Publication
Avon. c1968
Collection
Series
Status
Available
Description
In The Day of the Scorpion, Scott draws us deeper in to his epic of India at the close of World War II. With force and subtlety, he recreates both private ambition and perversity, and the politics of an entire subcontinent at a turning point in history. As the scorpian, encircled by a ring of fire, will sting itself to death, so does the British raj hasten its own destruction when threatened by the flames of Indian independence. Brutal repression and imprisonment of India's leaders cannot still the cry for home rule. And in the midst of chaos, the English Laytons withdraw from a world they no longer know to seek solace in denial, drink, and madness.--Publisher's description.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Cecrow
I remember the first novel of the quartet being a somewhat challenging read. This novel's opening pages felt like plodding through treacle and had me concerned, until the Laytons were introduced. After that the novel flowed better, the pieces came together, and I was hooked again on this dynamic
Two scenes in particular stood out to me, both relating back to the first novel. The first was the scene between Count Bronowsky and Merrick. In the previous novel I thought I knew Merrick's side of the story about the Bibighar Gardens incident - it seemed fairly shallow and obvious. Here he reveals hidden layers and depth to his analysis of what happened. Yes, he's as misguided as I thought he was, but now it actually makes sense how he thinks and I can't write him off as a cardboard anti-Indian nutcase. Bronowsky is also a very well-drawn character (my favourite in this novel) and the perfect person to obtain Merrick's story.
Hari's interrogation was the second scene that impressed me. This is no simple back-and-forth conversation. We indirectly see how his outlook has changed from his time spend in prison, as he recounts the facts we already know - and then some we didn't. It felt like the author himself ran the interrogation, probing his character to see how far down the rabbit hole he could go with exploring Hari's inner being, unveiling Hari's wonderful psychological depth; it's a true showcase. At first I wanted to cheer for Hari and how well he held up to being interrogated. Later I felt his pain, and I could understand why so much of what he had felt before had since lapsed into apathy.
The event referred to by the title I took to be a metaphor for the Raj's political prisoners: perceived scorpions that their captors hope will be rendered harmless. There's a good study here of the INA from Raj and Indian perspectives. Less a focus on British righteousness, the atmosphere is now turning on the Raj's inevitable doom. "Jewel" suffered in the comparison it prompted between itself and "A Passage to India", but "Day of the Scorpion" is a masterful building upon the quartet's first volume and displays all of the author's strengths to full effect.
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portrayal of 1940s India and its uneasy tensions.Two scenes in particular stood out to me, both relating back to the first novel. The first was the scene between Count Bronowsky and Merrick. In the previous novel I thought I knew Merrick's side of the story about the Bibighar Gardens incident - it seemed fairly shallow and obvious. Here he reveals hidden layers and depth to his analysis of what happened. Yes, he's as misguided as I thought he was, but now it actually makes sense how he thinks and I can't write him off as a cardboard anti-Indian nutcase. Bronowsky is also a very well-drawn character (my favourite in this novel) and the perfect person to obtain Merrick's story.
Hari's interrogation was the second scene that impressed me. This is no simple back-and-forth conversation. We indirectly see how his outlook has changed from his time spend in prison, as he recounts the facts we already know - and then some we didn't. It felt like the author himself ran the interrogation, probing his character to see how far down the rabbit hole he could go with exploring Hari's inner being, unveiling Hari's wonderful psychological depth; it's a true showcase. At first I wanted to cheer for Hari and how well he held up to being interrogated. Later I felt his pain, and I could understand why so much of what he had felt before had since lapsed into apathy.
The event referred to by the title I took to be a metaphor for the Raj's political prisoners: perceived scorpions that their captors hope will be rendered harmless. There's a good study here of the INA from Raj and Indian perspectives. Less a focus on British righteousness, the atmosphere is now turning on the Raj's inevitable doom. "Jewel" suffered in the comparison it prompted between itself and "A Passage to India", but "Day of the Scorpion" is a masterful building upon the quartet's first volume and displays all of the author's strengths to full effect.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Day of the Scorpion by Paul Scott is the second volume in the Raj Quartet. This book builds upon the incidents that occurred in the first book as we now explore the implications and consequences. This is a intricate, interwoven novel, but with a more straight forward plotting style than the
Set during the years of 1942 to 1944 in a India where the British are not blind to the fact that they are no longer welcome and the struggle to keep their traditions and political system in place requires constant effort. Yet this is a strategically important country for Britain to control and not just because of the war against Japan.
