Book Name- Karna’s Wife
Author- Kavita Kane
Publisher- Rupa Publications India
Genre- Romance/ Fiction
Rating- 4 stars
It is the first book of the author that I went through and I must say that her storytelling is very impressive. The title of the book partially befits it. Though throughout the context Uruvi’s point of view of the epic Mahabharata has been mentioned, in some of the places it was Karna as well whose opinion of the war and the events leading to it were pointed out. Another upsetting event was Karnas’s first wife Vrushali being turned into some demure lass. Vrushali, as mentioned in most of the epics chapters, was not in any way a soft woman, she was strong enough to jump in the pyre along with her husband although it didn’t ask her to.
But I would say the author had complete right to do that, as the book is only a fictional work. It was awesome to see Karna’s second wife having a saying in his life, which is not much mentioned in the real epic. A princess adjusting slowly to the life of a low- caste King, dauntless though; she knew all her faults and tried to redeem them. Karna as the wise one tries to soothe her of worries. One of the best line in the book is :-
“If you are not brave today, it’ll be worse tomorrow. Trying to escape is not the route of the heroic. Face the truth and brave the consequences. The test of courage is not to die but to live. And live with dignity and conviction every single day.”
This was something Karna told Uruvi when she was worrying over his impaling death.
The book is a very good read and will prove to be a companion over a cup of coffee for late night fiction readers like me. I would strongly suggest you go through it.
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