jasminegalsreadinglog's review
3.0
Sarasvati's Gift is a tale of the Goddess of Knowledge. Though worshipped we don't know her tale like her counterparts Parvati and Lakshmi. Kavita Kané's novel tries to bring light to this mysterious Devi's story. Devi Saraswati is an independent, creative, intelligent and a woman of her own mind. Though she is a part of Trinity she is her own woman. The portrayal of this Goddess by the author is really very interesting. I really enjoyed the strength of this character a lot.
However, the language of this novel is very heavy. Though its poetic the prose used is not for light reading. The words used are not those which everyone can understand. Simpler words could have been used. The author has tried to portray Devi Saraswati as a very independent woman and in that has tried to tackle all the issues women have always faced. I really liked the concept but again these conversations tend to become very heavy due to the words used. A lighter prose would have been really helpful here. Kavita Kané has been one of my favorite authors and this book is no exception. The characters which she chooses to write about are enigmatic and mysterious. A good mythological read.
However, the language of this novel is very heavy. Though its poetic the prose used is not for light reading. The words used are not those which everyone can understand. Simpler words could have been used. The author has tried to portray Devi Saraswati as a very independent woman and in that has tried to tackle all the issues women have always faced. I really liked the concept but again these conversations tend to become very heavy due to the words used. A lighter prose would have been really helpful here. Kavita Kané has been one of my favorite authors and this book is no exception. The characters which she chooses to write about are enigmatic and mysterious. A good mythological read.
snehaha_deyy's review
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
deepan2486's review
5.0
Different from what Kane has written previously—about Urmila, Satyavati, Ahalya, Surpanakha—‘Sarasvati’s gift’ was quite special because for the first time, her protagonist was a goddess. About a goddess as dazzling as the light of knowledge, and as pristine as the purity of creation, Kane’s new book is a wonderful amalgamation of divine sentiments coupled with interpersonal vulnerabilities.
I am not new to Kane’s writing expertise when it comes to chiselling out untold strands of deep stories from the lives of her fiercely feminist women characters. Even here, she writes with a magical grace, making the gods and celestial creatures bear privy to the wondrous philosophy that Sarasvati harbours within herself and how her outlook has changed over the years. The crescendo of the book strikes when Sarasvati becomes a river, linking the bountiful heavens with the sprawling earthen lands—and also when she disappears underground, leaving behind parched lands in the middle of a flourishing platter of natural harmonies. Thus, there comes a roaring duality—a restless mourning of having to let go of wisdom and sensibility in the most tangible of forms—also of the rejoice to experience and inhale the virtue of Sarasvati as an omniscient concept, blooming out of the mind.
Staying true to her signature style, Kane invokes a massive attribute of humanisation into her characters, regardless of how divine or intangible they might appear. Her characterisation gives justice to the vivacity that gets associated with any Hindu mythological deity, also keeping intact this sense of magic and splendour that divinity invites. Grand and alluring, how she sketches her gods and goddesses marks the trajectory of her deep understanding of their persona, and how they’ve been brought up in popular representation. But as a writer, some representations she must challenge—often adding much more layers to their linear and prescribed narrative. She does so with none other than Sarasvati herself, invoking the goddess of knowledge with all her towering strengths and weeping sensitivities.
Upon careful thought, it doesn’t take long to realize how Sarasvati’s understanding in our mind is devoid of all sorts of clarity. Apart from some casual flower offerings on the day of Vasant Panchami and desperate pleas worshipping her before a tough exam, her actual narrative is fragmented and scattered. Kane, through this book attempts to join those broken figments of lore and stories—to present us a multihued, deep assessment of how the devi walks and conveys, inviting her accurate philosophy to appear in earthly scenarios.
Kane’s writing gets punctuated with a lot of drama and melodramatic exchanges. She stages and crafts her scenes with careful intervention on the part of an artist, allotting enough spaces for her characters to live and breathe. Her talent to pen down such eventful dramatic discourses is captivating to the fullest, drenching the readers with many emotions at once. For such a contextual jugglery, Kane often has to carry forward her story keeping a lot of backdrops at hand, because of which her description sometimes gets weighed down by a dazzling multitude of over-elaboration. But her prowess as a sharp writer soon comes to the rescue to lift up the narrative to again flow briskly and beautifully. In all, the pinnacle strikes when she breathes life into the dialogues and subconscious thoughts of her gods and goddesses, nymphs and celestial beings.
Thanks Penguin India for the copy.
I am not new to Kane’s writing expertise when it comes to chiselling out untold strands of deep stories from the lives of her fiercely feminist women characters. Even here, she writes with a magical grace, making the gods and celestial creatures bear privy to the wondrous philosophy that Sarasvati harbours within herself and how her outlook has changed over the years. The crescendo of the book strikes when Sarasvati becomes a river, linking the bountiful heavens with the sprawling earthen lands—and also when she disappears underground, leaving behind parched lands in the middle of a flourishing platter of natural harmonies. Thus, there comes a roaring duality—a restless mourning of having to let go of wisdom and sensibility in the most tangible of forms—also of the rejoice to experience and inhale the virtue of Sarasvati as an omniscient concept, blooming out of the mind.
Staying true to her signature style, Kane invokes a massive attribute of humanisation into her characters, regardless of how divine or intangible they might appear. Her characterisation gives justice to the vivacity that gets associated with any Hindu mythological deity, also keeping intact this sense of magic and splendour that divinity invites. Grand and alluring, how she sketches her gods and goddesses marks the trajectory of her deep understanding of their persona, and how they’ve been brought up in popular representation. But as a writer, some representations she must challenge—often adding much more layers to their linear and prescribed narrative. She does so with none other than Sarasvati herself, invoking the goddess of knowledge with all her towering strengths and weeping sensitivities.
Upon careful thought, it doesn’t take long to realize how Sarasvati’s understanding in our mind is devoid of all sorts of clarity. Apart from some casual flower offerings on the day of Vasant Panchami and desperate pleas worshipping her before a tough exam, her actual narrative is fragmented and scattered. Kane, through this book attempts to join those broken figments of lore and stories—to present us a multihued, deep assessment of how the devi walks and conveys, inviting her accurate philosophy to appear in earthly scenarios.
Kane’s writing gets punctuated with a lot of drama and melodramatic exchanges. She stages and crafts her scenes with careful intervention on the part of an artist, allotting enough spaces for her characters to live and breathe. Her talent to pen down such eventful dramatic discourses is captivating to the fullest, drenching the readers with many emotions at once. For such a contextual jugglery, Kane often has to carry forward her story keeping a lot of backdrops at hand, because of which her description sometimes gets weighed down by a dazzling multitude of over-elaboration. But her prowess as a sharp writer soon comes to the rescue to lift up the narrative to again flow briskly and beautifully. In all, the pinnacle strikes when she breathes life into the dialogues and subconscious thoughts of her gods and goddesses, nymphs and celestial beings.
Thanks Penguin India for the copy.
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