There is a lot going on in this book and many characters to follow. If it could be said to have a main character, than that character would be Sarah Layton, one of the daughters of an old military family of the Raj. At one point or another throughout the book, Sarah come into contact with just about every character and through their meetings and individual back stories we see the larger picture of an India facing oppression, racism and political harnessing, the results of which were to eventually lead to the downfall of British control in India.
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previous book. The author excels in his wide portrayal of characters from each social and political level, from British to Indian, from man to woman, from Christian to Hindu and Muslim. We catch up with many familiar characters from the first book, but also new characters are introduced as well.Set during the years of 1942 to 1944 in a India where the British are not blind to the fact that they are no longer welcome and the struggle to keep their traditions and political system in place requires constant effort. Yet this is a strategically important country for Britain to control and not just because of the war against Japan.
There is a lot going on in this book and many characters to follow. If it could be said to have a main character, than that character would be Sarah Layton, one of the daughters of an old military family of the Raj. At one point or another throughout the book, Sarah come into contact with just about every character and through their meetings and individual back stories we see the larger picture of an India facing oppression, racism and political harnessing, the results of which were to eventually lead to the downfall of British control in India.
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LibraryThing member Meredy
Six-word review: Cascading effects of precipitating causes continue.
Extended review:
Dense, complex, compelling: those are the three descriptors that I noted down immediately on finishing this second volume of the Raj Quartet.
In an evolving procession of viewpoint characters, the focus shifts here
Rather than recapitulating and analyzing this portion of a much longer work, I'll just cite three excerpts that for me convey something of the flavor of this quarter part.
Sarah witnesses her sister Susan's wedding to Teddie Bingham:
Glancing from Teddie to Uncle Arthur and back again Sarah thought: Why, what a curious thing a human being is; and was not surprised to hear Aunt Fenny sniff and to see that Susan was trembling as she put out her hand for Teddie to fit the ring on her finger. It is all over in such a short time, Sarah told herself, but in that short time everything about our lives changes for ever. We become something else, without necessarily having understood what we were before. (p. 164)
The best man at the wedding is Captain Ronald Merrick, formerly the policeman who had arrested and imprisoned Hari Kumar. He is speaking here of a military conflict in which both sides made poor showings, revealing the arrogant pragmatism of his own approach to situations:
"They were both amateurs because they were both hot-headed. They were trying to make a lyric out of a situation that was merely prosaic. It only seemed problematical because we lacked information. But because it seemed problematical all this free emotional rein was given to the business of its solution. Well, there you are. If there are things you don't know, you call the gap in your knowledge a mystery and fill it with a wholly emotional answer." (pp. 378-379)
A regime that has allowed generations of British military and civilian residents to call India home while sustaining their aloof supremacy over the native population has become destabilized not only through the effects of World War II but through internal events exacerbated by the Daphne Manners case. Sarah Layton reflects privately on the maneuvers of the failing British occupancy to hold its position against the tide of Indian independence:
...a further sign that Aunt Fenny had entered the new age, in which old Flagstaff House values were shrewdly to be readjusted as an insurance against the extinction of those who held them. Gimlet and cigarette in hand and for a moment alone, Sarah was conscious of belonging to a class engaged in small, continual acts whose purpose was survival... (p. 404)
That survival is seriously in question as the story proceeds.
Extended review:
Dense, complex, compelling: those are the three descriptors that I noted down immediately on finishing this second volume of the Raj Quartet.
In an evolving procession of viewpoint characters, the focus shifts here
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from Daphne Manners and Hari Kumar to the upper-class Layton family and specifically to Sarah Layton, who describes herself thus: "I was the kind of child who automatically asked why when I was told the cat sat on the mat. My teachers said I ought to curb a tendency to squander curiosity on the self-evident." (p. 176) Sarah's interest in the lives of those around her and even of those only peripherally connected with her moves the story forward with the unfolding drama begun in volume one. Against the backdrop of India in turmoil during the final years of British rule, the consequences of a brutal rape and a gross injustice rooted in racism continue to play out. Sarah's perceptive and often unconventional reactions to people and events make the story immediate and personal.Rather than recapitulating and analyzing this portion of a much longer work, I'll just cite three excerpts that for me convey something of the flavor of this quarter part.
