I became a huge fan of the author when she wrote A Palace of Illusions and have been crushing over that piece and how real the mythological characters felt in her retelling. And The Forest of Enchantments is no exception. A modern day Sitayan, the epic told from Sita’s point of view, I fell in love with the story yet again and for quite different reasons this time.
The narrative takes us from the swayamvar of Sita where she finally meets Ram to the abduction by Ravana, and then to the part where Sita sacrifices herself after she is humiliated by her true love. It is a fresh perspective offered to us by the author compared to the age old narration of the epic.
Although I couldn’t help comparing this to A Palace of Illusions, I tried to write my review unbiasedly. The book dragged a little halfway through the narrative and I started losing my excitement over it but the pace soon caught up and it infuriated me to witness all the injustices done against a woman like Sita.
The world has always been cruel to women and have asked them to prove themselves time and again their chastity, their ability, their strength, their femininity. Yet the world is never satisfied with the results and that is evident through this retelling of Ramayana.
The Liquid Sunset 