A Woman of Angkor

I am very impressed with Mr. Burgess’s knowledge of Cambodian history and culture. He managed to weave many aspects of Khmer history and culture into this charming story. Glad he called it a “novel” instead of a “historical novel” because he took quite a few liberties in his storytelling. As he confessed, all the major characters are fictional. This gave him a lot more creative freedom.The Khmer history and culture of course started way before Angkor Wat and continued after it. But Angkor Wat seems to be all the westerners are interested in about Cambodia. Mr. Burgess cleverly selected the rise and fall of Suryavarman II as the king for his story so he could capsulize the time period and include the building of Suryavarman’s very special monument. As Suryavarman was a dynamic prince with abilities to support his ambitions who murdered his way to the throne, as he was also a visionary king who atoned his sins by expanding Cambodia’s borders and commerce and by building temples, his reign lend the story a dramatic flair.Because the narrative is the recollection of the fictional Sray, an old religious woman who had seen though the world of samsara, the pace is necessarily slow. But it gave the story the opportunity to include various aspects of Cambodian culture. By making her live through poverty and deprivation to wealth and prestige then back again, it gave the story the opportunity to include many Cambodian lifestyles, from royalty to peasants. By surrounding her with movers and shakers of the kingdom, it gave the story the opportunity to connect the major events of Suryavarman’s reign. After Mr. Burgess built a grand and sturdy framework for his story, all he had to do was filling in the details. The respect Mr. Burgess showed for Cambodian culture enabled us to enter Sray’s world as a native rather than as an intruder.It is interesting that Mr. Burgess chose the name Sovan as Sray’s son and the inspired architect of Angkor Wat after he learned his craft from the nameless chief architect. According to Cambodian legends, Sovan, the son of a village chief, was the chief apprentice and successor of Preah Pusnokar, the divine architect who built Angkor Wat after a visit to heaven.However, Mr. Burgess included Sray in the first Khmer embassy that Suryavarman sent to China. But Hangzhou did not become China’s capital for the Southern Song Dynasty until later in Suryavarman’s reign after several Khmer embassies had been to China and after the Chinese emperor had already granted the Khmer ruler the high status of a “great vassal of the empire”. And none of the Chinese emperors during that period was a child. Even if a child was emperor, the rigid concept that the emperor is “son of heaven” and the strict protective protocol would have him surrounded by eunuchs and court officials and far away from strangers. A foreign woman would never have the chance to get anywhere near the child much less touch him. But, as both Sray and her trip to China are fictional, Mr. Burgess is allowed some creative license.Unlike another American male author who tried to tell the story of Taj Mahal from a female point of view but erroneously imagined cloistered traditional Mughal Muslim royal consorts and princesses as modern liberated free-spirited American women, Mr. Burgess actually seems to understand how traditional Asian women, good and bad, behave. And he displayed a sense of gentle femininity in his narrative, even when the women were strong-willed, which is rare from male authors. I am very impressed.

I read this soon after returning from a trip to Angkor Wat, so I had a lot of interest and information going in. I like fiction of this type that fleshes out the human story behind ancient sites--I like Ken Follett's books about the cathedral building, and others about Stonehenge and the Mayans. I consider it well-educated speculative fiction with a historical backdrop.Anyway.I think Burgess is a good, not great, fiction writer with what seem like plausible and interesting story lines that tell you a lot about ancient Cambodia and Khmer culture, including the building of the great temple of Angkor Wat. The book is told in the first person by a woman who rises from poverty to being a talented and rich businesswoman, religious benefactor, and a spiritual woman with a sensual side. Her husband is parasol maker to the king and as such is influential at court; court politics play a large part in the story. Her son becomes the architect of Angkor Wat and her daughter the king's courtesan. The story plays out over her entire lifetime and includes warfare, foreign travel, romance, intrigue, and was engaging enough to keep me interested through 500 pages. It moves along well and creates a plausible world of the Khmer empire of the 13th century.Interesting characters who grow and change over time are part of the attraction too. I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in historical fiction set in a time and place unfamiliar to most of us. If you have been to the region, especially if you have been to Angkor, I think you'll really like it.

On several levels this book is astonishingly successful. It can be well enjoyed by any reader with interest in how people live, work and age within cultural expectations as well as in rebellion to them. In particular, the voicing of Sray, the main character, is complex, rich and pleasing. Her tone reflects the expectations and knowledge of a young woman in a male dominant culture. We come to know her humor, her piety, her compassion for others as she discovers them internally and is tested by them personally and by others. We discover ever widening facets of custom in and beyond village life as she does. Yes, this book is rich in trustworthy history, archeology and anthropology. Burgess has such deftness of expression and confidence in his characters' vitality and purpose that there never is threat of pedantic overload. The story moves spritely and knowledge accrues almost effortlessly as the reader moves along among the characters. Any reader who wants thrill of discovery, empathy for characters multi-faceted enough to earn it and a rollicking good tale will enjoy, even love, this book. If you are a reader with any interest in history, Southeast Asia - especially Cambodia - or any facet thereof, you only haven't read it because it is so recently published. But you will because it is so worthy of your time.

For many people, a visit to Angkor is the trip of a lifeime. This is the book to take along on that trip, whether you take a plane or a comfortable chair on the back porch. Angkor rises in the background as this epic story. In the foreground is the woman, Sray, whose steadfast narrative deepens the mystery of the stones with a skein of mysteries of the heart. As I read this novel, I was repeatedly struck by the way a scene -- a roadside shrine, a way of preparing food, a pair greeting one another -- reminded me of something I saw during my years living in Southeast Asia. I knew this novel really hit the mark when I began to think of the stories of my friends back home in terms of the characters introduced here.

I very much enjoyed the book. I went to college with the author and was curious how well he'd write fiction, being familiar with his work for the Washington Post. I was thoroughly impressed.

This novel is a must for anyone who loves historical fiction, and especially for anyone who has ever been, or hope to go, to Cambodia. Burgess has managed to do something quite amazing here, namely to bring an imagined character in an ancient culture to life. The world of Srey and all she loved stays with you long after the reading is over. I can't recommend this book highly enough!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it because I am headed to Angkor Wat shortly. The characters and the stories of the moat and bas reliefs, are sure to stay with me when i explore the Angkor Wat Complex.

Have just returned from Angkor Wat City...then read this book...found it true to history, compelling, sad, happy, couldn't put down, well worth the read.

Perfect, a new book.

Who knows what life was like then, but a well written and engaging novel. Thought it an enjoyable read and liked the main characters.

A great read...