The Strangler Vine - December CC Book Club Selection

[ignatius]

@Mary13 quoted:

Sleeman became the earliest discoverer of dinosaur fossils in Asia when in 1828, serving as a Captain in the Narmada valley region, he noticed several basaltic formations which he identified as having been “raised above the waters”. By digging around in the Bara Simla Hills, part of the Lameta formation near Jabalpur, he unearthed several petrified trees, as well as some fragmentary dinosaur fossil specimens.

Blake and Sleeman discuss the fossils in the book on p.113:

Blake wandered over to the table on which various rocks were arranged. He began to talk about the rocks, identifying each one.

“And these are ammonites, if I am not mistaken. I have only ever seen them in books. I had no idea that fossils had been found in Hind.”

The Major seemed both surprised and pleased. “I believe I am the first man to have identified fossils in India,” he said. He said he’d found other similar things a few miles outside Jubbulpore, including the bones of an enormous beast, like the skeletons of the giant reptiles they had discovered in England. Dinosauria, he said they were called. I wondered slightly if I was hallucinating.

“See, Avery,” said Blake. He opened his palm to reveal a shiny black stone on which was etched what looked like the carved relief of a very large snail. This is the petrified remains of an ancient sea creature, but we’re thousands of miles from the sea."

[Mary13]

@VeryHappy, thanks for the link to the exhibition about the quilts. They are quite beautiful!

(And Blake was a man of hidden talents. I bet he could quilt circles around Avery.)

If anyone needs a brush-up on the British East India Company (I did), this is a nice summary: http://www.historyextra.com/article/bbc-history-magazine/east-india-company-how-trading-corporation-became-imperial-ruler-taboo

@ignatius, I completely forgot about the fossil conversation (one of the hazards of reading so early). The conversation probably didn’t stick because, at the time, it would have been meaningless to me. I bet this book would be a lot of fun for someone well-versed in British-India history. (I enjoyed it very much, but I know I’m missing the nuances.)

[mathmom]

That quilt show is fabulous. I’ve been meaning to get myself there forever.

I noticed the fossil conversation for two reasons. Mostly because one of my favorite British authors - Penelope Lively - is obsessed with ammonites. They are part of major and minor plot points in many of her books. They also came up in The Essex Serpent.

[VeryHappy]

@mathmom: You should go! It’s by Lincoln Center, it’s free, and they have a wonderful museum store!

[ignatius]

@mathmom - I was reminded of The Essex Serpent also when ammonites/fossils were discussed.

And did others notice the mentions of Montaigne: Montaigne makes an appearance - well, mention of his writings do - in the last three books we read: A Gentleman in Moscow, The Essex Serpent, The Strangler Vine.

[Mary13]

^ I did notice! Pretty amazing considering how different all three books are.

[mathmom]

And Montaigne in particular, is one of those authors I always meant to read - since the year I lived in France - 1974! - and still never have.

[Mary13]

I enjoyed Blake’s interaction with Mrs. Parkes (p. 203). She, too, is real: http://madrascourier.com/biography/fanny-parkes-the-welsh-adventurer-in-colonial-india/

Fanny Parkes was an early feminist. As with Sleeman, it’s fun to re-read the description in the novel after learning the history. I like this quote from Emily Eden’s journal:

We are rather oppressed just now by a lady, Mrs. Parkes, who insists on belonging to our camp. She has a husband who always goes mad in the cold season, so she says it is her duty to herself to leave him and travel about. She has been a beauty and has remains of it, and is abundantly fat and lively. At Benares, where we fell in with her she informed us she was an Independent Woman.

[ignatius]

^ I thought the inclusion of Sleeman and Fanny Parkes was smoothly done. I sometimes get annoyed with historical fiction when historical figures are dropped into the narrative with an obvious thump.

Also I knew nothing of Thuggee so found that interesting. I found this link of Thuggee drawn for newspapers and periodicals of the times.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1700_1799/companyrule/thuggee/thuggee.html

[Mary13]

^ Cool! But also…gross. “Thugs Strangling a Traveller” is an exceptionally creepy kind of art.

[mathmom]

Apparantly the Montstuart character was based on Philip Meadows Taylor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_a_Thug_(novel) The entire book is free on google books, but it looks like a slog!

[Mary13]

And yet it was a bestseller in 19th century Britain. We can just wait for the movie to come out:

A Bollywood film is being made based on this novel, entitled Thugs of Hindostan. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh in lead roles, and is being directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya…Filming began in Malta in June 2017 and the film is scheduled to release during Diwali 2018. Confessions of a Thug (novel) - Wikipedia

Fortunately for Philip Meadows Taylor, he met a more peaceful end than Mountstuart.

