A computer programmer working with an advanced computer system discovers an ID belonging to a man he used to know. A man who's been missing since 1995. His coworkers had thought he committed suicide, but the truth involves a fateful trip to Calcutta, a conspiracy theory related to malaria research, and a web of interconnecting mysteries the reader will be trying to piece together even as the characters are. What is true and what is speculation? What happened to the missing man? And how will the discovery of this truth impact the one who finally uncovers it?

The Calcutta Chromosome is a science fiction book, but much of it reads like literary fiction. Originally published in 1995, aspects like the advanced computer system were likely more impressive once upon a time, but to modern readers the most interesting sci-fi elements involve the fields of genetics and epidemiology. Personally, I found this to be a very creative approach, although it took a lot of pages to ramp up.

I'm no expert on the history of malaria, but a brief research stint reveals at least some of the information this book conveys is based on real events. And the book does such a great job of making it all seem real that a non-expert like myself can't tell the exact point at which truth blends into fiction. For me, this had the delightful effect of making me wonder, "This can't be real, can it?" long past the point at which things started getting strange. I had to read patiently through a lot of long history lessons to get to that point, but my patience was definitely rewarded.

It also helped that there were likeable characters. I personally felt a certain kinship with the work-from-home computer programmer who wished he could be reading when the work got boring. I also liked Urmila, a reporter for Calcutta magazine who has a storyline intersecting with the man who eventually goes missing. She did have one vivid sexual fantasy I couldn't understand the purpose of being included in the narrative, but this was far outweighed by the role she plays in tracking down leads and the scenes depicting her relationship with her family. She's a capable woman with a good job, yet she struggles to assert her independence with a family constantly pressuring her to get married and demanding she take on a clearly unfair portion of the housework. I thought it provided excellent insight into the cultural pressures women can face, depicting them as pervasive and not easy to overcome.

In fact, there were a lot of smaller plot points that kept my interest in the story going even as the main plot required so much build up. I read on to find out if Antar would be able to finish his work in time to prepare for dinner with his neighbor, to find out if Urmila would cook the fish she really didn't have time for, and eventually to find out what had happened to certain characters left on a cliffhanger as the next chapter rotated to someone else. It's true that this contributed to the feeling that there was a ton of information and plot threads to keep track of, but if you like a complex story that rewards you for paying attention and remembering even the smallest details, you won't be disappointed.

In the end, I don't think this book would suit the attention span of every reader, but for the right kind of reader it's not to be missed. I recommend reading it in a short time frame to minimize what you forget between reading sessions. But I also recommend taking breaks every so often to let each section sink in, as opposed to speed reading it straight through. Personally, I read for an hour or so at a time over a period of three days and found that worked quite well. You'll need a high tolerance for facts about malaria and a willingness to entertain fictional conspiracy speculations, but you'll certainly get a unique experience.

En la ciudad de Nueva York, en un futuro próximo, Antar, un egipico que trabaja como ingeniero informático, recupera por casualidad la ficha de Murugan, un viejo colega que se marchó a Calcuta, donde se le perdió la pista.

Murugan seguía el rastro del científico, escritor y premio Nobel del siglo x1x Ronald Ross, que llevó a cabo importantes investigaciones sobre la malaria en la India. Pero el trabajo de Ross no se limitaba a esta enfermedad, ya que alguien lo manipulaba desde la sombra para que profundizase en la relación entre la malaria inducida y la curación de la sífilis y con algo cuyo alcance él jamás llegará a comprender: el denominado cromosoma Calcuta, a partir del cual... tal vez se pueda conseguir la inmortalidad.

- written by someone who loves his city (of birth)
- not much of a "science fiction", more scientific thriller; fiction part was more akin to fantasy
- very, well-written; literary even
- well-researched domains: railways, computing, medicine, British Raj
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Not his best
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https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3288552.html

The Calcutta Chromosome is a fascinating book in which the research of Ronald Ross into malaria in 1898 turns out to have been something of a sham, in fact the outcome of manipulation by shadowy forces whose nature is only hinted at. The story is told in roughly three timelines: a near-future New York (probably roughly 2019), where an unassuming Egyptian with a friendly Siri-like AI is sucked into research on how and why a former colleague who was obsessed with Ross disappeared in 1995; the story from the former colleague's point of view, as he goes to Calcutta to get first-hand evidence on what Ross actually did; and the story from Ross's own point of view, which does not really explain all that much. The western versions of science and history are in conflict with Indian traditions, and subverted by the mysterious immortal character Behind It All; there is a memorable ghost train moment as well.

It's a really fun read - Murugan's obsession with Ross could have been weritten as tedious info-dumping, but Ghosh turns it into some very strong characterisation, and the other Indian characters of 1995, the poet Phulboni, the journalists Sonali and Urmila, and indeed Calcutta itself are vividly visualised. The ending is a bit of a let-down, in that the various plot strands are not really brought together and none of them is really resolved, though hints are left for the reader to draw their own conclusions. Still, I'm glad that the Clarke judges stepped outside the usual circles of genre fiction to recognise this. ( )