Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Between starting ‘Karna’s Wife’ by Kavita Kané and finally finishing this re-imagination of mythological hero Karna’s life through a fictional wife’s eye, I read about 12 other books. Granted, some of them were short comics, but the list also includes the entire ‘Poppy War’ trilogy by R.F Kuang, each of which is over 600 pages long, twice the length of ‘Karna’s Wife’. And that’s how disappointingly boring this novel is.
The story follows Uruvi, a princess born to King Vahusha and Queen Shubra of the fictional Pukeya Kingdom, who falls in love at first sight with Karna when she sees him at a public combat exhibition in Hastinapura, where warriors display their skills. Defying expectations, she dares to choose Karna, the Sutaputra, son of a charioteer, over the legendary archer Arjuna. For a young princess raised in the lap of luxury, the social and political implications of becoming Karna’s wife are staggering.
What Kavita Kané does is take the best of Mahabharata’s heroes, rehashes their story just as we know it, and makes it insanely mundane to read by populating the book with annoyingly long, repetitive dialogues. I love it when novels focus more on action, dialogues, and not descriptions, and even though ‘Karna’s Wife’ is heavily dialogue based, the exchanges are blandly verbose. If a good editor had edited this book, it would’ve been cut down by a 100 pages, and then surely, it would’ve been a lot more readable.
Uruvi, the central character, is first introduced as a love-struck young woman, who is slightly charming and cute in the first few pages, but quickly becomes a whiny, privileged brat as the story progresses. Her romance with Karna feels fairly generic, and their conversations are dominated by clashes over Uruvi’s disapproval of his friendship with Duryodhana. Her interactions with Karna’s first wife and mother-in-law are barely explored, surprisingly thin for a story centered on “the wife”. And even the descriptions in the book rarely help readers visualize the surroundings, instead, they are long info dumps about what Uruvi might be thinking. Sample the following para:
“It wasn’t really in Uruvi’s nature to look down on people, but she often caught herself thinking the royal ladies were abominably dull, without any intellectual interests that made life so fulfilling. Most were smug about their wealth and status, but capable only of mediocre thoughts. Though they were mothers, their intellectual level remained unfailingly stupid. They read nothing that was worthwhile. They liked to talk more often about themselves or the latest piece of jewellery they had got for themselves. These pitiable women were devoured by petty jealousies and obsessed by pettier rivalries. They were malicious. Cushioned by wealth and power, they were pathetic in the smallness of their minds.”
Ironically, Uruvi’s own interest rarely extends beyond her husband, despite being described as a “healer”, a skill we hardly ever see in action. Essentially, this book is about Karna’s wife bitching about everyone else, particularly the Kauravas, while simmering with jealousy over Draupadi on the suspicion that Karna harbors feelings for the Pandavas’ wife, a theme already explored in countless other reimaginings of the Mahabharata.
There’s very little originality in ‘Karna’s Wife’. The only time the storytelling shines is when the author writes about material that is already considered canon in the world of the Mahabharata. I couldn’t get myself to read beyond 3–4 pages a day, until I reached the last few chapters. The last 20 percent was gritty and exciting, and that’s because it focuses on the 18-day Kurukshetra War between the Kauravas and Pandavas, not Uruvi.
If you’re looking for modern reimaginings of epic Indian tales, I’d recommend ‘The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering’ by Ramesh Menon, an excellent retelling of the epic war (for 18+ readers), and ‘The Palace of Illusions’ by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, which is written from Draupadi’s perspective. Both of these books were five-star reads for me.
Rating for Karna’s Wife: 1 star on 5. The book is also on Kindle Unlimited.
Read Next: The Village of Eight Graves Review: Wickedly Rich (Audio Version Below)