- written by someone who loves his city (of birth)
- not much of a "science fiction", more scientific thriller; fiction part was more akin to fantasy
- very, well-written; literary even
- well-researched domains: railways, computing, medicine, British Raj
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Not his best
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https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3288552.html

The Calcutta Chromosome is a fascinating book in which the research of Ronald Ross into malaria in 1898 turns out to have been something of a sham, in fact the outcome of manipulation by shadowy forces whose nature is only hinted at. The story is told in roughly three timelines: a near-future New York (probably roughly 2019), where an unassuming Egyptian with a friendly Siri-like AI is sucked into research on how and why a former colleague who was obsessed with Ross disappeared in 1995; the story from the former colleague's point of view, as he goes to Calcutta to get first-hand evidence on what Ross actually did; and the story from Ross's own point of view, which does not really explain all that much. The western versions of science and history are in conflict with Indian traditions, and subverted by the mysterious immortal character Behind It All; there is a memorable ghost train moment as well.

It's a really fun read - Murugan's obsession with Ross could have been weritten as tedious info-dumping, but Ghosh turns it into some very strong characterisation, and the other Indian characters of 1995, the poet Phulboni, the journalists Sonali and Urmila, and indeed Calcutta itself are vividly visualised. The ending is a bit of a let-down, in that the various plot strands are not really brought together and none of them is really resolved, though hints are left for the reader to draw their own conclusions. Still, I'm glad that the Clarke judges stepped outside the usual circles of genre fiction to recognise this. ( )

This is one of the earlier Amitav Ghosh novels, that I hadn't read yet. It was a fun, interesting yet complicated reading experience! Its complication lies mainly in the anti-chronological order of the story and partly in the concept of science & anti-science that I found a little difficult to understand, and which is probably why I am at a loss to explain the end!

Basically the story is set in 3 time zones.
1) The future. Antar works from his New York home. His advanced computer, Ava, collects and describes objects from the company archives. Ava stumbles upon part of an identity card, that Antar finds out belongs to his former colleague Murugan, who disappeared in Calcutta in 1995. Antar remembers Murugan as an odd man, who was completely obsessed by Ronald Ross, the person who discovered the malaria parasite. Yet still, he is intrigued about what happened to Murugan back in 1995, and starts researching.
2) 1995. Murugan has just arrived in Calcutta. His path crosses that of 2 journalists, Urmila and Sonali. The threesome keep on stumbling upon tiny pieces of information about Ronald Ross, and his malaria research. This confirms Murugans suspicions that Ross got to his breakthrough discoveries because he was pushed that way by a mystic group of Indians, who were actually after another discovery themselves: isolation of the Calcutta chromosome.
3) The end of the 19th century. The British occupy India, and British scientists work on malaria research. But in the background a complot is taking place. Scientists disappear and others are manipulated by a group of seemingly uneducated Indians.
And then there is the story of the author Phulboni, who gets stuck on a desolate railway station, amidst a flood and is almost killed by a spirit train in the middle of the night. A very creepy scene!

In reviews I have read that the Calcutta chromosome makes it possible to live forever, by transforming in or taking over another body. And that certain of the 1995 characters are actually reincarnations of the 1890's characters. Interesting interpretation. It reminded me of a couple of David Mitchells books, especially Ghostwritten. At the same time I feel that Amitav Ghosh leaves a lot unsaid and open to interpretation of the reader. And that there may be some Indian mythology behind this that I don't know about. I am a little flabbergasted by the ending. Food for thought! ( )

A bit of an abrupt ending, but interesting and mostly very readable. ( )