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Friday, March 18, 2016

Book Review of Arjun By Dr Shinde Sweety


Title: Arjun Without A Doubt
Publication: Leadstart Publishing Pvt. Ltd
Pages: 306
Price: 145
Author: Dr. Sweety Shinde



Arjun: Without A Doubt tells the story of Epic Mahabharata from Arjun and Draupadi’s standpoint. I loved how the author has glorified Arjun through Draupadi's eyes and vice versa. The language is perfect. I liked the movement of the novels. It is not a twisted version of Mahabharata. Mahabharatha is not just a book of wars but also a book of true love and relationships. Arjun is pretty much what we expect him to be: a champion warrior. The language of this book is elevated, without being difficult. The language brings alive the emotions of the characters. The bond between Draupadi and Abhimanyu has been captured so beautifully by the author. The book breaks some myths and describes the characters in new light especially draupadi and arjuna. The symbolization has been done pleasingly; the arrow representing Arjun, the peacock plume signifying Krishna, the blue lotus and, flames portraying the quintessence of Draupadi. The construction of paragraphs is at times confusing. Krishn is shown as a normal human being who was pretty good in strategy with excellent understanding.

Few lines which I liked from the book:
  1. No person is great in isolation. It takes many hands to shape a life. Denial would mean conceit, and conceit is not the same as self-respect.
  2. Power does not justify sin. Power is not virtue. Virtue is that which lasts inspite of power.
  3. Don't underestimate your triumphs. Leave it to the enemy.
  4. Religion is nothing but a series of conveniently placed loopholes.
  5. Passion is a feeling born to bear pain. Bear it, or let go.
  6. Deserts come out of volcanoes. Oceans come out of earthquakes. Nature has its own violent way of balancing its elements. We are just trying to imitate Nature in human form.
  7. Absence of questions is not proof of answers.
    and the best one is the below quote which Krishn says to Arjun
  8. Failure is always an orphan.
We get a glimpse of the hardships he had to undertake to achieve what arjuna did. As war approaches, we see these doubts surfacing, which finally leads Krishna to answer his questions about why the war must be fought. With a lot of focus thrown on just the two of them, who seem centric to the epic, Sweety manages to retell the happenings of Mahabharata with great ease. 

I lost track at a couple of places. Sometimes I had to read two or three paragraphs to understand whether it was Draupadi's Point of View or Arjun's. The author has done such a good job capturing his emotions in the rest of the story, I would have loved to have read more here. The author has done a marvelous job in clarifying those doubts by saying almost everything about Arjuna. If you’re a Mahabharat fan, I would highly recommend you read this book. Go grab your copy now. Totally worth it. I would like to thank Blogadda and Dr .Sweety Shinde for the excellent book.

I would rate 4/5

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