The Hungry Tide

The Hungry Tide

by Amitav Ghosh

HarperCollins $96

The Hungry Tide is one of those books that employ the vernacular to transport readers to another world. Set in the swampy archipelago of the Sundarbans, in West Bengal, it follows a research trip to the area by Seattle-based Piya, an Indian-American marine biologist keen to study the Irawaddy dolphin. Two men enter her life: Kanai, an urbane Bengali translator; and Fokir, a quiet local fisherman who takes her straight to the dolphins and wins her heart. As is typical for Ghosh, the story is interspersed with fascinating facts - in this case from cetology, ecology, history and more. He's also deft at building tension: the environment, where floods sink tracts of land and forests disappear with the rise of tides, is a foreboding presence whose fury reaches its climax in the closing pages. The foreignness of the subject and setting, in addition to Ghosh's narrative strengths, ensure the book will be noticed. One quibble, however, is his liberal use of Bengali, which requires translation. Better writers have found a way around such a method of authentication.