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A review by sahitya
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
1.0
not tagging this with spoilers because the mahabharat is OLD and spoilers aren't a big deal, MOVE ON!
ok so this was dull.
i have many issues with this book and because i genuinely expected this book to be great i'll be expressing all of them.
the book is just bland. it's hollow to the point i wonder how it's so popular. the beginning of the book is blah enough until it becomes downright embarrassing with draupadi's 'not like other girls' complex. (then i remembered this book was published in the 2000s, yikes.)
her disdain for women her age and anything feminine is just very odd to me. i understand feeling alienated from your peers and self-aggrandizing as a coping mechanism but the writing doesn't frame this habit as something unhealthy; instead the reader is supposed to be charmed by this? *nothing* about disliking other women for simply wanting to survive is charming. it reads as a "strong female character" a man would write.
the narrative is set in an ambiguous future setting from which draupadi narrates her life and it automatically weakens the book because as a retrospective, the stakes don't exactly exist knowing all of these events have happened. i understand it's difficult making an epic, which most people know the gist and emotional beats of, compelling but making everything happen to draupadi in real time dissolves any regret lingering in the subtext. the regret and the sense of gloom that hangs over every story arc in the book is such a turn-off.
as a wise man once said, "don't half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing." the people behind this book clearly haven't heard this adage. some reviews mention that the language used here lacks grandeur and isn't eloquent enough for a retelling of an epic. which like true, but i'm not opposed to simple language. i read because i like stories, not because i'm here to expand my vocabulary or something, fuck that shit! the writing is bad because it neither trusts the characters nor their surroundings to make the reader interested, so it juggles between both, never committing to anything and it comes off like an icse english-i essay or an oscar-bait film that no one watched.
draupadi is so miserable. we never see her having a good day. like all she does is bask in her misery. and no one ever calls her out on her bullshit? the only time she's actually happy is when she's dying, like that's a horrible horrible horrible message. and when she's miserable it's so obvious her reasons her shallow? like oh nooo i lost my palace of illusions :(( boo hoo IRDGAF? am i supposed to feel sorry for her? I DON'T! if she's a goddamn queen, she should act like one. the writing with regard to the palace is just godawful. i believe the subtext that it was the first place to make her feel at home was supposed to carry my sympathies, but it doesn't. we never get the humanizing moment where we see her behave like a real human being, so when the time comes and we're supposed to care, i really can't. our sympathies have been directed towards privileged rich women for long enough and it is time we direct them elsewhere. she's a badly-written sofia coppola protagonist because she has none of the humanity to make up for how insufferable people like her are.
draupadi's trauma is handled clumsily at best. there is nothing revolutionary about writing women who become irrationally vengeful after a traumatic experience. anger is a part of trauma but the less glamorous aspects of it always go unwritten. it never mentions the sudden restlessness of being surrounded by people who one thought one could trust, the icks and the anxiety of facing one's abuser, the panic and the guilt that seems to loom over seemingly happy moments. trauma changes how one thinks and to see it being portrayed the way it is here is just depressing. seeing her realize how many lives she's hurting (which is also awkwardly put with its usage of perhaps-es and maybe-s) and how petty revenge is so much later is very odd! and to justify death and destruction because it was her destiny? WTF! revenge is a short-time wish but no one truly puts it into action and if they do, it causes more harm and the cycle of violence continues. wasn't the whole mahabharat a cautionary tale? then why, just why are we justifying it all in the name of destiny?
i wanted to see a multifaceted and fully realized character, instead i got a woman who's written the way men think a feminist character should be written. the lack of a feminine gaze is truly appalling. i don't feel held by this book, only exiled.
other nitpicks:
food is writing in the least imaginative and most unappetizing manner. what the hell is a rice pudding bristling with almonds. call it kheer! desi writers pandering to the white gaze by removing ethnic names of food will always be a qualm of mine. food not written well is a mark of someone who writes impassionately.
shikhandi falls into the trap of writing a character that can be vaguely described as 'a transgender' and is a mishmash of stereotypes about anyone who doesn't conform to the gender binary (big yikes moment there)
dhai ma was such a cliché character and i feel very indifferent towards her because of how commonplace side characters like her are.
there is no anti-caste dialogue in the book. it's views on caste only extend so far as to 'casteism bad' and 'it was hard for lower varnas back in the day'. it's not enough to acknowledge casteism, we need to actively be against this stupid system and acknowledge the privilege of people who benefit from it.
that one scene where draupadi talks shit about subhadra because she's holding hands with arjun and says she dislikes hidimba for arbitrary reasons and then says it's the time of war and they must unite blah blah blah was the literary equivalent of gossiping about people you don't know well and then saying 'oh but it's got nothing to do with us really'
karna talking about draupadi's boobs when bheeshma was on his deathbed was so odd. have some compassion!
kunti was underdeveloped and there should have been parallels between her and draupadi. their relationship had so much potential but it just became "hag hates her sons' wife" and that trope seems to be rooted in our refusal to let women age and we should unpack that some time.
krishna knowing draupadi since she was very young and then seemingly reciprocating her romantic affections is very creepy. the fact that he negs her like he's some pickup artist is weird.
