The plot has been quite intricately worked out ... But much of the prose is dead on arrival. I say this with regret ... The novel’s good bits – the energy with which it evokes Shoma’s meticulous intelligence; Ghosh’s rich attentiveness to food as metaphor and as marker of globalisation – are very good. The rest is – well, perhaps it’s appropriate to end with a cliche: your mileage may vary.
Ghosh has written with equal distinction in two genres – as a novelist and as a commentator on the climate emergency – and his supple new novel, Ghost-Eye, combines both to impressive effect.
Entrancingly mystical ... With swathes of history and science, humor under pressure, mysterious forces, and stunning revelations, Ghosh’s provocative tale cues us to the wonders of the planet and spurs us to protest the mad greed and malfeasance fueling the climate crisis.
Ghosh is as sure-footed as ever when providing historical context for the region ... His dialogue...undermines the urgency of the issues the novel seeks to engage ... Ghost-Eye ultimately illustrates the self-same problem Ghosh once identified: the difficulty of making climate change legible within the conventions of literary fiction.
