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| The Palace of Illusions A Novel, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Image taken from Indian Epics Reading Guides |
"Mythomania"
Did anyone see this article last week in The Economist about the craze among Indian readers (and writers) re-discovering the joys of Indian Mythology? Oh my gosh, what a timely read for me! In the article, it talks about Indian Readers finding their "Game of Thrones" type of books, and falling over themselves for them. The article mentions "The Palace of Illusions" by Divakaruni, which I am just now finishing, so it's a timely read. Especially for those of us finishing up the Indian Epics class! Also mentioned is that a 2-Part Disney Adaptation Movie is being made, drawing from the Mahabharata! What?! Yes! I am so excited to see this!
Here is a short list of the mythological novel-adaptations mentioned in the article (definitely adding these to my reading lists!):
- "The Palace of Illusions" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
- Eight Volume Ramayan series that began with "Prince of Ayodhya" by Ashok Banker
- Devdutt Pattanaik's "The Pregnant King"
- Amish Tripathi, author of "The Shiva Trilogy"
- Mr. Sanghi's "The Krishna Key"
- Krishna Udayasankar's "Aryavarta Chronicles"
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| Image of the Mahabharata depicting the Battle at Kurukshetra from Wikipedia |
Ok, So, I just kept listening and listening and listening to this book! It was so good! I didn't pause to take notes like I normally do, but a few things definitely stood out for me as I was finishing up the reading/listening of this novel.
- Wow. Just wow. Divakaruni's writing style is the epitome of everything that we've tried to achieve in this class with our own writing: get inspire by the original story, but expound upon it. Divakaruni tried to stay pretty close to reality with fleshing out characters and they're likely true feelings, and I was floored by how true she stayed in this sense. When she could have easily gone down a path of frivolity, or over indulging in emotions or a part of the tale that would have been easy to embellish too much, she held back, keeping the same tone throughout the book. In the final scene of the book, up on the mountain in the cold snow, I can only imagine that Divakaruni must have laid herself down on her floor, and felt all of the things that she wrote in Draupadi in that final moment. She must have layed there, who knows for how long, and thought about what she would think about if her final hours were on her. I really, truly got a sense of reality and a depth of thought and consideration for the character that I have never, ever gotten close to being able to capture in my own writing. It was truly inspiring.
Part G
34 Secrets -- The grandfather is proving to be a problem. Yudishtir proves his righteousness still. The Battle of Kurukshetra rages on.
- FINALLY! WE FINALLY KNOW WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING BETWEEN DRAUPADI AND KARNA!!!! Ok, sorry for all caps, but that was a long, and drawn out, and tantalizing wait to find out what really hid in the heart of Karna. And Draupadi can't even respond! Ugh! The wait continues. I absolutely adore Divakaruni here, for accurately portraying the internal struggles of women: Kunthi, Draupadi, righteous, duty, what women must do to adhere to social norms, despite the true emotions inside.
35 Avanlanche
36 Wheel
37 Owl -- This was an odd little vignette. I'm not really sure I followed what it meant, but it was interesting... How did she dream and know what was happening? Now that I've finished the book, and know that Draupadi is divine too, I can re-interpret this scene differently, but at the time, it seemed weird to be placed here.
38 Pyre Whoah... Whoah whoah whoah. The scene where Draupadi gets on the temporary dais and speaks to the bereaved women is really moving. It's real. It's not pretentious, or lofty in the imagery of the scene, although I easily would have embellished this part, Divakaruni keeps true to Draupadi's character here.
Reading H
39 Ash
40 Snake The raising of the grandson is really interesting here. I find it sweet that Draupadi, his grandmother, and him have a close relationship despite her harsh treatment of him when she notices his anger rising up.
41 Reed Noooooooooo. Not Krishna's end!!! Say it isn't so!!!!
42 Snow How does Divakaruni write so beautifully here? Why does Draupadi choose this place to let herself die? Why let yourself die? Why not go on until you absolutely cannot anymore. She acknowledges that she could have gotten back up and gone up to the road, but she chose this way, dying by freezing, as her way to meet her end. Why? It's a beautiful end to the story, and I accept it the way that it is, but this seem like a giving up at the end on the part of Draupadi, after a life of choosing the harder paths and sticking to her guns and pushing through any tough time.
43 Fire
"I am buoyant, and always was so. Only, I never knew it." And then she took Karna's hand, and they went to the only palace that they needed: air around and sky above. (YES! YES! THEY GET TOGETHER IN THE END!!!! This is what makes it a satisfying novel to me, a woman, in the end. Ha.)
Reflections On "The Palace Of Illusions"
- I was repeatedly impressed at the full breadth of this novel. It included so many side stories that I didn't even know, or I remember exploring briefly during this semester, but had actually forgotten that this side story was attached to this character, that side story attached to that one. It must have taken long planning hours and lots of mapping out of each character to really weave the type of tale that she has made here. She so deftly placed these extra little anecdotal scenes into the story that it seemed normal for us to get a little more history here, or there. It was seriously impressive and inspiring. How much time did she spend preparing for each chapter? Mapping out the book? Planning how in depth she wanted to go with each character? Repeatedly she references back to the familial history of the characters (thankfully, for me) so that we can more fully understand the perspective that each one is taking in their actions?
- Overall, I really appreciated the feminist perspective that she took. I think it was brilliant to approach it from this angle. I was initially drawn in because I was curious: what would it have been like to be the wife to five husbands? How exhausting! is all that I could imagine. It definitely was a worthwhile endeavor to explore, but in the end, Divakaruni takes us even further than that. She takes us down the path of a woman's life, following it to completeness, to the very end. I suppose that's what good authors do, they fully flesh out characters and let us live those characters' lives through their writing. It certainly leaves me questioning my own ability to tell a story or spin a tale, or write, for that matter, but on that note, it leaves me with a one final thought: I've got a long way to go, and a lot of practice to do, to try and achieve that kind of level of writing. Bravo, Divakaruni.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni lives in Houston with her husband, and two sons.
Image via Wikipedia
