Beneath a Marble Sky -- Whatever, John Shor

So back around Christmas clearance time, I picked up a book on the discount rack at Books a Million. A $4 book is rarely a bad investment, especially when the subject matter seems interesting. And yet, I feel I was ripped off. Just goes to show you that while I wanted to put it on the book swap anyway, I probably shouldn't have bothered to read it first.

So the book in question was called Beneath A Marble Sky, written by John Shor. It is a historical fiction novel about the building of the Taj Mahal. The main character is Shah Jahan's eldest daughter, Janahara. The reader receives glimpses into her parents' love life, the life in the court in Agra at that time, and the extensive project that became the Taj Mahal after the main character's mother's death.

As I have little expertise in the history of the place and period (sixteenth century Hindustan), I can only say that the story is pretty pure fiction. With the exception of very well-known historical events, I can find no evidence in my (limited) research to support most of the story. The main character is well drawn, especially for a man writing from a female perspective. Many of the other characters are too stereotypical -- Shah Jahan is always a loving and understanding man, her brothers are either endlessly loving or hating (depending on which one she talks about) and her mother is the wisest person in the world. Yet her two wise and loving parents manage to marry her off to a man who seems to be the most cruel and disgusting guy in Agra. (According to other sources, Jahanara never married.)

The book suffers from a myriad of problems: absolute characters, troublesome tripping over facts, and a lack of plausibility. The few things that I found interesting about court life in Agra were tainted by the idea that perhaps this writer didn't do any research aside from perhaps visiting the places in question. I was especially annoyed at how this Princess of Agra managed to travel to Goa and have no language barrier problem as she dined in a fisherman's hut on the coast.

Altogether, the whole setup is ridiculous. Early on, we are given to understand that Jahanara is telling her granddaughters the story of the building of the Taj Mahal, etc. The idea being so they will know their heritage and that their baby brother may one day be able to ascend to a noble position. Yet, the setup goes nowhere. In the end, there is no resolution. It leaves the reader quite unsatisfied, but relieved that the author didn't see fit to mess with history to the expected extent.

So not a book I would recommend to someone looking for a truthful story about North Indian history at the time of the Taj Mahal's building. I will give the author credit for his descriptions of the mauseleum and the Agra Fort. That at least proved somewhat truthful.

Book Review: Object of Virtue by Nicolas B. A. Nicholson

The mystery of a Faberge masterpiece set in New York, Moscow, Paris, and St. Petersburg. What could be more intriguing? It's easy for my friends and family to see why I picked up this book.

The book is Nicholas Nicholson's first, but he writes what he knows. He is an expert in Russian history and art and has worked for famous New York auction houses, much like his noble main character, Prince Alexander "Sasha" Ozerovsky. The novel begins in the fast-paced world of a New York auction house, where a fabulous, but previously unknown, Faberge figurine will be offered for sale. We find out that the piece once belonged to Ozerovsky's family, and so our hero goes in search of where the piece has been all these years. The journey takes us through multiple destinations and across many decades.

The author does not keep us always in the present time, but tells the story mainly in Sasha's point of view. The additions of scenes from the distant and not-so-distant past from the points of view of other characters added flavor and context to the mystery. The author is obviously in love with all of his destinations as he dwells on scenes about the towns. He also takes care to illustrate the contrast from the lives of the Russian nobility in exile in America with those of the New Russians of Moscow and the common people in St. Petersburg. His descriptions of the Faberge pieces often made me wish the book was illustrated.

Though the pace and plot are very full at the beginning, the author loses his way in the details in the third act. While hunting down the truth about Snegerochka -- the figurine in question -- Sasha and his creator get bogged down in descriptions of the Moscow scene rather than moving the story along. There are odd loose ends that never really go anywhere, but aren't filled out enough to be real red herrings. The ending is hurried and rather disappointing, leading the reader to wonder how we ever got so far.

Oh, and don't go into this book thinking you're going to get the typical mystery's quiet sideline romance either. All of the ladies in this book are either married or one of Sasha's cousins.

All-in-all, I enjoyed the book for the historical perspective, the social aspects of being an exiled person of nobility who is both Russian and American, and the long descriptions of Russian locales that I have visited myself. The plot itself was kind of weak and the ending was a major disappointment. Not something I would reread, but I might pick up something else by this author, if he wrote another. Decent for a fluffy book you don't plan to think about much.