I'm sooo happy to have an excuse to read novels for class!!! Really, it's a nice way to finish up spring break. I haven't been able to do fun reading in a while, so I appreciate the chance to combine novels and classwork. I've read one of Divakaruni's more recent novels, Oleander Girl, and enjoyed it, so I've been looking forward to starting this one as well.
Divakaruni is a writer after my own heart with the premise of this book. She questions the portrayal of women in the Indian epics, how they are strong figures but brought out only when they have important interactions with the men. Draupadi is like every other historical fiction heroine: modern before her time, feeling like she's socially on the fringes, questioning women's roles, education, etc. -- but at the same time, isn't that what we want to read about her challenging?
Annnd it looks like Divakaruni is, perhaps inevitably, going to start exploring the whole fate thing. Draupadi is already questioning how unquestioningly everyone goes along with what their roles should be, with what the characters are told they must do according to prophecy and whatnot. I can't wait to see how this question is resolved, if it can be.
Also, I've discovered that I cannot for the life of me keep all these names straight. Three versions of the Mahabharata in, and I couldn't remember everyone's relationships and even had to double-check that Arjun is one of the
Draupadi Amman figure from Alandur (Wikimedia Commons)
Note: I originally planned to start the second half of the semester with Breaking the Bow, but I acquired a copy of Divakaruni's novel before I could get the anthology, so I'm swapping the two in order.
Oh, I am so glad you are reading this, Susanna! She is one of my favorite novelists, and she is working on a novel about SITA right now!!! She is a great person to follow at Twitter because she teaches writing, so she shares lots of good stuff! Chitra Divakaruni at Twitter
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