Post from the The Correspondent forum
A good punch line is a good punch line regardless if delivered by a man or a woman. You sound like an old fool with comments like that one.
Yessss! Tell him like it is Sybil! āŗļø
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The Legend of Meneka (The Divine Dancers, #1)
Kritika H. Rao
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The Correspondent
Virginia Evans
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Read at least 1 book in the Spring 2026 Readalong.
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Like most Indian 90s kids, I grew up listening to the stories of Mahabharata, and watching the tele series every Sunday on DD (our one and only channel back then haha).
Ganga was always depicted as a minor, barely consequential character. She was this detached woman who coldly did what she had to do to serve the greater story.
I loved getting a much deeper look into her life in Goddess Of The River. Vaishnavi Patel has done a fantastic job of making us see the epic from her point of view.
Her feelings are beautifully expressed! The authorās writing style is so good. It keeps you hooked throughout.
Though the book title makes us think itās all about Ganga, itās a dual perspective narrative. The story keeps switching between her POV and Bhishmaās POV.
I do wish weād had more of her and less of Bhishma and the war and all those men. They were all necessary for the story, but we didnāt need to dwell on them and their politics as much as we did.
Thereās a content warning at the start of the book that mentions infanticide, ableism, violence, etc. I believe gore couldāve been highlighted more strongly in there, because the few chapters covering the details of the war are very difficult to read! I feel like we didnāt need all those details about Elephants being killed and half dead people suffering on the battlefield. Itās a little too graphic.
Those are my only couple of complaints about this book. Otherwise I highly recommend this craft full retelling of an incredible epic.
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Goddess of the River
Vaishnavi Patel
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Post from the Goddess of the River forum
Post from the Goddess of the River forum
Post from the Goddess of the River forum
For a moment, I wondered if I was being foolish. This seemed so easy to me, the path of least resistance the best path to follow.
Seriously! Even now we live in a world where someone choosing simplicity and ease is made to feel foolishness.
Itās the wisest choice of all!
Mortals, I found, always wanted to complicate things when the choice was clear.
You betcha!
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The Accidental Medium
Tracy Whitwell
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