The Palace of Illusions in Fictional Fortress

Jan 05, 2021 Meera Nair rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Written in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni鈥檚 evocative script, The Palace of Illusions courses through the events in Draupadi鈥檚 life, giving us a panoramic glance at the life of the Panchaal Queen.

This retelling, while alluding to developments in both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, lends an air of empowerment to the female characters of the Hindu myths. Through its narration of the legends of Gods & kings, we read about humans鈥� inabilities to learn from their own follies.

I am so glad that this i Written in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni鈥檚 evocative script, The Palace of Illusions courses through the events in Draupadi鈥檚 life, giving us a panoramic glance at the life of the Panchaal Queen.

This retelling, while alluding to developments in both the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, lends an air of empowerment to the female characters of the Hindu myths. Through its narration of the legends of Gods & kings, we read about humans鈥� inabilities to learn from their own follies.

I am so glad that this is my first read of the year! The author鈥檚 storytelling abilities are by far one of the best I鈥檝e ever come across. Right from the first page, Draupadi鈥檚 narration of events keeps you thoroughly engrossed.

Also, this book holds a special place in my heart because of how nostalgic I felt. It reminded me of the TV series I鈥檇 watch as a child about Hindu mythological figures.

It鈥檚 been written in first-person narrative and the writing is very direct, which I liked. The voice that the author has created for Draupadi is full of vigor and a fierce acceptance of self.

Even if you have no contextual knowledge of what happens in either of the Hindu myths, you鈥檒l be able to read the book without feeling confused or lost. The author, when making references, frames the passages in such a way that you understand what has happened.

Covering a character鈥檚 entire life in the span of 300 odd pages can be a tricky thing if the story is not well-paced, but Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni manages it superbly. There wasn鈥檛 a time when I felt myself losing interest or getting too overwhelmed.

No matter the choices that these characters make in the book, by the end of it, I was reduced to tears because of their plight and the misfortunes they鈥檝e had to deal with. That鈥檚 the power of the author鈥檚 writing.

I had put off reading this title for ages! I hope you won鈥檛 make the same mistake. It鈥檚 high up on my 鈥榖est books to read鈥� recommendations list. So do yourself a favour, and get started with it! ...more

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Jan 08, 2020 Nivedita rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, best-women-characters, historical-fiction, indian-author, indian-mythology, 2020, set-in-south-asia

I think we have had enough of male retellings of Indian mythology and it's time we include more female perspectives to the literature. Draupadi is probably one of my most favourite characters in Indian mythology. She was humiliated and used as a pawn in a game without her own consent by her husbands, who were supposed to be her protectors. She vows that next time she washes her hair, it will be with the blood of those who humiliated her. The greatest war on Earth was because of the dishonour bro ...more

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Apr 25, 2022 Anangsha Alammyan rated it really liked it

The great epic Mahabharata told though the eyes of Draupadi - the queen of the five Pandava brothers.

One woman married to five men, who gamble her and lose her over a game of dice.

Who is then humiliated by her husbands' cousins as they try to pull off her sari in a court full of men.

Who then promises never to wash her hair until she bathes it in the blood of every hundred of the Kaurava brothers.

With so much fiery passion involved, her story, as expected, is grand, and the range of emotions ...more

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Nov 28, 2020 hema kanagasabai rated it really liked it

4.75 猸�

Growing up in an Indian household with the superstition that reading or owning a copy of the Mahabharata will bring quarrels in the family is a common thing that every reader like me would have experienced. Luckily my neighbour's house didn't consider such things as taboo and whenever they babysat me they read aloud stories of Indian Mythology to me from numerous children's book . Later through cartoons,tv shows, google and from my grandparents I came to know all the tales of our epic

The 4.75 猸�

Growing up in an Indian household with the superstition that reading or owning a copy of the Mahabharata will bring quarrels in the family is a common thing that every reader like me would have experienced. Luckily my neighbour's house didn't consider such things as taboo and whenever they babysat me they read aloud stories of Indian Mythology to me from numerous children's book . Later through cartoons,tv shows, google and from my grandparents I came to know all the tales of our epic

The Palace of Illusions is Mahabharata narrated from Panchali's pov and covers almost all events that happens from her birth to king Drupad till her death. I'm glad the author narrated the complicated tale in such a simplified language that it was so easy to read

It was so refreshing to go back to this nostalgic tale through Draupadi's eyes! Being inside her head changed my views on the perfect Pandavas and made me rethink. Draupadi's love for her brother and Dai ma , her undying devotion and friendship to Krishna, how she played a major role in life of Pandavas and sowed the seeds for upcoming Hastinapur war and her life after the war was so gripping and heartbreaking even though I knew the tale already.The beauty of this tale is that we can see the flaws in everyone including Draupadi

Draupadi is always overlooked in Mahabharata , I'm so glad the author choose to write a retelling of women-centric Mahabharata. Why to remember such a great character with only the disrobing episode and marriage to 5?? She didn't ask for those things and she was pushed to marry all 5. She didn't sit back and cry, instead she rebelled against her own husbands when the time demands,cursed the family who did wrong to her and the curse came true at last, plotted with bheem and killed Kichaka and much more! Definitely she's a force to be reckoned with and forever grateful for this retelling

Towards the end It was a sob fest for me and also I yearned for Karna and Draupadi until the very end

Now let me explain why I didn't give it a full rating. I had one issue with this book! I always kept Kunti in high regard and To see her portrayed as evil mother-in-law didn't sit well with me. I accept that it was irritating when she didn't take back her word and admit that it was a genuine mistake to ask her sons to share a wife! But otherwise I don't have a problem with her. The entire book almost every chapter had the evil mother-in-law trope. I mean it's over done 馃槄 if it's just one or two times it wouldn't have bothered be this much. For example , stuff like this come all over the book

鈥淲e two old women,鈥� she said, smiling from beneath that ambiguous blindfold, 鈥渉ave much to talk about that you youngsters wouldn't understand.鈥� I hadn't thought Kunti would agree鈥擥andhari's sons had, after all, tried to kill hers. But she accepted with alacrity. Perhaps the two dowagers relished this chance to complain to each other about their daughters-in-law!

See that's the reason other wise this book is a gem and highly recommend it to everyone ...more

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Nov 06, 2015 Krittika Mittal rated it really liked it

The Palace of Illusions had been on my TBR for way too long. I think the Mahabharata is one of the most interesting stories ever written, with all its complexities and characters and curses. Kudos to the author for having the ingenuity to rewrite an age old story, from a completely different perspective, and yet stick to the the very essence of the epic. The story has been conveyed beautifully, no part of it unnecessarily stretched . Even someone who hasn't read/watched the Mahabharata can under ...more

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Jul 29, 2017 Priyanshi Bhardwaj rated it it was amazing

I urge everyone to read this book.

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Feb 06, 2020 Amrita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: indian-mythology, owned-books, 2020

I really enjoyed reading it!
More than the story, the silent lessons that it tries to teach our very human mind is what really caught my attention.
Towards the end of the book, a certain sense of calm came over me and I think it has also inspired me to delve more into the tale of Mahabharata and the teachings of Bhagavad Gita.
So glad I came across this book.

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