Heat and Dust

De: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Narrado por: Julie Christie

In 1923 the beautiful, spoiled, and bored Olivia, married to Douglas and his career in the Indian Civil Service, outrages the English and Indian communities by eloping with an Indian prince. Fifty years later, Douglas’s granddaughter, armed with Olivia’s letters, goes back to the heat and dust and squalor of the bazaars to find out for herself how Olivia could have been so affected by India that she turned her back on her own country.

©1975 Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

History repeats itself

There were two stories in one but neither one was really that interesting. The repeated toing and frowing between the story of the narrators grandmother's life in India and her own travels tracing her grandmother's life was not well handled - I'm not sure if it was the narrators fault, the directors fault or the author's fault - it jarred and I was left disappointed. I'm glad I gave it a go but it was not what I wanted, expected or hoped for. It was rather an anticlimax to what has been a most interesting delve into Indian history and literature. I felt compelled to move on after this book.

An interesting Story

What did you like best about Heat and Dust? What did you like least?

I liked the 1930's part a lot. The "contemporary parallel" was awkward and unnecessary.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The characters were vivid and well drawn. Their "interior" life and motivations were not well done.

What does Julie Christie bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She does a great job reading it.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Short, Rich Novel

Julie Christie, an actress I've always loved, does a great job narrating this novel. She gives the characters distinctive voices and accents and does it in a dignified way. The novel is very economical, and Christie gets in all of the nuances while keeping the pace brisk. (She also starred in a 1980's screen adaptation.)

The novel, which won a Booker Prize, is about the unnamed narrator going to India in the 1970's to research the life of her grandfather's mysterious first wife who, in the 1920's, ran off from her English husband to be with an Indian prince. Jhabvala is very subtle and concise in the way she writes about her characters and their choices. The two time frames have a lot to say about British colonization, hippie appropriation, and--mainly--the ways women's options have changed. There are beautiful and atmospheric passages, but the central conflict will be familiar to readers of Forster, Paul Scott, and others. The ending felt a little abrupt to me, and the main character in each time frame remained somewhat elusive. Even so, I was happy I listened and will look for more of the author's novels.