Review of Arjun
Title : Arjun
Author : Dr. Shinde Sweety
Blurb : I knew there was nothing poetic about death.
I knew not that the most horrific battles are fought off the battlefield.
Arjun: The idealist in a non-ideal world; the warrior whose deadliest opponent was his conscience.
History forgot his voice, but misquoted his silence.
My self-esteem originates from me and ends in me.
Why does your honor depend on me? Find your own.
Draupadi: The untamed tigress, the fragrant flame, the unbridled spirit.
Power does not justify sin. Power is not virtue.
Virtue is that which lasts in spite of power.
Krishn : The enigma whose unique ideology churned the battlefield into a quest for Truth.
The Missile …The Trajectory … The Vision.
The trio that makes for the core of The Mahabharata.
This is their saga.
Insightful, visceral and candid.
Find ‘other’ famous Arjuns; compare Arjun vis-a-vis Achilles and Alexander; Explore Myths of Mahabharata.
All this and much more in ‘Arjun: Without A Doubt’.
My View :
After Shiva,Rama and endless inspiring and interesting stories of mythological heroes ,comes another mythological story in the list, and this time it is Arjun. What my concern before starting this story was I knew little about Arjuna, and I was wishing that authoress spare some time to Arjun’s background,so that I could cover this journey easily,and so do other readers like me.All the worries escaped from my mind, when I got to know that it’s just Mahabharata being told from two different perspectives-Arjun’s and Draupadi’s.
The hue that these two characters enamels on the epic story is a new experience.As the season’s unfold, and as both Arjun and Draupadi keep on covering the journey together,where their expressions and reactions walk side by side, this new twist to get in touch with the story all over again gives a fresh flavour to the story.Knowing all the known facts, and going through it all over again through a different angle plays the role of attention-seeker.
In the beginning, it was a bit of a task to switch the narration coming from two sides so often.But eventually one gets accustomed to the nature of author’s presentation, and gets friendlier with the echoes of two narrators.As the narrating style of the authoress is captivating and is good enough to get through the story, her imaginations and her narrating style compliments each other very-well.
There’s always good amount of excitement involves when an offer comes to you to go through the story, you know in advance.What author would bring to the story? How he/she would make it sound different? And what little twists and turns they would bring to the story? All the questions would keep the interest alive in order to find out the answers.And the same happened while I was going through this book. Of course, there are some minor hindrances in the journey, but at the end when you sum up the time spent with the book, you would find the journey interesting and engaging.
Dealing with the characters who ruled reader’s mind from a good time is one of a hefty task.And while authoress has taken this chance,she has done justice with the characters apart from a few sections.
Rating : 4.2/5
Reviewer :Shweta Kesari