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Bombay Ice: A Novel
by Leslie Forbes
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (1998-07)
ISBN: 0374115303
EAN: 9780374115302
Dewey Decimal #: 823.914
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 417 pages
Edition: First edition.
SKU: 01FB-070-7-0708
Condition: Fine
Comments: PAPERBACK ARC (ADVANCE READING COPY); FINE condition. May show MINIMAL shelfwear. *International Buyers Welcome!* (except for prohibitively heavy items, as noted) - Satisfied customers in over 40 countries! We ship quickly and guarantee satisfaction. Your purchase helps support a U. Chicago student
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
In Bombay, the brutal murder of a transvestite with links to "Bollywood" leads to events that eerily threaten two sisters, in this thrilling novel of alchemy, murder, and violent weather.
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Amazon.com Review
What happens when the glitzy world of moviemaking Bombay meets the gritty conventions of film noir? With luck, something like this dazzlingly ambitious novel from Canadian journalist Leslie Forbes. "I haven't seen the eunuch in almost four weeks. Ignore what I wrote you before. No need to come here and rescue me," Miranda Sharma writes her sister from Bombay, in a disconcertingly "schizophrenic" postcard that sends Rosalind Bengal across continents and deep into a world where nothing is what it seems. Part Scottish, part Indian, Roz is a crime journalist who can't help following a good lead when it appears, especially when her sister's welfare is at stake. Miranda recently married one of the Indian film industry's most prominent directors, Prosper Sharma, a man who's spent 20 years working on a movie version of The Tempest and who is rumored to have murdered his first wife. After her postcard, four hijra--eunuchs or transvestites--are found drowned in an eight week period, one of them with alleged connections to the film industry. Coincidence or not, Roz feels compelled to investigate. What follows is a most unusual thriller, and not just by virtue of its setting. Crackling with wordplay and allusion, and set against a city that resembles nothing so much as a stage set under construction, the hyper-literate Bombay Ice sports influences ranging from Shakespeare to Sunset Boulevard, chaos theory to Raymond Chandler. In between meditations on alchemy, entropy, and the science of weather, Forbes constructs an intricate story charged with all the tension of the coming monsoon. The result is never less than interesting, even when, as occasionally happens, the book's intellectual concerns threaten to overpower its plot.
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Customer Reviews
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Forget the story, enjoy the Bombay ride
Rating  (4)
Date: 2006-07-01
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was a debut novel for the Canadian journalist, Leslie Forbes. It is a story about Rosalind who comes to Bombay for many reasons. The primary one being in response to her sister Miranda's silent cry for help. However, soon the hijras arrive, the monsoon threatens and Bollywood beckons.
The book underplays the main storyline and instead architects a roller coaster ride through Mumbai. The author is so insightful about so many aspects of Indian life. Being from there I was completely able to identify with the sounds and smells evoked by her writing. Her use of allusions, at time confusing, is relevant to the overall plot. The picture she paints is so vivid that I hardly cared for the plot of the story and instead enjoyed the nuggets of information that are so casually inserted.
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exciting read
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-05-20
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found it to be an engaging and exciting read. The blend of the main character's relationships and the bollywood characters was fun and fascinating.
I think it is interesting that there seems to be a good deal readers who did not find the wonders some of us did in this book. I loved this book but found her other book horribly tedious and boring and could not finish it. But I reccomend this one to everyone I encounter, I loved it so much!
go figure.
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A huge disappointment.
Rating  (1)
Date: 2006-02-18
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I couldn't wait to get into this book, touted as good as "An Instance of the Fingerpost," but about India and the Monsoon--favorite subjects of mine. While I did actually finish the book, it was a huge disappointment. Characterization was one of the biggest problems--I didn't care about any of them, most especially the main character, Rosalind Benegal. The way she was portrayed actually CHANGED halfway through the book (where was the editor of this book?). The plot was impossible; and with thin characterization, this "thriller" was the complete opposite: boring. I can't believe I actually finished it.
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tedious, boring and full of factual errors
Rating (1)
Date: 2003-06-13
5 out of 8 customers found this reveiw helpful
The only reason I bought the book is because it is about two things I love - Bombay and the monsoon. Now I regret the waste of my time and my money. She recreates the city and the people in it from a tourist's eyes, rearranges the geography of the city to suit her purpose. Of course she misses the real Bombay completely. The author seems to have spent so much time developing the infuriatingly complex plot that she pays almost no attention to the characters. Some of them flit across the pages briefly and then completely disappear (whatever happened to Bada Johnny and Chota Johnny? who were they? where was Robi at the end? Sunila? Gulab?). The errors she makes when naming the characters should have been the first giveaway for me that her understanding of the place and its people is far too superficial. She turns a Sharma into a Parsi, and a Mistry into a Maharashtrian and gives many of them western first names which is more than a little unusual for india. Her depiction of the city is authentic only in tiny little vignettes spread through the novel, and even those would are more suited to a travel guide than to a novel.
If anyone is looking for an understanding of Bombay or India or Bollywood, this is not the place to find it. If you are looking for a good murder mystery, keep looking - this one makes very little sense. Her literary allusions just cloud the plot and leave the reader confused.
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A strong, but flawed, first novel
Rating (4)
Date: 2001-03-21
6 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
In her debut novel, Leslie Forbes' reach exceeds her grasp. Fortunately for the reader, in failing to achieve perfection, she has still surpassed the bulk of the new fiction on the market. "Bombay Ice" is a dizzying, sultry foray into the dark underside of Indian culture.The reader is pushed and pulled through a host of mind-bending circumstances and events as the heroine searches for her sister's murderer. In gritty detail, the reader is exposed to Bombay, and to a lesser degree, the rest of India through the eyes of someone who both loves and loathes the country. The downside with this novel is that Forbes tries to tackle too much in one book. "Bombay Ice" is alternately a look at the sociology of modern India, an examination of mental illness, and of course, ultimately, a murder mystery. All of these elements are executed well, to a point; but there is simply not enough time to flesh them out completely and keep the novel moving along. Ironically, this mish-mash of angles confuses the plot and ends up having the positive effect of masking the conclusion. Forbes is a writer of prodigous talent, and with a little polishing, she will undoubtably win raves in the future. In the meantime, "Bombay Ice" is a very strong effort, and a thoroughly enjoyable novel.
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