"The Tree with a Thousand Apples" by Sanchit Gupta

"The Tree with a Thousand Apples" 

by Sanchit Gupta

To the outside world and to the newer generation; even in India, Kashmir is what books like this shout out and propagate.  It is full of tyrannies of the state/army and events of poor people getting punished.  To them I would just say what I have said in my Goodreads review - I am not sure.  I am not sure of the various twists and turns in the book.  There are areas and details which are missing completely from events.  The sequence of events is twisted to show one side of pain only. 

I feel the author is trying to give a biased view of the situation. I will not go into the political truth of the facts and situation here.  But the book certainly seems biased and gives a one-sided narrative.  There are situations which are glorified and other situations which are made horrific & gory unnecessarily.  It seems the writer is not possessing basic knowledge regarding the culture and religion of people in the area.  People in India take their culture seriously and the lose narrative around characters with no dependency on history or culture or family values is disturbing.  There are hundreds and thousands of people across the world who had some unfortunate event happened to someone in their family.  The way characters take up guns in this book seems to be so easy and normal.  They do not even seem to have  a guilt narrative built around them nor are they made to think of any consequences.  I feel bad even for t he characters who have picked up guns here.  

Such books which claim to be based on facts and claim that they represent the common people need to be more responsible, unless obviously confusing everyone and giving false picture is the aim.  Such cases whereby facts can be twisted by fiction are always tricky.  People might take this fiction and consider it as a fact for what is the current situation in Kashmir.  

In terms of taking this plainly as a literary artifact, plots here are kept incomplete and not getting closed or reaching anywhere except a hasty closure at the end.   

Overall Review: 2*

Grip Factor         :  3

Language Style   :  3

Engaging Plot     :  2.5

Characters           :  2

Satisfying End     : 2

Goodreads Review: 2* (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33119297-the-tree-with-a-thousand-apples)

"The Palace of Illusions" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

"The Palace of Illusions" 

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Mahabharat has always been a story for me with loads of questions.  Questions around the godlike events, around the whole fanfare around Dharma, around several characters specially Draupadi, Karna, Duryodhan, Bheeshma and the five Pandavas.  This book gives me a different perspective on the entire story.

It allows me to relate to things and events in the story.  We have always listened and seen the story as something happening on the outside in a different realm.  However, it allows me to put myself in Panchali's shoes.  The way the story is written by Chitra Banerjee is so easy and smooth.  She makes Draupadi look like a normal human being with dreams and wants which she strives for and feels strongly when she loses them.

The story almost makes me fall in love with Draupadi and Karna.  The feelings displayed between these two in the book are such that you want them to be together and leave the rest of the story.  You want the writer to switch directions away from Mahabharat and towards the love story of these two.  Even though Yudhistir is one of the Pandavas, he looks like a villian in the book.  I hate him more than even Duryodhan.  Bhim feels like a bully who is soft at heart and cares for people.  Arjun has been kept just like another character - no feeling, no longing, no relation as such.  Relation with Kunti is just like any modern-day mother in law and daughter in law saga.  The kingdom of Indraprashtha has been given the same magical, mystical effect as we have always heard.  I don't know how appropriate such things are when we are talking about a historical set of events.  I love the girl though.

Points out of 5.  We all know how the story of Mahabharat goes.  The points represent how the story has taken shape in this book.  

Grip Factor         :  4.5

Language Style   :  4

Engaging Plot     :  4.5

Characters           :  4

Satisfying End     : 4

Goodreads Review:  Gave a 4* (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1774836.The_Palace_of_Illusions)