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Heat and Dust. Mit Materialien (New Longman Literature)

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This is an enjoyable novel that can be read in a few hours. Olivia, the Nawab, Harry and everyone else were believable. The picnic scene w/ musical chairs (lots of unresolved tension) was delicious. I loved it & highly recommend all of Ms. Jhabvala's other novels :)

The best novel I have ever read depicting an Indian Story Line. Though the author is not considered an Indian, she displays her thoughts in a classical but respectful way....

As a sensitive individual with an adventurous and even rebellious spirit, I found kindred souls in both of the main characters of the two stories in this one novel. I was deeply impressed because even though I can't imagine going to India, I can very well imagine being in either of these people's situations: caught up in very human circumstances and uncontrollably taking steps to get yourself further caught up. You don't have to be interested in India (much less in heat or dust) to be absorbed in this beautifully, even excquisitely, rendered story.

"Heat and Dust" rarely evoked the images of either of these two things for me.... Perhaps it was such a richly human novel concentrating most centrally on the feelings of women and their problems at two different moments in Indian history that I was more caught up in the drama of its characters than in the Indian landscape. Heat and Dust is not a dry novel. I think that one of the most interesting aspects of the novel is the shared story between Olivia, the young woman from the 1920's, and the unnamed young woman of the 1970's who is the granddaughter of Olivia's British husband. The parallels between their lives are beautifully set aside one another, while at the same time, using the two women as a guide, we can see how India and the lives of women around the world have changed in the short span of fifty years. It is interesting to note how Ruth Prawer Jhabwala manages to show this huge contrast using the lives of two white English women as her instrument. If you are looking for a complex saga, this is not your type of novel, because "Heat and Dust" is quite simple and straightforward, but I think it is an interesting pair of stories for both women and men who are interested in India and interested in how choices can affect our lives. It is mind-boggling for me to think how different two women's lives can be due to the simple fact that their dates of birth are a few decades apart, but in "Heat and Dust" we can see that this seemingly simple factor changed the courses of millions of lives, while for others the years change little or nothing at all. Enjoy reading!

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Major Minnies, one of the main characters in Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's novel "Heat and Dust", says that "India always finds out the weak spot and presses on it". Later in the plot, the reader finds out that this statement does not only apply to Olivia, who follows her husband Douglas to India in 1923, but also to her stepgranddaughter Anne who travels to India in the 1970's.

After having arrived in India, Olivia feels uncomfortable and excluded from everyday life, because she neither fits into Indian society, nor into those of the other British ladies there. Her husband Douglas, who only gets to see her in the evening due to his work, cannot fully understand her sorrow and tries to calm her. Olivia's attitude towards this foreign country changes after having met the Nawab, a charming Indian prince, at a dinner party in his palace. She is impressed by his knowledge about Urdu poetry and the story of his ancestor Amanullah Khan. Soon they become friends and, supported by the indluence of the unfamiliar heat which blurs her mind, finally lovers. When she realizes that is pregnant, Olivia gets caught in the crossfire between the Nawab and Douglas.
About 50 years later, her stepgranddaughter Anne Rivers travels to Satipur in order to retrace Olivia's life in India and the decisions she made. Just as Olivia, Anne gets to know an Indian called Inder Lal who finds her "weak spot". They become lovers and Anne conceives as well. Thereupon, she moves into a house in the steep foothills of the Himalayas where Olivia carried her child to term, too.

Besides describing two similar love stories, the author also succeeds in placing several interesting minor chraracters, such as Chid, an American who gives up all his earthly possessions and travels to India in search of enlightenment. But by concentrating that much on the characters' descriptions and partly unnecessary dialogues, the author misses her chance to familiarise the reader with Indian tradition, culture and landscape. Although the author mentions some Indian customs, you still get the impression of not knowing much about India itself after having read the book. Furthermore, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between Olivia's and Anne's story because they are very analogical and often get mixed up.

All in all, "Heat and Dust" was a disappointing story to me, because it is not much more than a standard love story with the only exception that it is doubled. Because of the book's describtion, I expected much information about what life in India was like at that time, but Ruth Prawer Jhabvala prefers providing an insight into confused womens' minds instead. For this reason, I would recommend this novel only to those who enjoy reading romances and who do not expect profound background information.

this is one of my favorite books by jhabvala (or any other author for that matter)! all the characters are believable & the ending very poignant. one of the few books that i've actually reread :)

This is a well written book that explores Anglo-Indian relations through the power of romance. Set in two distinct eras, colonial India of the nineteen twenties, during the time of the Raj, and the independent, freewheeling India of the seventies, during the time when India was a mecca for disenfranchised youth, it tells the story of two women.

One story is that of Olivia, the wife of a minor district official in colonial India, who in 1923 caused great scandal by running off with the Nawab, a local Indian prince. Divorced by her husband, Douglas, for this scandalous transgression, Olivia remains in India, while Douglas remarries. The second story is that of the narrator, a descendant of Douglas and his second wife. During the nineteen seventies, fascinated by the story of the now deceased Olivia, she goes to India, visiting those locations where Olivia had lived and those which would have been a part of her existence at the time. As did Olivia, she falls under India's spell. As did Olivia, she, too, has an Anglo-Indian love affair, and picks up where Olivia left off, giving the reader a powerful sense of de-ja vu.

The book is a beguiling story of two women from two different generations who come under the spell of India. The book is evocative of British colonial India, as well as of India of the nineteen seventies. During both eras, Anglo-Indian relations are pivotal to the budding romances. The book is evocative of the rythyms of Indian life in all its richness and tumultuousness, as well as its lingering poverty and superstitions. It is redolent of a time gone by and hopeful of what is to come. It is also an interesting dichotomy of the good and bad in both cultures, Anglo and Indian, and the influence that both cultures have on these two women, who are so different, yet so alike.

This is a book that whets the appetite, leaving the reader wanting more than the author is prepared to give. It is, nonetheless, a book well worth reading. The book was also made into a Merchant Ivory film starring Julie Christie and Greta Scacchi.

This is an enjoyable, quick read. It is a well-constructed story on two levels... one in the past, one in the present. It intimates, rather than describes India... which, I imagine, is the way it should be.

I would not call this great literature, but it is certainly interesting, entertaining, and well put together.

Olivia Rivers, married to Douglas, a civil servant in India, caused a scandal in 1923 in the small town of Satipur when she eloped with and Indian prince. In the 1970s, Olivia's step-granddaughter goes back to the heat and dust of Satipur to solve the mystery of the outrage caused by Olivia's flight.
Mrs Jhabvala's novel sounds like a warning. Both Olivia and the narrator do not seem to withstand India because they are fine and sensitive people who come to love the country very much, too much perhaps. Indeed there are many things to love in India: the landscapes, the history, the music and the physical beauty of men and women which may become a danger to the European. The characters in this novel are immersed by the Indian culture - and in Olivia's case, destroyed by it - they seem to be softened by an excess of feeling for India and finally they are dragged over to the other side. But according to Mrs Jhabvala's description of India - the smells, the sounds, the poverty, the filth, the beggars and cripples - it is difficult to imagine that Europeans can be as totally immersed in that culture as were both Olivia and the narrator. Is it plausible at all that such a foreign culture can be powerful enough to lead one to perdition?