30 August 2016

Review #516: The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“A woman is not a touch but a response to it”

----Pratibha Ray



Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, an Indian best selling novelist, has penned an extremely emotional and gripping mythological-cum-historical-fiction novel, The Palace of Illusions that narrates the great epic Indian mythological tale, Mahabharata from the point of view of the most brilliant and fearless female character, Draupadi, who weaves her thoroughly soul touching yet enduring life story starting from the day she was born to the day she left her palace and kingdom to follow behind the footsteps of her husbands to heaven. Yes, in modern terms, you call it a fan fiction of Mahabharata.



Synopsis:

A reimagining of the world-famous Indian epic, the Mahabharat—told from the point of view of an amazing woman.

Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale.

The novel traces the princess Panchaali's life, beginning with her birth in fire and following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible civil war involving all the important kings of India. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her strategic duels with her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands' most dangerous enemy. Panchaali is a fiery female redefining for us a world of warriors, gods, and the ever-manipulating hands of fate.



Panchaali, daughter of king Draupad, was born out of fire, when her father prayed and fasted for a son who will take vengeance on his enemies. So apart from Panchaali, a dark beauty and highly intelligent and smart young girl, Dhrishtadyumna, a fierce young boy was also born out of the very same fire. While growing up, Draupadi confided in only three people who were closest to her heart, her caretaker, Dhai Ma, her brother, Dhri, and her only friend, Krishna, who guided her through all her troubles with his wise and thoughtful advice. But when the time arrived for Swayamvar, Draupadi's heart has already found the man of her life, but due to her father and Krishna's strategy and scheme to protect the king and the kingdom from his enemies, thereby yet once again Draupadi followed what others wanted her to follow before her heart's desire. Once landing into the palace of her husband, Arjun, Draupadi, once again, had to fight for and obey the rules and the opinions of her mother-in-law, Kunti, who asked her to marry off five of her sons, instead of only one. From then on, Draupadi had to lead a sad and enduring life filled with only grief, pain and loss and embarrassment. But not for once Draupadi spoke out aloud of her grief either to her husbands or to her own family, instead she quietly obeyed and payed heavily for everything that her husbands did.

This is one of the most enthralling and magical re-telling of the epic mythological tale that changed the history, spiritualism, thoughts and beliefs of Indian society. The whole tale felt like an astounding, mystical and breath taking read that blew my mind with the intensity of Draupadi's heart breaking life story as well as with the opportunity to lose myself in the thrill of the greatest mythology, Mahabharata told from the perspective of a brave woman. The author has not only imagined and projected her version of this epic tale, but has also included the wise words of Vyasa, the original author of Mahabharata.

The author's writing style is exquisite and eloquent and has laced the story line with so many deep, heart felt emotions that will move the readers for the characters' plight. The narrative is somewhat intellectual, thoughtful and truly authentic and it is told from the first person point of view of Draupadi, so that will let the readers contemplate with her honest voice. The pacing of the book is very slow and while reading, the readers might feel a bit lethargic due to the usage of heavy words and too many philosophical adverbs by the author.

The characterization of the protagonist, Draupadi, is really well carved out with all her flaws and her stronger aspects, with her desires and her hatred and with her positive and negative thoughts, thereby letting the readers experience and get to know Draupadi in her raw form. Draupadi has been brilliantly portrayed into the story and has been brought alive with so much vigor by the author. The readers will be shocked to go through the intense pain of Draupadi's struggle with her childhood days, her marital life, her role as a pawn in the game of the greatest war in the history of our country, her emotions towards how the brothers fought against his own blood just for the price of kingdom. In short, the rest of the supporting characters, do not much role or depth in them, either way, from Draupadi's minds the readers can chalk out a brief sketch of those characters.

In a nutshell, this is an excellently well written fan fiction based on Hindu mythology that will enlighten the readers' minds and souls as well as keep them entertained all through out the book.

Verdict: A must read for historical fiction readers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Info:
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her themes include the Indian experience, contemporary America, women, immigration, history, myth, and the joys and challenges of living in a multicultural world. Her work is widely known, as she has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her works have been translated into 29 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Hindi and Japanese. Divakaruni also writes for children and young adults.Her novels One Amazing Thing, Oleander Girl, Sister of My Heart and Palace of Illusions are currently in the process of being made into movies. http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/books.... Her newest novel is Before We Visit the Goddess (about 3 generations of women-- grandmother, mother and daughter-- who each examine the question "what does it mean to be a successful woman.") Simon & Schuster.
She was born in India and lived there until 1976, at which point she left Calcutta and came to the United States. She continued her education in the field of English by receiving a Master’s degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
To earn money for her education, she held many odd jobs, including babysitting, selling merchandise in an Indian boutique, slicing bread in a bakery, and washing instruments in a science lab. At Berkeley, she lived in the International House and worked in the dining hall. She briefly lived in Illinois and Ohio, but has spent much of her life in Northern California, which she often writes about. She now lives in Texas, which has found its way into her upcoming book, Before We Visit the Goddess.
Chitra currently teaches in the nationally ranked Creative Writing program at the Univ. of Houston. She serves on the Advisory board of Maitri in the San Francisco Bay Area and Daya in Houston. Both these are organizations that help South Asian or South Asian American women who find themselves in abusive or domestic violence situations. She is also closely involved with Pratham, an organization that helps educate children (especially those living in urban slums) in India.
She has judged several prestigious awards, such as the National Book Award and the PEN Faulkner Award.
Two of her books, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, have been made into movies by filmmakers Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berges (an English film) and Suhasini Mani Ratnam (a Tamil TV serial) respectively. Her novels One Amazing Thing and Palace of Illusions have currently been optioned for movies. Her book Arranged Marriage has been made into a play and performed in the U.S. and (upcoming, May) in Canada. River of Light, an opera about an Indian woman in a bi-cultural marriage, for which she wrote the libretto, has been performed in Texas and California.
She lives in Houston with her husband Murthy. She has two sons, Anand and Abhay (whose names she has used in her children’s novels).
Visit her here



Book Purchase Links:


1 comment:

  1. Hey, It really is incredibly fantastic and informative website. Good to discover your site Very well article! I’m simply in love with it.
    ____________________
    Kids book reviews

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your feedback!