THE PALACE OF ILLUSION

-CHITRA BANARJEE DIVAKARUNI

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHITRA BANARJEE DIVAKARUNI

• Award-winning and bestselling author, poet, activist and
teacher of writing.
• Books have been translated into 29 languages
• Work has been published in over 50 magazines
• Divakaruni teaches in the nationally ranked Creative
Writing program at the University of Houston.
• Two of her books, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My
Heart, have been made into movies
 MY VIEWPOINT
• This new interest for historical or mythological fiction attracted me
to the plotline of ‘The Palace of Illusions’ by Chitra Banerjee
Divakaruni. This book is a mythological fiction with its plot spun
around the Mahabharata coupled with a female narrator – Draupadi.
To learn about a female point of view in a patriarchal society, to read
and learn about the experiences of Draupadi in an epic as
Mahabharat – was the catch for me to pick this book.
PLOT
• The life of Draupadi, from being born from fire to her deathbed
• The storyline entails details about her relationship with her brother
• the loneliness that she felt in her father’s palace.
• the relationship with her sister, Sikhandi (who was once a woman but not
anymore)
• her swayamvar which otherwise had ulterior motives;
• her life as the wife of the five Pandavas and how she triggered a catastrophic war.
• To know more about the secret love that she harbored for a man who wasn’t her
husband and the silent but smart tussle between her and her mother in law.
CHARACTERIZATION
• The best thing about Chitra Divakaruni’s characterization is that she
hasn’t portrayed Draupadi in a pitiable manner. Draupadi is
illustrated as a powerful woman with shades of grey and white.
• She is depicted as a woman with her brains in the right place.
• All the characters are so well described that they literally come to life
in the minds of the readers.
WRITING STYLE
• The writing style of Chitra Banerjee is very engaging.
• All the epic scenes of Mahabharat are sequentially put together in a
beautiful story.
• They are well-paced and their chronological order makes perfect
sense to the reader.
• The book is full of beautiful lines and worded with a good
vocabulary.
THANK YOU
• PRESENTED BY ADITI MAKHLOGA
• SAP 46