Chitra Banerjee DivakaruniBesprekingen

Too many unformed characters and a lot of telling instead of showing made this myth retelling very boring.

Independence is a really lovely novel. I loved the bond between the sisters and how the dynamics between them changed as they grew older and apart. The backdrop of the story - the independence of India, was fascinating and prompted me to spend more time learning about that piece of history. I didn’t connect with the story quite enough to rate it 5 stars, but I would still recommend this novel to lovers of historical fiction.

Takes place in the basement office of a visa permit for India. While a group of people are there awaiting there requests for a visa, an earthquake occurs. They find themselves trapped with limited food and water. Each one tells about a meaningful incident their lives while they await their outcome.

Three generations of Bengali women who, in turn, forsake their education, thereby limiting their prospects for independence and fulfillment. I read this upon returning from a trip to India, hoping to gain some insights into the lives of the women I encountered. Not so much, but the stories were interesting nevertheless.

A good story with a kind male lead, who makes mistakes and is willing to help others. Not a perfect book, but the storytelling was good and i like an adventure set in India.

I really enjoy stories which masterfully follow generations through a family, without tangling things up. There were some moments I felt in the scene myself, but most experienced as an outside witness. Overall an entertaining read feeding into my curiosities of family history.

I read 95% of this book and stopped because the character seemed primarily driven by the plot rather than internal desires.

Bookring. This was a really good book. I had three books by here here at the same time (Bookring deluge) and seriously she writes very well and vividly. =)

Bookring. Interesting premise and story - definitely worth reading. Engages the senses and the mind.

Bookring. This was a really good book. I had three books by here here at the same time (Bookring deluge) and seriously she writes very well and vividly. =)

From the very beginning of Sister of My Heart, Divakaruni dangles mysteries and secrets in front of the reader. Anju and Sudha are non-blood cousins, but as close as conjoined sisters. Both girls lost their fathers when they were newborns, but how? There is mystery surrounding their simultaneous demise. Each chapter of Sister of My Heart is told from the alternating viewpoints of Anju and Sudha. Each cousin's voice is too similar to discern but maybe, just maybe that is the point. Their love for one another, their bond makes them as close a singular entity. When one "sister" learns a deep family secret she is torn between keeping it and uncovering it. She needs to weigh the cost of each choice carefully.
This is the story of how one event can leave you scarred. Like a clogged artery, love cannot flow as easily. Secrets snag the once open heart. Is there a chance for forgiveness?

This is the best book I've read in years. I learned a lot of history from it, and the sisters' stories were captivating. The ending made me cry a lot though.

I read this in just a few days, and although it’s completely outside my comfort zone and very different from the usual books I pick up, I found myself oddly enthralled.

I thought the book had a few issues: I wasn’t crazy about the shifting POV from 1st to 3rd and back again, since there didn’t seem to be any consistency. I also wasn’t happy with the episodic feel of the chapters (they read like short stories, complete in their own right), but that became less of an issue as I got further into the story.

Despite those problems, the writing was smooth and engaging, and the characters incredibly complex and believable. I enjoyed that the events in the novel spanned generations.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni offers such a nuanced look at mother/daughter relationships, their complexities and difficulties, and the frequent inevitability of repeating our mothers’ patterns and mistakes.

I was also glad to get a look into a culture I don’t know much about. I have a couple of close friends who are of Indian descent, and what I enjoyed most about this novel is that it helped me understand them better. I will be looking for more books from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.

My last book of 2007.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni made an indelible impression on the literary world with her first novel, The Mistress of Spices, a magical tale of love and herbs. Sister of My Heart is less reliant on enchantment but no less enchanting as it tells the tale of two cousins born on the same day, their premature births brought on by a mysterious occurrence that claims the lives of both their fathers. Sudha is beautiful, Anju is not; yet the girls love each other as sisters, the bond between them so strong it seems nothing can break it. When both are pushed into arranged marriages, however, each discovers a devastating secret that changes their relationship forever.

Pretty good, though with the chapters alternating between the two girls I did get a little confused sometimes as to what happened to whom - there seemed to be not enough difference between the two voices for me to remember who and what. (I have to admit that I did read this over perhaps a week, putting it down and picking it up again, so that may have contributed).

I liked the premise and the cast of characters, but thought it was overwrought and the relationship with Raven (and his entire depiction) quite forced. Also, I was constantly friustrated with one of the main underlying themes that making oneself happy is a bad thing, and that arbitrary authoritarian rules should be followed or that we should willongly accept punishment for transgressing them. If I could give half stars, the rating would have been a 2.5.

17th

A lovely re-telling of Panchali/Draupadi's epic life with her 5 husbands. Divakaruni brings a unique and intimate voice to Panchali. She becomes a complex, nuanced and very human character...sometimes beloved, sometimes jeered.

When this book was doing rounds on the gram, one look at the cover made me want to push everything aside and read it.

I’m so glad I did!

The last queen is a historical/biographical fiction detailing the life of Rani Jindan Kaur of Punjab. When I say detail, I mean DETAIL! The book tells us everything starting from childhood up until the last day that the queen lived.

