Skip to main content

Book Review : The Serpent's Revenge

BOOK DETAILS:
Book Title : The Serpent's Revenge
Author : Sudha Murthy
ISBN : 9780143427858
Publisher : Penguin
Genre : Mythology
Publication : 2016
Pages : 200
Format : Paperback

BOOK BLURB:
How many names does Arjuna have? Why was Yama cursed? What lesson did a little mongoose teach Yudhisthira? The Kurukshetra war, fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas and which forced even the gods to take sides, may be well known, but there are innumerable stories set before, after and during the war that lend the Mahabharata its many varied shades and are largely unheard of. Award-winning author Sudha Murty reintroduces the fascinating world of India s greatest epic through the extraordinary tales in this collection, each of which is sure to fill you with a sense of wonder and bewilderment.

RATING: 2 ☆'s

REVIEW:
I have always been a fan of Sudha Murthy's works - her writing is so simple, yet it touches upon the deepest fibres of your soul...
And it is with this notion, that I picked up the book - to read unusual tales of the times gone by, albeit with a touch of Sudha Murthy's Magic of Writing.
But, this work here disappointed me so much, maybe because having read 'Jaya' - a retelling of Mahabharata written by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik (published in 2010), all these tales were already known to. With a book that boasted about unusual tales from Mahabharata, I was looking for something that was not easily known.
This book felt as if I read the most concise version of Mahabharata which was narrated with the help of short stories to appeal to the readers reading only fiction.

WHAT I LOVED:
  1. The Simple and Interesting Narration --- the narration was kept simple and interesting for beginners who are starting to venture into the niche of Indian Mythology for the very first time
  2. Short but Complete --- even though it was a very short read and only discussed the epic with respect to these 'unusually' tales, it gave the complete gist of the epic Mahabharata - starting from the unrelated, related events that led to the war, the war and the after
WHAT I DISLIKED:

  1. Missing Murthy Magic --- even though the language and the writing style was clearly Murthy's, the book somehow didn't read like a Murthy book
  2. There was Nothing New --- of course I understand that there will be nothing new to add to Mahabharata but then maybe tales that are even lesser known could have been picked and if there was nothing that fell under the category, then this book was clearly not meant for people who have read other retellings of Mahabharata

THE VERDICT:
The book is perfect for people venturing into Mythology genre for the first time or haven't read Mahabharata before this, but for others and especially for those who have read Jaya by Devdutt Pattanaik before, you aren't missing out on anything if you skip this book.

READ, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR:

  • A Glimpse into Mahabharata
  • A Starter Book into Mythology
  • A Not Too Serious but Easy Mythology / Mahabharata Read
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

I would love to hear your views...

Popular posts from this blog

Blogathon : Day 03 of 9 Days of Womanhood

It brings me immense pleasure to share that I, along with 24 other bloggers are celebrating #9daysofwomanhood throughout Navratri. I thank Jinal Gada for introducing me. I loved her blog on the prompt for today - check it out on  www.foreversassymommy.com Prompt for the Day : My Pregnancy It's been a few months over two years since I had my son, and almost three years since I discovered that I was pregnant. It was a bittersweet journey. Almost three years into our marriage, we started thinking about starting a family, I had my health issues to take care of, my college was about to end, I was running around for placements, clearing all levels before the HR round, facing rejection because I was a married woman. Amidst all this, I had started my treatment for Thyroid and PCOD. And because of these issues, I knew conceiving might not be easy for me and some medical intervention might be required. My gynaec wanted to run some tests but they had to be done on certai
14 comments
Read more

Blogathon : Day 01 of 9 Days of Womanhood

It brings me immense pleasure to share that I, along with 24 other bloggers are celebrating #9daysofwomanhood throughout Navratri. I thank Jinal Gada for introducing me. I loved her blog on the prompt for today - check it out on www.foreversassymommy.com Prompt for the Day : Being A Woman in India in 2017 (a positive approach) India has always had two kinds of people - Kahin Lakshmi ka Swaroop to Kahin ma-baap ka bojh (one are those who consider a girl child to be an avatar of Godess Lakshmi and other are those who consider a girl child to be a burden on the parents). India saw sati pratha and it sees female infanticide and but it has also given birth to women like Rani Lakshmibai, Kiran Bedi and Chanda Kochar. We have often heard the saying that behind every successful man is a woman who supports him. But today the dimensions are changing and in 2017, successful is a word that is associated not only with men, but women too - because today women are not content with ju
12 comments
Read more

Blogathon : Day 09 of 9 Days of Womanhood

It brings me immense pleasure to share that I, along with 24 other bloggers are celebrating #9daysofwomanhood throughout Navratri. I thank Jinal Gada for introducing me. I loved her blog on the prompt for today - check it out on  www.foreversassymommy.com Prompt for the Day : One Avataar of Matarani That Fits You or a Woman You Know Today, with this post, once published, will mark the end of this blogathon that I participated in with so many wonderful moms, each with their own stories to tell. We bonded over our shared love for our children and motherhood. Each of them, had fought and conquered their fears, challenges, obstacles and every single one of them had come out stronger than before. I dedicate this post to each one of them... I also recently, found my girl gang, we bonded over our love for reading. But each day, that I have known them - I have thanked God, for this group of friends - the booktroverts gang. Each of them has shown strength in their own way, we
11 comments
Read more