The Book Lovers Club had a very interesting 1st meet where we discussed a slew of books, each one brought along one book to speak
about, and the authors discussed ranged from Picault, to Manto to
Coetze, amongst others.
A lot of discussion happened on which book should be the one for July,
and we finally decided on Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Palace of
Illusions because it is an interesting take of mythology narrated from
Draupadi's perspective.So this is the book we will read and discuss in the next meet.
Also, if anyone would like to send in reviews of any book they have
enjoyed recently, please do mail it in to us, will post on the blog.
So moving on we are now meeting on 1st August ,at Prithvi Cafe and will be joined by Gauri Dange,author of 3 Zakia Mansion who will read a few excerpts from her upcoming book 'The Counsel Of Strangers'
To read more about Gauri follow the links to the blog
http://thebookloversreview.blogspot.com/2010/04/q-with-gouri-dange.html and
http://thebookloversreview.blogspot.com/2010/04/3-zakia-mansion.html
Do join us!The fun has just begun!
Showing posts with label Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
My Review: One Amazing Thing
I am a huge fan of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's work.She is a masterful storyteller,her style of writing is unique,her characters beautifully etched and haunting.Yes all words absolutely proving my love of her work!So it was obvious that after reading her last book 'The Palace Of Illusions' I was eagerly looking forward to her next.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her themes include women, immigration, the South Asian experience, history, myth, magic and celebrating diversity.Her short stories, Arranged Marriage, won an American Book Award. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Houston.
One Amazing Thing her new book brings together nine men and women who are trapped in the Indian Consulate office after being hit by an earthquake in America.Nine people of different ages,different backgrounds ,who would under normal circumstances not even interact with each other are thrown together in an extraordinary situation.You have Malathi and Mangalam who are visa officials ,Jiang a Chinese Indian woman and her grand daughter Lily,Cameron an ex-soldier who takes charge of the place after the earthquake hits ,Uma an Indian-American,Tariq a young American Muslim and an elderly white couple.How do they react in the circumstance while waiting to be rescued makes it a very interesting premise.
All of them are so tensed about the situation they are in ,with panic rising they end up fighting and coming to blows with each other. That's when Uma suggests that each one should share a story,one amazing thing from their life which made them believe that life, for all its pain, is miraculous.Though initially reluctant they all warm up to the idea and so the beautiful journey begins!
What makes it interesting and heart warming is that the nine people trapped in the office are not sure whether they would be rescued in time,they are not sure of survival but the stories fill them with hope.It fills up the empty silence that would exist, it keeps their mind off their fate at the same time makes them curious of each others past.
I read straight through because this is the sort of book that pulls you along.That's the kind of writer and storyteller Divakaruni is.Only one word comes to my mind when I read this book ....unputdownable.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Review of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Queen of Dreams
Reviewed by Itchingtowriteblogs
I am on a Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni spree. I fell in love with her writing after reading Palace of Illusions. Such lucid style and hidden in that style is deep meaning.
All her books have a common thread - I am not talking of the Bengali backdrop- I am talking of the commonality that manifests in the form of dreams, power of stories or rather the power of a spoken word that takes a life of its own and within itself, carries a lesson. I love the way she says that everyone visualizes a story in a different way- sees it in their own mind through different filters. I think that is a great insight for everyday life also.
Digression alert- Just the other day the husband and I were discussing the shape of a cabinet I had in mind- I said L shaped, visualising a vertical L- tall in the corner, and short but horizontally extending to cover the width of the space. The husband argues that there is no space for an L shaped cabinet- he imagining a horizontal 2 dimensional L.
Queen of Dreams take the power of dreaming to a magical (supernatural?)
level. The story is built upon the idea that a dream is a telegram from the hidden world. And I interpret the hidden world to be the future, the unknown, the yet-to-happen, because they say the mind sees that which the eye cannot or refuses to see.
After reading the book, I tried to crystallise my thoughts. I realized that whichever angle I take to my review, I am bound to miss out some shades of the story. There are so many facets to it that it is difficult to put them on the same page without giving the entire story away. So I took the most obvious route -the protagonists point of view.
Rakhi is an artist living the typical American born desi life- American by birth but having a keen interest to know about her roots. Her paintings depict India as she imagines, her chai house is Indian as per her understanding of what is India.
Rakhi's mother has an incredible gift- the power to dream the dreams of other people, dream warnings and even dream lost dreams - dreams of people long gone. She seeks out people whose dreams she has dreamt and warn them of potential hazards.
But then, that is not what the story is all about. It has deeper significances as lot of reviewers point out- relationship between mother and daughter, the daughter's quest for her identity through her mother's journals, her struggle for survival post 9/11, and on top of that her love-hate relationship with her ex-husband.
