Kaikeyi

Coming from The Song of Achilles, I had high expectations on this retelling of a part of Hindu Mythology and it did not disappoint me. I would recommend this to you in a heartbeat. Of course, T&C apply.

Kaikeyi is a novel written by Vaishnavi Patel in which we hear the story of Kaikeyi, one of the stepmothers of Rama. All my life I have only known her as the “jealous stepmother”. But this book offers more character to her and she might not be what we all perceive.

Now, there are so many new things I learnt from this book. This book challenged my understanding of Ramayana too. But hey, there is no harm in reading multiple perspectives. Vaishnavi Patel did a fantastic job writing this beautiful prose. Her writing is such that you are all ears to hear the story of Kaikeyi and get to the next chapter as soon as possible. What surprised me the most was how Rama was described. Now, I do not know how inconsistent Kaikeyi is with Ramayana, but it does a fantastic job of presenting Kaikeyi's story.

If you are someone who likes to see mythologies in the space of literary fiction, you would like it. I should tell you that this book is not as poetic as The Song Of Achilles. So yeah, that's the only thing I would tell you before you read it. Go for this one. It is a home run!