SOURCE: “Once Bitten,” in Los Angeles Times Book Review, September 21, 1997, p. 13.

In the following positive review, Panosian discusses the scientific aspects of The Calcutta Chromosome.

“Murugan sat suddenly upright, the sweat pounding off his face, not sure whether he was still dreaming or awake. The net was buzzing with mosquitoes; he could see them dancing like motes, in the finger of light that bisected his bed. His whole body was aflame, covered with bites. He had been scratching himself furiously in his sleep; he could see blood on his fingernails, and on the sheets.”

Blood, mosquitoes and malaria are all talismans imbued with mystical powers in The Calcutta Chromosome, Amitav Ghosh's latest book, deliciously subtitled A Novel of Fevers, Delirium, and Discovery. Ghosh, a Bengal-born anthropologist living in New York City, ought to know. In his native Calcutta, malaria is a malady as familiar as the common cold...