![\"conch_bearer.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/conch_bearer.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Conch Bearer<\/em><\/p>\n by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni<\/p>\n Read by Alan Cumming<\/p>\n Listening Library, 2003.\u00a0 4 cassettes, 6 hours, 31 minutes.<\/p>\n I enjoyed listening to a fantasy tale set in India for a change.\u00a0 The Conch Bearer <\/em>tells the story of Anand, a boy\u00a0living with his mother and sister in the slums of Kolkata.\u00a0 Anand remembers better times and dreams of magic as in the tales he likes to read.<\/p>\n Then Anand meets a mysterious old man with powerful magic, magic that is being sought by an evil sorcerer.\u00a0 The man enlists Anand’s help to return the magic conch to its rightful home in a secret valley in the Himalayas.\u00a0 Along the way, Anand gains a companion in Nisha, a feisty street girl.\u00a0 Together, they find a way to progress, despite daunting obstacles and dangers,\u00a0even when their mentor can’t be with them.<\/p>\n This was an enjoyable story.\u00a0 I especially liked the Indian setting and the narrator’s Indian accent.\u00a0 It gave the story a different slant from other fantasy tales I’ve read.<\/p>\n I did find Anand’s emotional ups and downs annoying after awhile.\u00a0 He seemed to agonize about every decision, and I got to wishing he’d get on with it!\u00a0 This may have been exacerbated by the fact that I was listening to an audiobook.\u00a0 If I had been reading the book, I could have skimmed those parts.<\/p>\n I believe the author has recently come out with the third book about the Brotherhood of the Conch.\u00a0 I am intrigued enough\u00a0that I am going to have to read on.<\/p>\n