We hear so much about the male rulers we’ve had. When it comes to female rulers, we can pretty much count the stories on our fingers.

In lieu of complete transparency, I have never heard of Rani Jindan and if one of the goals the author had by writing the story was to get more people to know the Queen, she has won.

The story is divided into four parts - Girl, Bride, Queen, and Rebel.

I expected a triumphant woman who defied the prejudices of the society, fighting wars and ruling kingdoms. While she was everything that I mentioned above, she was also a woman that went from rags to riches becoming the youngest queen of Maharaja Ranjit Singh aka Sarkar, the Regent Queen when her son is set to rule at the tender age of five and back to rags, denied her pension once the British government takes over.

So, while it was all-powerful and joyous, it was also sad and depressing. What spoke to me most is how real the story was. No time was wasted in trying to glorify her life.

We learn about the rise and fall of the Empire, Raji Jindan’s relationships with her parents, her brother Jawahar, Guddan - a wife of Sarkars’ that she befriends, Mangla - her maid and ultimately her son - Dalip. We get a view of internal politics and how they make and break kingdoms.

The part I enjoyed the most was the one that takes place in Britain where her zeal and fire never die down in spite of the circumstances. She holds her ground and never gives up.

So while the story per se is not of someone winning and conquering, it is about someone who will inspire you to be yourself and never let anyone or anything bring you down!

Rating - 4/5 


Che noia, che barba, che barba, che noia...

Punto 1. Le spezie. Uno si aspetta che siano un elemento di originalità, capace di intrigare e di tenere attaccati alle pagine. Nada. Quando la protagonista enuncia le proprietà delle spezie, sembra di leggere il foglietto illustrativo di un medicinale (che, ecco, non è propriamente avvincente): serve a questo, rende così, fa cosà, una preghiera qui, un magia là. Wow.

Punto 2. La maga delle spezie, Tilo, ci fa una testa così dall'inizio alla fine con le regole che deve seguire, con le terribili punizioni alle quali andrebbe incontro se le violasse, e poi? Puff! Trova la sua dose di testosterone ideale (il suo americano, Raven) et voilà! E tutti vissero felici e contenti (tranne chi ha comprato il libro...).

Punto 3. Raven, il protagonista maschile. Assolutamente scialbo. Uno dei personaggi maschili letterari che mi hanno lasciato più indifferente in assoluto. Davvero non so cosa dire di lui.

Punto 4. L'autrice non è mai riuscita a farmi appassionare alla narrazione. Penso che ci sia stato uno sbaglio nell'impostazione della storia. Sarebbe stato meglio se l'autrice avesse raccontato la storia dal punto di vista dei personaggi minori, dei clienti di Tilo (Haroun, Geeta e la sua famiglia, Jagjit, Lalita) che mi hanno interessato decisamente di più dei protagonisti.

Right after "Hyperion", another coral novel. If the former sported very different narrative style for every character, here the tone is more uniform - the one we learned to love in Divakaruni.

Not the best of her books to date, but somehow the one with the most interesting finale.

Nine strangers are trapped in a visa office after an earthquake rocks the city. All come from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures. To pass the time, one of them suggests that they tell a story of a time that was important to them, "one amazing thing". The stories were wonderful and explained how different their lives are. I thought this book was beautifully written. I would have given it five stars, but I felt it got a bit confusing with so many characters. I would recommend this book to others.

Set against the backdrop of The Indian Partition in 1947 that created Pakistan, three sisters are also searching for their independence. Priya wants to become a doctor, like her father, virtually unheard of for a woman in the 1940s, Deepa falls in love with a Muslim man, which as a Hindu herself, is strictly forbidden. Jamini walks with a limp and wonders if she’ll ever get married and have a family of her own. And she happens to be in love with Priya’s fiancé. When the result of the partition is widespread violence, pitting Muslims against Hindus, their family is torn apart.

This book has it all. Richly developed characters and a fast-paced plot that had some surprising turns. I also learned a lot – I didn’t know much about the history of The Indian Partition.
I chose this book because I loved Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s book Oleander Girl. I’m happy to say I loved this book too. Highly recommended.

Excellent book about sisters in India at the time of independence. Realistic with interesting people and situations

Es tarde en la oficina de expedición de visados y pasaportes de una ciudad americana. La gente ha estado yendo y viniendo, pero ahora solo quedan nueve personas: una adolescente punki, una pareja caucásica de clase alta, un joven musulmán americano, una recién licenciada, un ex soldado afroamericano, una anciana china y dos empleados. De pronto, un terremoto rompe con la paz de la tarde y los atrapa a todos en el edificio. La lucha por la supervivencia hace que el estrés emocional y psicológico se acerque al límite, hasta que uno de ellos sugiere que cada uno cuente una historia personal, algo asombroso que haya ocurrido en sus vidas. De este modo, sus sorprendentes narraciones sobre el amor, el deber, la familia, la política y la muerte se van desvelando a la vez que dejan al descubierto la parte oculta de cada personaje y ayudan al resto a desviar su atención de la terrorífica situación que está viviendo.

Enjoyable book about two sisters. Love books about India. Always a bit of fantasy.