Book Review: Karna's Wife by Kavita Kane

I have always had a soft spot for Karna, the most tragic hero in Mahabharata. Abandoned at birth, scorned by the upper-class for his lowborn roots despite being a worthy King of Anga, humiliated by a woman he secretly loved, cursed due to unfortunate circumstances, his worth as a Kshatriya would not be known long after he's dead.

The story is told by his fictional second wife Uruvi. Now Uruvi is definitely a character for a feminist. Strong, accomplished, confident, unapologetic. Uruvi created scandal when the high-born Princess placed her garland on Karna at her swayamwara, who is considered an upstart and social climber by many.

The story is largely observational from Uruvi and other pivotal characters from Mahabharata, dissecting Karna's decisions about Duryodhana and his person.

And that's what this book is: a dissection Karna aiming to bring a much-deserved justice for a much vilified hero.

Karna is by no means a paragon of virtue. He had made some cruel decisions and degradable actions. But this is the story of a man who was doomed from his birth, and this was a loving book attempting to give him the warmth and love he had been deprived of.

The only exasperating thing I found about this book is that it focused too much on glorifying Karna and Uruvi's love for him. This book takes place mainly on Uruvi's thoughts about Karna (like, she doesn't appear to think about anything else ugh), other character's dissertation about Karna. Karna, Karna, Karna.

Granted this book is about him but there's too much overflowing sugar. There are other instances in the book where actual stories in the book overlapped and interpreted in a different way. This I appreciated as it gives reader's another way to read into the actual events in the book.

For example, when Kunti finally confessed to Karna about his birth, he told her that she's always had 6 sons, but at the end of the war she would have 5 like she's always been known. Some people interpreted this a) he is telling her to prepare for his imminent death or b) during the war either one of her sons would die but she would still have 5 sons as she's known for ie one of the Pandavas would die.

I would recommend this book for long journeys in the car, train, buses, planes etc. This is a very good lighthearted reading but do excuse the author to be over-the-top at times for her generous attempt at giving some redemption for a much vilified character.

My Rating: 3.5/5