Scan barcode
A review by ghostlydreamer
The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R.K. Narayan
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
It doesn't feel right to review this, if I'm being honest. It is a sacred text, after all. I read it merely out of personal interest, because while I am not Hindu, I'm very curious about the culture.
I guess I was not expecting to be told the story more than I was shown. I know originally it is told in verse, but this was all paragraph form, and it threw me off. Of course I knew it was highly abridged, but I guess it just wasn't the format I expected at first. This is purely something I noticed about this particular issue, and nothing against the text itself.
Anyway, it started out confusing and slow, and I really struggled to read it. I would take notes, but that didn't seem to be enough and just slowed me down more. Remarkable, considering how short this edition is to start with. That meant I didn't touch this thing for months. It felt like too much work to pick back up. So I just let it sit there. And sit there. And sit there some more.
Until finally, I decided I needed to finish it. And you know what? Once I got passed the second chapter, it actually flew by. It became easier to make sense of what was happening and why, and I finished reading it very quickly. Did I properly digest everything I read to the point of memory commitment? Honestly, no. I had some background on the Ramayana going into this, which helped, and reading this gave me a new appreciation for such a sacred and beloved text. But it was also very dense, and I no longer remember the finer details.
Still, I am glad that I read it. I am not sure I could have read the whole thing in its original format, so it is probably a good thing that I eventually pushed through and finished this one. It was worth the read and its initial struggle, and I think it's great that there are abridged versions of this so that you can learn more about it, even though this particular edition was not told in the way I expected.
I guess I was not expecting to be told the story more than I was shown. I know originally it is told in verse, but this was all paragraph form, and it threw me off. Of course I knew it was highly abridged, but I guess it just wasn't the format I expected at first. This is purely something I noticed about this particular issue, and nothing against the text itself.
Anyway, it started out confusing and slow, and I really struggled to read it. I would take notes, but that didn't seem to be enough and just slowed me down more. Remarkable, considering how short this edition is to start with. That meant I didn't touch this thing for months. It felt like too much work to pick back up. So I just let it sit there. And sit there. And sit there some more.
Until finally, I decided I needed to finish it. And you know what? Once I got passed the second chapter, it actually flew by. It became easier to make sense of what was happening and why, and I finished reading it very quickly. Did I properly digest everything I read to the point of memory commitment? Honestly, no. I had some background on the Ramayana going into this, which helped, and reading this gave me a new appreciation for such a sacred and beloved text. But it was also very dense, and I no longer remember the finer details.
Still, I am glad that I read it. I am not sure I could have read the whole thing in its original format, so it is probably a good thing that I eventually pushed through and finished this one. It was worth the read and its initial struggle, and I think it's great that there are abridged versions of this so that you can learn more about it, even though this particular edition was not told in the way I expected.