Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Title: The Palace of Illusions
Publication: Paperback
Pages: 360 pages
Genre: Fiction, mythology
Acquisition: Recommended by richardderus of LibraryThing
Date Completed: August 6, 2010
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
In a time of rich spices, jeweled saris, and everyday magic - a time of curses, vengeance, and the power of the heart - a girl stumbles out of the flames that have already produced her twin brother, carrying with her the thread and promise of change. In Divakaruni's masterful hands the myth of Panchaali takes shape, and the reader leaves behind the contemporary world for a society that carries far too many parallels to our own.
On its own, the narrative is majestic, but it is Divakaruni's character development that truly brings The Palace of Illusions to life. Panchaali herself is capable of invoking a sea of emotional responses, and the power to invoke sympathy, hatred, admiration and condemnation within the space of 360 pages speaks volumes of her author's narrative capabilities. The inhabitants of The Palace of Illusions are far from two-dimensional characters moving through a storyline: they breathe through the pages and welcome the reader into their mysterious world. In short, the novel is simply magical.
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