Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • Gun Island

  • By: Amitav Ghosh
  • Narrated by: Sagar Arya
  • Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (47 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Gun Island cover art

Gun Island

By: Amitav Ghosh
Narrated by: Sagar Arya
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Great Derangement cover art
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner cover art
Beloved cover art
Their Eyes Were Watching God cover art
A Year of Marvellous Ways cover art
Phantastes cover art
The Covenant of Water cover art
Devil Ship Series: Books 1-3 cover art
The Granite Key cover art
Hyperion cover art
The End of Time cover art
Frozen Out cover art
The Poisonwood Bible cover art
Lane cover art
Artifact cover art
A Season for the Dead cover art

Summary

A spellbinding, globe-trotting novel by the best-selling author of the Ibis trilogy.

Bundook. Gun. A common word, but one which turns Deen Datta's world upside down.

A dealer of rare books, Deen is used to a quiet life spent indoors, but as his once-solid beliefs begin to shift, he is forced to set out on an extraordinary journey; one that takes him from India to Los Angeles and Venice via a tangled route through the memories and experiences of those he meets along the way. There is Piya, a fellow Bengali-American who sets his journey in motion; Tipu, an entrepreneurial young man who opens Deen's eyes to the realities of growing up in today's world; Rafi, with his desperate attempt to help someone in need; and Cinta, an old friend who provides the missing link in the story they are all a part of. It is a journey which will upend everything he thought he knew about himself, about the Bengali legends of his childhood and about the world around him.

Gun Island is a beautifully realised novel which effortlessly spans space and time. It is the story of a world on the brink, of increasing displacement and unstoppable transition. But it is also a story of hope, of a man whose faith in the world and the future is restored by two remarkable women.

©2019 Amitav Ghosh (P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd

What listeners say about Gun Island

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    36
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Contemporary fiction on climate change

Contemporary fiction on climate change

Master storyteller Amitav Ghosh takes on the contemporary issue of climate change in this work of fiction the Gun island.
After the ibis trilogy the epic historical fiction that so vividly portrayed and transferred us readers to the eighteenth and nineteenth century south asia under the grips of colonial imperialism, the gun island is set around the contemporary issues of migrants intelligently interwoven with the issue of climate change. One of the moments in the novel worth reflecting upon is when it compares human migration from the Sunderbans and other parts of the world to the migration of dolphins , birds crabs , spiders and worms to foreign lands as a result of climate change.

The book leaves you with a feeling that sends you pondering over coincidences from the past present and future. Its characters ranging from cold rational scientifically oriented Pia to a warm matronly Cinta whose belief in life's and the universe's co-incidences, miracles and faith is wonderfully interwoven in the story and instills in us the realization that there is so much about the interconnectedness that still lies undiscovered by the scientific rational thinkers.

Substantially shorter that many of other Amitav Ghosh's novels this one also leaves you with a feeling that many loose ends in the story have been left untied. Despite that shortcoming overall a great work of contemporary fiction .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Knitting together how colonialism links into migration and climate change

Great storytelling about how stories connect people over long distances and long stretches of time and how this matters in the Anthropocene.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Disappointed that it didn’t hold my attention to the end

The book was really promising. I liked to hear about the character and about his world and that of the other characters. I felt my mind was being expanded and the pace of the book was good. However, the last hour ramped up the pace to a storyline that seemed too random for me to find it gripping. It was a pleasant enough end, but I was a bit disappointed it didn’t hold me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting context and story

I loved this story although it had a few sections where the main character gazed inwardly at his behaviour/character which I think were superfluous.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great author and interesting book that tackles climate change and migration

Very few books tackle these issues, so it’s interesting and important to see such a great author changing that. Great performance and worth a listen for sure

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very engaging!

The reader's voice was brilliantly suited to the story. It was a joy to listen to the accents, and languages. Great job

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved this

Great performance, delivering a delightful interwoven tale around the the themes of climate change and human trafficking. This is done with a delicate touch with a light sprinkling of fantasy. History is constantly repeating itself.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Surprising and satisfyingly modern

I enjoyed this a lot. It’s tells a very interesting story with modern issues and just enough mystery and magic. Very likeable characters and lovely writing. Fantastic.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

marvellous story

great writing, wonderful narrative, excellent deliverance, couldn't wait to hear the next chapter, enjoyable throughout

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Superb if a bit overly didactic and academic at times

A tad overly didactic and overly academic at times which detracted from the story line. Also too much reported second hand particularly in the first part of the book.I Was very disappointed not to spend more time in the Sunderbans. There were two stories at least at work here terms of the shrine and gun merchant and the author’s obvious passion for fighting climate change. Sometimes I feel the story telling became secondary to the points he wanted to make about environmental preservation. The anti colonial rant in the last chapter, came out of the blue, added nothing to the story and could have been edited out. Overall though superb. A life changing, enriching and deeply spiritual novel. Do read. Lots of thought provoking stuff. Bravo. A rare thing! A novel that assumes the reader is highly intelligent and does not dumb the reader down.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!