Reviews

Sita's Ramayana by Samhita Arni

mukta's review against another edition

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Beautiful artwork, but was disappointed with the flow of the story. For claiming to provide a female perspective to an age old retelling, it felt repetitive in its narration instead of developing on the strength of the character. 

mirapatodia's review against another edition

3.0

in the past, i've only ever heard the ramayana from rama or ravana's perspective. i absolutely loved hearing it from sita's pov. she's by far my favorite character and is amazingly badass. the art in this book is also stunning and i loved it in every way.

sangeethat's review against another edition

2.0

The illustrations where beautiful but it lacked a feminist element for me. For a children's book that is told from a female point of view, I feel it could have done a lot more for girls children everywhere by delving deeper into Sita rather than re telling the same old misogynist myth everyone does.

emeelee's review against another edition

4.0

I quite liked this graphic interpretation of the Ramayana from Rama's wife Sita's perspective. I'm not very familiar with the Ramayana, so I can't compare this retelling to the original, but I was very swept up into the story. I appreciated Sita's ruminations on the horrors of war and the hollowness of victory; Rama definitely doesn't come out looking the hero in this version. Hanuman's character surprised me, and I think he ended up being my favorite.

The artwork is colorful and engaging, and it's neat that the illustrations are done in traditional Bengali style, though I wish the character's faces had displayed more emotionality. The comic starts off with multiple character charts and family trees, and a lot of the characters look similar, so I worried that I would struggle to remember which character was which and who was related to who, etc. It's a credit to Arni's storytelling that I ended up having no trouble with that at all.

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showlola's review against another edition

3.0

Stunning art and an interesting story that I wasn't familiar with before this reading. However the break between the artist and writer was clear - it felt disjointed and choppy. Also, the choice for type instead of hand lettering was a regrettable one - it made the book feel much less serious or interesting, even when it was capable of being something more.

andresreading's review against another edition

2.0

Unfortunately I did not like the artwork, in spite of being in tune with the culture of the story, and I found the writing to be rather stale. It's a story, however, that shows us how women are usually pawns in the wars between men.

northernatlas's review against another edition

4.0

The Ramayana as told through the perspective of Sita. A fast-paced graphic novel that reimagines the epic war story from the female perspective, giving voice and bearing witness to the injustices of violence and endless cycle of warfare. Pretty bad ass.

ifthebook's review against another edition

4.0

Very lovely art and a good re-telling of the Ramayana, mainly because it focuses on the women who, in my opinion, are the most interesting characters in the whole thing. Especially Trijata. Really, if you re-tell the Ramayana and Trijata is important, I will like your book.

yen17's review against another edition

Very pretty art and lovely rendition of the Ramayana.

dearestoldworld's review

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5