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nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexism, Violence, and War
shruti_menon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
Graphic: War
Moderate: Violence and Murder
leahrosiee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Infertility, Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Physical abuse, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and War
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Domestic abuse
hanarama's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
*3.5*
Kaikeyi is Vaishnavi Patel’s ambitious debut novel, retelling the first part of the Ramayana from the perspective of one of its most complicated characters. The only daughter amongst seven brothers, Kaikeyi is often ignored, both by her father and by the gods themselves. What power she has, she fought tooth and nail for, and in doing so becomes a formidable warrior, advisor, diplomat, and queen.
The power and influence that she has spent a lifetime carefully cultivating is thrown off kilter as her step-son Rama begins to ascend into his own power.
I loved the first half of this book, though it moved slowly. The meandering pace gives the reader space to get to know Kaikeyi and to understand her motivations. Her flaws and virtues are presented side by side throughout her rise to power, making her feel very real.
Though most of the other characters are not given the same detail as Kaikeyi, their relationships to her feel clear. While reading, I felt connections to them through Kaikeyi. Particularly, I loved her interactions with Dasharatha. I loved how asexuality was represented in their relationship. Though she didn’t love him as a romantic partner, her love for him as a friend felt so real.
The Binding Plane was beautifully handled. Its introduction makes for an interesting dynamic between Kaikeyi and the court intrigues of Kekeya and Ayodhya. The power felt very defined, but also strong, making Kaikeyi’s use of the Binding Plane feel very impactful.
The second half lost me a little bit. While compelling and fun to read, I felt that Patel framed too much of it in black and white. This was jarring, considering the care given in the first half to portray things in shades of gray. Kaikeyi is presented initially as an ambitious, sometimes callous, sometimes caring woman, but as Rama becomes more prominent, Patel presents her as wholly in the right and Rama as wholly in the wrong. I feel like there was a way for Patel to have shown them both as complicated, whole people.
It felt too much like Patel was trying to flip the entire narrative in reverse, rather than to give more space to the female characters to be rich and interesting people. Because despite Kaikeyi’s efforts in the story to raise the station of women in Kosala, she’s really the only female character to get thorough characterization. Others like Sita and Sumitra feel very flat. Framing the major conflict between Kaikeyi and Rama as a disagreement of women’s place in society rings kind of hollow given how they seem to only matter as a concept and not so much as characters.
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Infertility, Violence, and War
sunfalls's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I never read any of the translations of the Ramayana, considering I'm not fluent in Hindi or Sanskrit, and thus could not read any of the originals. However, I am vaguely familiar with the story of the Ramayana, as well as other stories of the gods and goddesses of the past. After reading this version, I think I vastly prefer this interpretation. I have never heard of anything like the
I know that this retelling has a lot of fabricated material in it as well, but I did enjoy it all in all. It was well-written, and it was a refreshing new take on a story that has been told to many people in many ways for generations. For those that believe very devoutly that the Ramayana is more than an epic or a legend, this retelling will undoubtedly cause offense, but if anything, this endeared the original version to me more, by bringing the old characters into new more interesting light. I don't know the ages of Rama and Lakshmana when they were exiled, but with how young they were in this book, their behavior prior did make a lot of sense to me. If you were growing up human with the knowledge that you are also a god, I feel as though that would definitely stoke ego in a way that isn't entirely positive. Supposedly, in the original epic, or at least the version that is most commonly known, Rama knew he was a god, but he still grew up being extremely pious and well behaved nonetheless. In any case, I think it's possible to believe multiple versions of the same tale can be true. From the way it was portrayed here, Radnyi Kaikeyi was alone in noticing how extreme Rama's youthful prejudice towards women became, since she was the one out of all their mothers who became the dealer of punishment when her children became too mischievous. While in this version, Radnyi Kaushalya knew to some extent that Rama was not ready to assume the throne, she did not have the same insight Kaikeyi had, and also was forced to pretend to hate Kaikeyi, in order to not lose all that she had, in the same way. This really makes it seem as though Kaikeyi was mostly alone, since Kaushalya seemingly hadn't mentioned it to anyone.