Sarah witnesses her sister Susan's wedding to Teddie Bingham:
Glancing from Teddie to Uncle Arthur and back again Sarah thought: Why, what a curious thing a human being is; and was not surprised to hear Aunt Fenny sniff and to see that Susan was trembling as she put out her hand for Teddie to fit the ring on her finger. It is all over in such a short time, Sarah told herself, but in that short time everything about our lives changes for ever. We become something else, without necessarily having understood what we were before. (p. 164)
The best man at the wedding is Captain Ronald Merrick, formerly the policeman who had arrested and imprisoned Hari Kumar. He is speaking here of a military conflict in which both sides made poor showings, revealing the arrogant pragmatism of his own approach to situations:
"They were both amateurs because they were both hot-headed. They were trying to make a lyric out of a situation that was merely prosaic. It only seemed problematical because we lacked information. But because it seemed problematical all this free emotional rein was given to the business of its solution. Well, there you are. If there are things you don't know, you call the gap in your knowledge a mystery and fill it with a wholly emotional answer." (pp. 378-379)
A regime that has allowed generations of British military and civilian residents to call India home while sustaining their aloof supremacy over the native population has become destabilized not only through the effects of World War II but through internal events exacerbated by the Daphne Manners case. Sarah Layton reflects privately on the maneuvers of the failing British occupancy to hold its position against the tide of Indian independence:
...a further sign that Aunt Fenny had entered the new age, in which old Flagstaff House values were shrewdly to be readjusted as an insurance against the extinction of those who held them. Gimlet and cigarette in hand and for a moment alone, Sarah was conscious of belonging to a class engaged in small, continual acts whose purpose was survival... (p. 404)
That survival is seriously in question as the story proceeds.
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LibraryThing member brenzi
”Sarah was conscious of belonging to a class engaged in small, continual acts whose purpose was survival through partial sharing in an evolution which, of all the family, only Aunt Lydia back in Bayswater had anticipated and closely witnessed the process of. It was a survival of exiles. Their
For me there is so much satisfaction in sinking into a thick book written in exquisite prose that you just don’t see that often today. I scanned a review where the reader was put off by Scott’s long sentences. I love them. This kind of book takes time to read and appreciate and I love that about it.
This second volume of The Raj Quartet continues the story of the demise of British control of India, moving the story ahead to 1942-1944. D-Day has happened and everyone feels the European war will be over soon to be followed shortly by the Pacific war. The Laytons are a British family, new to the narrative, a longtime Military family who have traveled back and forth for brief visits to their homeland. Sarah is their oldest daughter and the only one who seems to have identified the need for the British to leave India.
Returning characters include Hari Kumar, who was accused of rape in the previous volume and Ronald Merrick, the police officer who lead the investigation. Hari has been jailed for political activities since they could not prove the rape charges. But he is being considered for release and the long section of the book devoted to his treatment by Merrick and other officials is brutal in its detail. Merrick is now an army officer and involved in a roadside assault. And also making an appearance is Lady Manners, aunt of the rape victim, but she is an enigma. The citizens know she’s there but no one has actually seen her.
I have to believe that Sarah, Merrick and Hari will be continuing characters in the next volume. I hope I can hold off until May to read it. This is a remarkable series.
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enemy was light, not dark, the light of their own kind, of their own people at home from whom they had been too long cut off so that, returning there briefly, a deep and holy silence wrapped them and caused them to observe what was real as miniature….My history (Sarah thought, drinking her sweet gimlet, then drawing on her bitter cigarette), my history, rendered down to a colonnaded front, an architectural perfection of form and balance in the set and size of a window, and to a smoky resentment in my blood, a foolish contrivance for happiness in my heart against the evidence that tells me I never have been happy and can’t be while I live here. It’s time we were gone. Gone. Every last wise, stupid, cruel, fond or foolish one of us.” (Page 405)For me there is so much satisfaction in sinking into a thick book written in exquisite prose that you just don’t see that often today. I scanned a review where the reader was put off by Scott’s long sentences. I love them. This kind of book takes time to read and appreciate and I love that about it.
