I feel absolutely unqualified to review this book. My knowledge of Indian mythology begins with my God-awful and super racist World History class in 10th grade (my teacher was pretty sure that Indians were caucasoid, but not 100%. I wish I was joking) and ends with Lord of Light by Roger Zalazny. I know Rama is the hero of an Indian epic because I was told so in Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama. Literally nothing else about this story. I have, since finishing the story, read the Wikipedia page about Rama, and I’m going to assume that things I found out on that page don’t count as spoilers.
The premise of Kaikeyi is analogous to Circe by Madeline Miller: taking a maligned female character in an epic and retelling things from her perspective. (Of course, I haven’t read Circe either, but at least I know the Odyssey very well.) Rama is the eldest son and heir of a raja, as well as an avatar of the god Vishnu (though that's not known for most of the book here). Kaikeyi is one of the raja’s wives - Rama’s mother is a different wife - and forces the raja to exile Rama and give the throne to her son instead. According to an Indian friend of mine, Kaikeyi is definitely not a sympathetic character.
If Vaishnavi Patel’s goal was to write her as a sympathetic character, as far as I’m concerned she succeeded. Kaikeyi, as presented here, is an intelligent, capable, and strong-willed person. She’s determined to do what is best for her family (both the family of her birth and the family she marries in to), her kingdom, and her people.
The role of women takes center stage, unsurprisingly. Kaikeyi chafes at the role of women at every turn. Her father doesn’t value her, she hates having an arranged marriage (though she is able, to a certain extent, to enter it on her own terms), she hates her potential contributions being ignored, she hates the teachings of the sages (speaking for the gods) that enforce the subservience of women in society.
Because I am so ignorant of the source material, I really don’t feel comfortable commenting on how Patel handled the characters, but I know the story is well-written and very engaging. Especially now, while India grapples with rape culture and the United States is … unsettled … by pending Supreme Court decisions, this book is a very timely one.
Strongly recommend this book, though I’d love to hear from someone who’s read it and is not so embarrassingly ignorant of Indian mythology as I am. Which might be one of the highest compliments I can give this book: I really want to make the time to learn more so I can appreciate it better.
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