigers and crocodiles" and concluded "Like the elusive appearances of the river dolphins, the pattern of the novel can occasionally seem erratic, but vigilance is rewarded."[1] InThe Independent, Krishna Dutta compared the book toManik Banerjee'sThe Boatman of Padma andSamaresh Basu'sGanga, but was mixed on Ghosh's attempts to convey Indian cultural and linguistic references to a broad audience.[2]
The novel won the 2004Crossword Book Prize and was among the final nominees for the 2006Kiriyama Prize.[3] Saswat S. Das discussed the book as exploring themes of "home" and "homelessness" in a 2006 article inIndian Literature.[4] The book's title was referenced in a 2016 scientific article aboutclimate change in Bangladesh inClimate Change Economics.[5]