I'm not sure if anyone would be bothered by the heavy-handed foreshadowing, but I feel as though most readers of this book would be familiar with the Ramayana to some extent. At least, I did not mind it; in fact, I liked it, since I already knew what the perception of Kaikeyi is in pretty much all versions of the Ramayana, as well as the general plot-line of the epic. I think any of my thoughts on this book are all within the context of the original Ramayana. I don't have many thoughts on this book without that context, since I cannot separate myself from my knowledge of the Ramayana well enough to evaluate this book as a stand-alone, look at its merits or lack-thereof, if there is in fact a lack, objectively without my opinions colored by my ideas and remembrances of the Ramayana. If you have no knowledge of the Ramayana, it might be useful to read other reviews to see if they read this book without that innate context.
Overall, I did enjoy this book a lot, and I think the character development and portrayal of depression and difficulty was very well done. I think this book was very well done, in terms of plot, placing, character development, even all the minutiae that comes with writing books, like grammar, punctuation, etc. I would definitely recommend reading this, even if you have no knowledge of the Ramayana, since there is plenty of action, and stories that fill in the gaps in Kaikeyi's generally known life. I quite like the feminist take on this as well. 5/5, would recommend.
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death
jaan's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Patel's inclusion of magic in this book is interesting. On one hand, I've read reviews saying it wasn't really necessary to the story. I understand this perspective, as it does feature prominently in the first act before largely fading to the background. I think it plays a pivotal role for two reasons. The first is
In my imagination, the exclusion of magic would have created a story exactly opposite to the one Patel is trying to write: without it, Kaikeyi's growing power would easily be read as due to "feminine wiles," cunning manipulation, and malicious jealousy. She would also be sexually voracious, which Patel's Kaikeyi, out of narrative necessity, is not. This is the figure I remember from my childhood interactions with the Ramayana, and not one whose story I want to read, especially in a book wherein the protagonist so vehemently rankles from—and combats—sexism and institutional misogyny.
As an aside, I truly hate how popular culture has boiled down this book to "asexual representation." It's reductive to call Kaikeyi asexual from three perspectives. First, cultural: contemporary ideas of gender and sexuality are a product of imperial Western ideas and developments, and thus should not be applied to a figure from ancient Indian epics. Second, historical: Egyptologists refuse to apply contemporary labels of gender and sexuality onto historical figures. rudjedet (at least, I believe it was her; I can't find the post) on Tumblr explains excellently that just as she enjoys the privilege and dignity of defining herself, so should historical figures retain that dignity, and they would categorically define themselves differently than we would. Out of respect, she does not apply these labels. Third, narratively: Kaikeyi's indifference towards sexual relations with her husband is extremely minor in the story, and for me, as a person on the asexual spectrum, is not proof she does not experience sexual attraction. Once again, historical and cultural approaches to sex and sexual desire, especially for women, are drastically different than contemporary understandings. The fact that this book is considered LGBTQIA fiction is, frankly, insulting to me both as a Desi person and as a queer person.
Patel has taken some artistic liberties in this book which devout Hindus may not appreciate, especially with the convergence of Vamadeva and Gautama into one person, which she acknowledges in a note. This book is neither a historical document nor Hindu scripture. However, many of her choices align with the Ramayana, to which this book serves as a "prologue." I found her characterization of Rama really interesting, especially in light of the fact that, mythologically, he banishes Sita after their period of exile is over.
TLDR: I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!! The reason it took me two days to read is because I fell asleep around 2AM and work up the next morning. Kaikeyi is sharp, endearing, and flawed. I am thankful to Patel for this version of her.
"In the end, I have always been concerned with mortal affairs. But the fact that they were mortal did not make them small. Nor did it make me wrong."
Graphic: Misogyny and War
Moderate: Infertility
mali33102's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and War
regen20's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, and War
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Pregnancy
chelsaat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Violence and War
Minor: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse