I was sharing this book Palace of Illusions with the Wednesday Women Together Zoom group..We were asked to share a book and author we like. As our Zoom group is international I felt Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was the perfect author to share as she is able to produce stories that straddle two cultures. She is a lecturer in creative writing in America and has had one book made into a Hollywood film Mistress of Spices
I always define Chitra as not a page turner but a page stopper...why? Because you feel in awe with her writing you feel you want to stop annd re read a sentence or paragraph and marvel in the beautiful way she has written it.
I found an extract from Palace of Illusions that had inspired me to reflect on it and stimulated me to write my thoughts on the Wedding Garland...
" Coiled on the silver tray like a white snake, the wedding garland was as thick as my forearm. I regarded it warily as though it might at any moment decide to strike."
It made me think of that metaphor of the garland like a coiled snake. Amidst the sweet smelling flowers, the fragrance of a once sweet romance can turn out to have a venomous bite........
...... oh! that the beauty would continue and the flowers of love do not die! For some this can be so, an everlasting garland of bliss..... oh! for the fragrance of love to continue as it emanates to surround those it brought together forever! ...But forever is a long time and a promise perhaps for some impossible to keep.