This second volume of The Raj Quartet continues the story of the demise of British control of India, moving the story ahead to 1942-1944. D-Day has happened and everyone feels the European war will be over soon to be followed shortly by the Pacific war. The Laytons are a British family, new to the narrative, a longtime Military family who have traveled back and forth for brief visits to their homeland. Sarah is their oldest daughter and the only one who seems to have identified the need for the British to leave India.
Returning characters include Hari Kumar, who was accused of rape in the previous volume and Ronald Merrick, the police officer who lead the investigation. Hari has been jailed for political activities since they could not prove the rape charges. But he is being considered for release and the long section of the book devoted to his treatment by Merrick and other officials is brutal in its detail. Merrick is now an army officer and involved in a roadside assault. And also making an appearance is Lady Manners, aunt of the rape victim, but she is an enigma. The citizens know she’s there but no one has actually seen her.
I have to believe that Sarah, Merrick and Hari will be continuing characters in the next volume. I hope I can hold off until May to read it. This is a remarkable series.
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LibraryThing member overthemoon
Leading on from the events described in The Jewel in the Crown, here more threads are worked into the story with the introduction of the Laytons, an Anglo-English family, and notably the sisters Susan and Sarah. We find out how Hari Kumar was treated during his interrogation by Merrick, and the
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unease continues to spread with the creation of the Indian National Army. Show Less
LibraryThing member milti
The fact that I finished this book within a week shows that Paul Scott is a brilliant, gripping writer if you're willing to wade through loads of context first. I just can't put it down. Raj fiction CAN be interesting and inspiring! In this novel, his eye for characterisation came into full form. I
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imagine this would be a wonderful series to examine the interpersonal relations between the British and the Indians - rubbing shoulders as comrades and colleagues, friends and lovers. In addition to that, it can be counted as some of the finest war fiction. Show Less
LibraryThing member Helenliz
This does and doesn't follow on from the previous book. I don't think it would make much sense if you'd not read book 1, but it isn't a sequel, as such.
More and more I feel Merrick is a bad egg, and that seems to be borne out in the review with which the book starts and the way the officer
It's quite an immersive experience and there are some beautiful characters drawn, with their backstory and how they came to India being many and varied. It does, however, give the feeling of being built on dodgy foundations, or that there's something rotten lurking behind the grapes in the fruit bowl.
Book 3 to follow after a short break on something else.
More and more I feel Merrick is a bad egg, and that seems to be borne out in the review with which the book starts and the way the officer
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re-appears at the end. This is written in a different style, being more focussed on Sarah Layton, where the Jewel in the Crown followed more separate characters in larger blocks. It's quite an immersive experience and there are some beautiful characters drawn, with their backstory and how they came to India being many and varied. It does, however, give the feeling of being built on dodgy foundations, or that there's something rotten lurking behind the grapes in the fruit bowl.
Book 3 to follow after a short break on something else.
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LibraryThing member oparaxenos
This book was a true paradox for me. On the one hand Scott lays out a compelling plot. This was one of those books that I could not wait to get back to reading during my lunch break or on the bus. On the other hand, however, Scott's style is extremely hard going. He has a predilection for very long
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sentences and his constant use of dangling prepositions is at best inelegant. Nothwithstanding, the book is certainly worth a read for the portrayal of a way of life that no longer exists. Show Less
LibraryThing member Lukerik
The opening of this novel could do with a bit of trimming. It's a little diffuse. I'm not saying cut it all out. It's beautifully written. Scott writes a high-capacity, multi-claused sentence that picks you up and takes you somewhere else. And there's a fair bit of set-up. And obviously we need to
But about the two hundred page mark Paul Scott spins round with his eyes aflame and punches you twice really hard in the face with these two intense interrogation scenes. Thereafter the novel does improve, or perhaps I was simply engaged for the first time. There's no doubt that it does suffer in comparison with The Jewel in the Crown being so rich and intense.
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be introduced to the protagonist, Sarah Layton, who carries the novel so well. But I got the impression the author was drifting and had taken his eye off the story.But about the two hundred page mark Paul Scott spins round with his eyes aflame and punches you twice really hard in the face with these two intense interrogation scenes. Thereafter the novel does improve, or perhaps I was simply engaged for the first time. There's no doubt that it does suffer in comparison with The Jewel in the Crown being so rich and intense.
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LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
"Independence is not something you can divide into phases. It exists or does not exist."