The story flits from Rakhi's thoughts to her mother's journals swiftly in an almost ethereal fashion. After her mother's death, Rakhi finds her mother's journals. The journals answer most of Rakhi's questions about her roots- those which during her lifetime, her mother was never able to speak about. They explain about her struggle with her choices. Her struggle with herself to come to terms with the fact that to keep her gift intact, she had to give up on the most precious things in life which normally a woman or a person would choose- her family. Or perhaps in her case, her gift was the most important thing in her life- over and above anything or anyone else. Or perhaps she is not the stereotypical woman for whom the family comes first?
Some questions are left unanswered much to my annoyance, leaving me behind with a feeling of loose ends- I almost scraped at the book cover to see if some pages are stuck by the way!
I am on a Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni spree. I fell in love with her writing after reading Palace of Illusions. Such lucid style and hidden in that style is deep meaning.
All her books have a common thread - I am not talking of the Bengali backdrop- I am talking of the commonality that manifests in the form of dreams, power of stories or rather the power of a spoken word that takes a life of its own and within itself, carries a lesson. I love the way she says that everyone visualizes a story in a different way- sees it in their own mind through different filters. I think that is a great insight for everyday life also.
Digression alert- Just the other day the husband and I were discussing the shape of a cabinet I had in mind- I said L shaped, visualising a vertical L- tall in the corner, and short but horizontally extending to cover the width of the space. The husband argues that there is no space for an L shaped cabinet- he imagining a horizontal 2 dimensional L.
Queen of Dreams take the power of dreaming to a magical (supernatural?)
level. The story is built upon the idea that a dream is a telegram from the hidden world. And I interpret the hidden world to be the future, the unknown, the yet-to-happen, because they say the mind sees that which the eye cannot or refuses to see.
After reading the book, I tried to crystallise my thoughts. I realized that whichever angle I take to my review, I am bound to miss out some shades of the story. There are so many facets to it that it is difficult to put them on the same page without giving the entire story away. So I took the most obvious route -the protagonists point of view.
Rakhi is an artist living the typical American born desi life- American by birth but having a keen interest to know about her roots. Her paintings depict India as she imagines, her chai house is Indian as per her understanding of what is India.
Rakhi's mother has an incredible gift- the power to dream the dreams of other people, dream warnings and even dream lost dreams - dreams of people long gone. She seeks out people whose dreams she has dreamt and warn them of potential hazards.
But then, that is not what the story is all about. It has deeper significances as lot of reviewers point out- relationship between mother and daughter, the daughter's quest for her identity through her mother's journals, her struggle for survival post 9/11, and on top of that her love-hate relationship with her ex-husband.
The story flits from Rakhi's thoughts to her mother's journals swiftly in an almost ethereal fashion. After her mother's death, Rakhi finds her mother's journals. The journals answer most of Rakhi's questions about her roots- those which during her lifetime, her mother was never able to speak about. They explain about her struggle with her choices. Her struggle with herself to come to terms with the fact that to keep her gift intact, she had to give up on the most precious things in life which normally a woman or a person would choose- her family. Or perhaps in her case, her gift was the most important thing in her life- over and above anything or anyone else. Or perhaps she is not the stereotypical woman for whom the family comes first?
Some questions are left unanswered much to my annoyance, leaving me behind with a feeling of loose ends- I almost scraped at the book cover to see if some pages are stuck by the way!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Palace of Illusions
In today's times a good marketing strategy can sell any book at ridiculous prices too!The book that comes into my mind right away is 'The Mistress of the Game' which must have sold lacs of copies just because it had Sidney Sheldon written boldly on the cover but is actually written by another author as a tribute to the deceased celebrated author.I don't even remember the name of the actual author who has actually written it.It was supposedly a sequel to Sidney Sheldon's bestseller 'The Master of the Game'.I am sure even Mr.Sheldon would be squirming in his grave.
Ok so now to get to the point this book The Palace of Illusions has been written by Chitra Banerjee Divakurni and it is a guaranteed one sitting read.The story is about Paanchali (aka Draupadi) and the legendary Mahabharat through her eyes.What is unique about this book is that it is the first time that a book based on the great Indian mythology has been written through a woman's point of view.
The great war between the Kauravas and Paanchali's husbands the Paandavas triggered off because of Draupadi and the great humiliation she faced due to the Kauravas.It explores her relationship with Karna (who she deeply loved),Krishna (her friend and her guide),Kunti (her Mother in law-who she was always at loggerheads with) and her husbands (Yudishtir,Bheem,Arjun,Nakul and Sahdeva).
The book is easy flowing,riveting till the last page,insightful and more importantly beautifully written.
A must read!
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