Anandmath

On the face of it, Anandamath (by the Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, anglicized as Chatterjee) is an intriguing story and setting, that sounds like it has great potential. It’s the 1770s in Bengal, during the great famine which seized the country during the early years of British control, that wiped out up to 10 million people. A husband, wife, and their daughter flee their village, on a path of the gods speaking to them and of bandits, joining rebels and fighting against British and Muslim tyranny in Bengal. Unfortunately, it is let down by a host of deficiencies and has no real spark or brilliance and instead comes off as a thoroughly mediocre book.