This is the second novel in the author's Raj quartet which maps the decline of the British Raj in India. The aftermath of the assault of Daphne Manners is still playing out but the action has moved to the the
A groom and his best man are travelling to the ceremony when a rock is hurled at their limousine. A window is shattered and the groom, Teddie, suffers a small cut on his cheek. The service is slightly delayed but otherwise goes ahead without further incident. But what prompted this act of violence?
Could it be because the limousine belongs to the Nawab, the ruler of the state, and perpetrator making a statement against his rule? Or could it be because the occupants were English and the thrower a Nationalist? Or could it be that the best man happens to be Ronald Merrick, the police superintendent at the heart of the incident involving Daphne Manners and the chief suspect, Hari Kumar? An incident which is still an open wound between Indians and English and was central to the previous novel, The Jewel in the Crown.
Merrick has by now left the Police and is now an officer in the Army whilst Hari Kumar is languishing in jail despite the fact that there has never been a trial. Merrick was not Teddie’s first choice as best man, rather a last minute substitute, and Teddie has no idea of Merrick’s past.
The middle books in a series are always hard, however there is still plenty to admire here. Along with a change of location, with the exception of Merrick and Hari Kumar there is a whole set of new characters which allows the author to give some details as to the fate of the two characters who were prominent in the first novel without it feeling like a continuation of that particular story, rather the wider repercussions that it caused.
As with the first novel there isn't a lot of action but where there is some it is quite explosive. However, this book is is at its best during some long conversations between the disparate characters. In these conversations we see the clash of personalities, classes and social status, race and political persuasions but for me the most interesting conversation is about whether or not colonisers and the colonised can ever really learn be friends or merely learn not to hate one another. Even today, in a world where terrorist incidents happen with depressing regularity, this seems to be a relevant question.
This book isn't as overtly about a commentary about colonialism and racism and the first, instead it looks in particular on the effect colonialism has on the colonisers. Therefore I have to admit that I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I did book 1 but it is still an interesting and thought provoking read which successfully achieves what a middle-book needs to do, make the reader eager for the next, so on to The Towers of Silence.
This is the second novel in the author's Raj quartet which maps the decline of the British Raj in India. The aftermath of the assault of Daphne Manners is still playing out but the action has moved to the the
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town of Ranpur where a wedding is to take place. A groom and his best man are travelling to the ceremony when a rock is hurled at their limousine. A window is shattered and the groom, Teddie, suffers a small cut on his cheek. The service is slightly delayed but otherwise goes ahead without further incident. But what prompted this act of violence?
Could it be because the limousine belongs to the Nawab, the ruler of the state, and perpetrator making a statement against his rule? Or could it be because the occupants were English and the thrower a Nationalist? Or could it be that the best man happens to be Ronald Merrick, the police superintendent at the heart of the incident involving Daphne Manners and the chief suspect, Hari Kumar? An incident which is still an open wound between Indians and English and was central to the previous novel, The Jewel in the Crown.
Merrick has by now left the Police and is now an officer in the Army whilst Hari Kumar is languishing in jail despite the fact that there has never been a trial. Merrick was not Teddie’s first choice as best man, rather a last minute substitute, and Teddie has no idea of Merrick’s past.
The middle books in a series are always hard, however there is still plenty to admire here. Along with a change of location, with the exception of Merrick and Hari Kumar there is a whole set of new characters which allows the author to give some details as to the fate of the two characters who were prominent in the first novel without it feeling like a continuation of that particular story, rather the wider repercussions that it caused.
As with the first novel there isn't a lot of action but where there is some it is quite explosive. However, this book is is at its best during some long conversations between the disparate characters. In these conversations we see the clash of personalities, classes and social status, race and political persuasions but for me the most interesting conversation is about whether or not colonisers and the colonised can ever really learn be friends or merely learn not to hate one another. Even today, in a world where terrorist incidents happen with depressing regularity, this seems to be a relevant question.
This book isn't as overtly about a commentary about colonialism and racism and the first, instead it looks in particular on the effect colonialism has on the colonisers. Therefore I have to admit that I didn't enjoy this book quite as much as I did book 1 but it is still an interesting and thought provoking read which successfully achieves what a middle-book needs to do, make the reader eager for the next, so on to The Towers of Silence.
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0380409232 / 9780380409235
Original publication date
1968