What the Christ.
I'm sorry, I just don't understand this book or the hype surrounding it.

The whole first part was a slog, with really boring writing punctuated by all-too-brief interesting scenes. The narrator's voice is interesting for maybe the first chapter (coincidentally, the sample I read on the New York Times' website) but quickly sours.

I made it all the way through the first part, willing the book to get better, but I couldn't make it past

Spoiler

the casual way Ghosh recalls raping his maid....twice.

It seemed fairly clear, by that point, from the way other characters' internal monologues think about the women in this book, that this attitude wasn't particular to just that character. Gross.