the part where women suddenly become safe in hastinapur because of the women's court is just terrible because misogyny is systemic and won't suddenly vanish like that.
ok so this was dull.
i have many issues with this book and because i genuinely expected this book to be great i'll be expressing all of them.
the book is just bland. it's hollow to the point i wonder how it's so popular. the beginning of the book is blah enough until it becomes downright embarrassing with draupadi's 'not like other girls' complex. (then i remembered this book was published in the 2000s, yikes.)
her disdain for women her age and anything feminine is just very odd to me. i understand feeling alienated from your peers and self-aggrandizing as a coping mechanism but the writing doesn't frame this habit as something unhealthy; instead the reader is supposed to be charmed by this? *nothing* about disliking other women for simply wanting to survive is charming. it reads as a "strong female character" a man would write.
the narrative is set in an ambiguous future setting from which draupadi narrates her life and it automatically weakens the book because as a retrospective, the stakes don't exactly exist knowing all of these events have happened. i understand it's difficult making an epic, which most people know the gist and emotional beats of, compelling but making everything happen to draupadi in real time dissolves any regret lingering in the subtext. the regret and the sense of gloom that hangs over every story arc in the book is such a turn-off.
as a wise man once said, "don't half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing." the people behind this book clearly haven't heard this adage. some reviews mention that the language used here lacks grandeur and isn't eloquent enough for a retelling of an epic. which like true, but i'm not opposed to simple language. i read because i like stories, not because i'm here to expand my vocabulary or something, fuck that shit! the writing is bad because it neither trusts the characters nor their surroundings to make the reader interested, so it juggles between both, never committing to anything and it comes off like an icse english-i essay or an oscar-bait film that no one watched.
draupadi is so miserable. we never see her having a good day. like all she does is bask in her misery. and no one ever calls her out on her bullshit? the only time she's actually happy is when she's dying, like that's a horrible horrible horrible message. and when she's miserable it's so obvious her reasons her shallow? like oh nooo i lost my palace of illusions :(( boo hoo IRDGAF? am i supposed to feel sorry for her? I DON'T! if she's a goddamn queen, she should act like one. the writing with regard to the palace is just godawful. i believe the subtext that it was the first place to make her feel at home was supposed to carry my sympathies, but it doesn't. we never get the humanizing moment where we see her behave like a real human being, so when the time comes and we're supposed to care, i really can't. our sympathies have been directed towards privileged rich women for long enough and it is time we direct them elsewhere. she's a badly-written sofia coppola protagonist because she has none of the humanity to make up for how insufferable people like her are.
draupadi's trauma is handled clumsily at best. there is nothing revolutionary about writing women who become irrationally vengeful after a traumatic experience. anger is a part of trauma but the less glamorous aspects of it always go unwritten. it never mentions the sudden restlessness of being surrounded by people who one thought one could trust, the icks and the anxiety of facing one's abuser, the panic and the guilt that seems to loom over seemingly happy moments. trauma changes how one thinks and to see it being portrayed the way it is here is just depressing. seeing her realize how many lives she's hurting (which is also awkwardly put with its usage of perhaps-es and maybe-s) and how petty revenge is so much later is very odd! and to justify death and destruction because it was her destiny? WTF! revenge is a short-time wish but no one truly puts it into action and if they do, it causes more harm and the cycle of violence continues. wasn't the whole mahabharat a cautionary tale? then why, just why are we justifying it all in the name of destiny?
i wanted to see a multifaceted and fully realized character, instead i got a woman who's written the way men think a feminist character should be written. the lack of a feminine gaze is truly appalling. i don't feel held by this book, only exiled.
other nitpicks:
food is writing in the least imaginative and most unappetizing manner. what the hell is a rice pudding bristling with almonds. call it kheer! desi writers pandering to the white gaze by removing ethnic names of food will always be a qualm of mine. food not written well is a mark of someone who writes impassionately.
shikhandi falls into the trap of writing a character that can be vaguely described as 'a transgender' and is a mishmash of stereotypes about anyone who doesn't conform to the gender binary (big yikes moment there)
dhai ma was such a cliché character and i feel very indifferent towards her because of how commonplace side characters like her are.
there is no anti-caste dialogue in the book. it's views on caste only extend so far as to 'casteism bad' and 'it was hard for lower varnas back in the day'. it's not enough to acknowledge casteism, we need to actively be against this stupid system and acknowledge the privilege of people who benefit from it.
that one scene where draupadi talks shit about subhadra because she's holding hands with arjun and says she dislikes hidimba for arbitrary reasons and then says it's the time of war and they must unite blah blah blah was the literary equivalent of gossiping about people you don't know well and then saying 'oh but it's got nothing to do with us really'
karna talking about draupadi's boobs when bheeshma was on his deathbed was so odd. have some compassion!
kunti was underdeveloped and there should have been parallels between her and draupadi. their relationship had so much potential but it just became "hag hates her sons' wife" and that trope seems to be rooted in our refusal to let women age and we should unpack that some time.
krishna knowing draupadi since she was very young and then seemingly reciprocating her romantic affections is very creepy. the fact that he negs her like he's some pickup artist is weird.
the part where women suddenly become safe in hastinapur because of the women's court is just terrible because misogyny is systemic and won't suddenly vanish like that.