I don't like Ramayana, and especially Lord Rama, I get very irritated probably because I am a Lady and I would never want a husband like Rama who will doubt his wife's character. Along with that, I have heard a lot about Ravana being a very learned, kind-hearted and talented king.
So when my friend suggested me this book, I was very enthusiastic to read the story of Ravana. It was an Indian author, so I kept my expectations low with the language, and I doubted if an Indian could portray Ravana as a better person than Rama. You see, its not the author's fault, its just the surroundings, culture and influence which has been instilled into us since childhood, that Rama was a Hero and Ravana was a Bad Guy. Yet, within few days of my friend suggesting the book, i bought it and started reading it.
As I had expected, the language was no match to an American author, but recently I have been reading a lot of Indian author's so, I am now fine with it.
The story as such began with dying Ravana narrating his life since childhood. I liked the way it started, especially till Ravana learning his lessons, understanding his goal and his people accepting him as their king. The Asura King.
And, as I had expected, the journey of Asura King from nothing to Lankeshwar was a total let down. The writer instead of showing Ravana as a mighty king, portrayed him as an idiot who was enjoying kinship totally depending on his family and sub-ordinates, be it waging war or decision making. Ravana was shown as a person who once had the goal of giving asura clan a happy life and rule the world but ended up becoming a dummy king with family members becoming his ministers and managing the kingdom.
Neither did the writer try to show any of his art nor did he portray Ravana as a hero or as a villain. He concentrated on this character called Bhadra who was doing the dirty jobs for Ravana and in-turn Ravana behaved as bad as possible with Bhadra. Not untill Mandodari was kidnapped, did I get to read anything good about Ravana. The only good part in the book was that Ravana accepted Mandodari and Rama did not accept Sita.
In last part of the book Rama was shown as a poor road-side crook who used wrong ways to kill people in war. The author did not use Valmiki's Ramayan and showed Sita as Ravana's daughter. No No, there is no suspense... no action,,.. no emotion... no drama..... just a plain script on life of a totally normal but lucky person named Ravana.
Even after setting my expectations low, I was let down. Probably a non-indian author would have done justice to the story. Afterall you see, Indian's cannot forget that Rama is a hero but the funny part is that the author couldn't even portray Rama as a hero properly.
With that I rate this book a poor 1.5 out of 5 and wouldn't really suggest this book to someone who thinks of Ravana or Rama as a Great Guy.
So when my friend suggested me this book, I was very enthusiastic to read the story of Ravana. It was an Indian author, so I kept my expectations low with the language, and I doubted if an Indian could portray Ravana as a better person than Rama. You see, its not the author's fault, its just the surroundings, culture and influence which has been instilled into us since childhood, that Rama was a Hero and Ravana was a Bad Guy. Yet, within few days of my friend suggesting the book, i bought it and started reading it.
As I had expected, the language was no match to an American author, but recently I have been reading a lot of Indian author's so, I am now fine with it.
The story as such began with dying Ravana narrating his life since childhood. I liked the way it started, especially till Ravana learning his lessons, understanding his goal and his people accepting him as their king. The Asura King.
And, as I had expected, the journey of Asura King from nothing to Lankeshwar was a total let down. The writer instead of showing Ravana as a mighty king, portrayed him as an idiot who was enjoying kinship totally depending on his family and sub-ordinates, be it waging war or decision making. Ravana was shown as a person who once had the goal of giving asura clan a happy life and rule the world but ended up becoming a dummy king with family members becoming his ministers and managing the kingdom.
Neither did the writer try to show any of his art nor did he portray Ravana as a hero or as a villain. He concentrated on this character called Bhadra who was doing the dirty jobs for Ravana and in-turn Ravana behaved as bad as possible with Bhadra. Not untill Mandodari was kidnapped, did I get to read anything good about Ravana. The only good part in the book was that Ravana accepted Mandodari and Rama did not accept Sita.
In last part of the book Rama was shown as a poor road-side crook who used wrong ways to kill people in war. The author did not use Valmiki's Ramayan and showed Sita as Ravana's daughter. No No, there is no suspense... no action,,.. no emotion... no drama..... just a plain script on life of a totally normal but lucky person named Ravana.
Even after setting my expectations low, I was let down. Probably a non-indian author would have done justice to the story. Afterall you see, Indian's cannot forget that Rama is a hero but the funny part is that the author couldn't even portray Rama as a hero properly.
With that I rate this book a poor 1.5 out of 5 and wouldn't really suggest this book to someone who thinks of Ravana or Rama as a Great Guy.
