Lost in Illusions

Since picking up Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's "The Palace Of Illusions", I've been able to think of nothing else. While I'm reading, I feel like I can't read fast enough - I'm so excited to turn the page and see what is next - and then I'm filled with sadness, because I don't want the book to end - therefore I re-read the page again, close my eyes - and imagine as if I were there. UGH - so good. MUY good. Divakaruni has a magical way of storytelling - it truly puts you under a spell. When I'm not reading the book {because I'm a) cleaning a house, b) teaching yoga, c) at mildreds, or d) asleep} it is still constantly in my thoughts. I dream about it at night, and when I'm at work my mind is only on Panchaali and all that she is faced with. {panchaali is the main character}. Place of Illusions is "A reimagining of the world -famous Indian epic, The MAHABHARAT - told from the point of view of an amazing woman." I am utterly fascinated by the dieties, gods, goddesses, curses and prophecies - the reincarnations and karmic lives. Anyways, I'm writing this blog to explain the LACK of blogs. I cannot spend any free time on anything other than this book, and therefore I will not write another blog until I'm finished {unfortunately for me, this may be later in the afternoon....}. I've already spent too much time away from my precious story as it is, but I just HAD to share the wealth with you.

"Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to the time of the Indian epic The Mahabharat—a time that is half-history, half-myth, and wholly magical. Through her narrator Panchaali, the wife of the legendary five Pandavas brothers, Divakaruni gives us a rare feminist interpretation of an epic story.

The novel traces Panchaali’s life, beginning with her magical birth in fire as the daughter of a king before following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father’s kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at the brothers’ sides through years of exile and a terrible civil war. Meanwhile, we never lose sight of her stratagems to take over control of her household from her mother-in-law, her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna, or her secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husband’s most dangerous enemy. Panchaali is a fiery female voice in a world of warriors, gods, and ever-manipulating hands of fate."