[Mary13]

4. What is the significance of the title?

Here’s a photo of a strangler vine (aka strangler fig): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan#/media/File%3AStrangler_fig_kerala.jpg

The strangler fig sentences its host tree to a nearly certain death. But that death is usually a long and excruciating process for the host. The strangler fig slowly curls its way around the host, and consumes all of the resources available. In time, the host will become a shadow of itself and eventually die.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/long-strangler-fig-kill-tree-65088.html

I can only see this as a metaphor for British rule over India.

Here’s a review of a recent book on the subject, Inglorious Empire:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/inglorious-empire-what-the-british-did-to-india-1.2981299

From the review:

Britain’s exploitative, racist imperial project in India was awesome in its savagery and vindictiveness, what Tharoor calls a “long and shameless record of rapacity”.
…
Under British rule India’s share of world manufacturing exports fell from 27 per cent to 2 per cent as East India employees made colossal fortunes. The marquess of Salisbury, secretary of state for India in the 1870s, remarked that “India is to be bled”, and by the end of the 19th century it was Britain’s biggest source of revenue.

Jeremiah Blake clearly saw the British East India Company as a “racist imperial project.” Avery did not, at least at the start. By the end, his eyes were beginning to open.

(@mathmom, do the sequels take place in India or is each new Blake & Avery adventure set in a different location?)

[Caraid]

@Mary13

I can only see this as a metaphor for British rule over India.

Definitely! This metaphor is perfect.
It is also interesting that the Thuggees strangled their victims with a scarf. A different type of strangler vine.

[Mary13]

^ Ah, good point!

[mathmom]

The next two are set in London. You get more of Blake’s backstory. She also slips at least a few real characters into the next book as well. I’d assumed they were fictional until I read the historical note.

Writing as Miranda Carter - she wrote a biography of the spy Anthony Blunt and a history of the three heads of state leading up to WW1.

I agree that the strangler vine is mostly a metaphor for the British rule of India. They made use of a lot of what was already there - local princes, putting more importance not less on the caste system etc.

I was particularly struck by how people were starving because the British were making them grow opium instead of food. How nuts was that?

[ignatius]

I gain knowledge from every book we read. For The Strangler Vine I’ll remember the strangler vine as actual plant and as metaphor of British rule and, of course, I’ll remember Thuggee. The word ‘thug’ will forever more make me think of a CC Book Club book. (Hmm, what was its title? Oh, yes, The Strangler Vine. 8-| )

http://mj-carter.com/extras/confessions-of-indias-real-life-thugs

An interview with M. J. Carter that’s worth listening to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03s6pjs

I like the relationship that grows between Avery and Blake. Avery’s naïveté doesn’t bother me since I don’t picture him as more than a boy - at most age 20. Others even referred to him as ‘boy’ much to his displeasure. Avery had little life experience between home and India and the India he thought he’d find was a romanticized one. I pictured Blake as in his 30s with plenty of life experience.

[Mary13]

I think Blake teaches Avery to be a little tougher, and Avery teaches Blake to be a little more gentle. I noticed that during times when Avery was at his lowest, physically and mentally, Blake called him “William.” A small thing, but somehow touching.

@ignatius, thanks for the Miranda Carter interview. (It’s only about 7 minutes, so for those who haven’t listened, no need to worry about setting aside a block of time to do so.) Carter said that one of her influences in writing the Xavier Mountstuart character was Richard Francis Burton (the adventurer, not the actor). I can see the similarities: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton

[Mary13]

A 2014 Q&A with Miranda Carter: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/26/mj-carter-brilliant-make-stuff-up

What kind of characters are you drawn to?

I wanted to create a character who was quite reticent and cool because I’m not, my instincts are always to blab and blurt. I like that in a character, to have all that subtext, I think that’s the most interesting to read. The hardboiled loner with the wound, I do very much like that, especially in a detective. They have to be an outsider and fallible but not too morally compromised.

She doesn’t name him, but obviously she created Jeremiah Blake in that mold.

Also, LOL:

I’m constantly pretending to my book group that I’ve read the books so I look like a know-all, when often I just go on Wikipedia and look up the plot. The last one I did that with was Canada by Richard Ford. I also pretended I read The Slap though I actually just read the reviews and formed an opinion.

If anybody wants to 'fess up, now’s the time.

[VeryHappy]

Are you kidding me? When I read a book for this group I sometimes read it twice. There’s no way I want to be unprepared, even though we’re virtual. I take my reading very seriously. In fact, that’s what I like about this group – the accountability.