Chitra Banarjee Divakaruni is a well-known novelist. She is also a famous poet. Many of her through-provoking articles have been published in more than fifty magazines and are widely read. Her writings have been included in more than thirty anthologies. She was born in Calcutta, India and spend her childhood days there. One of her childhood memories is that of her grandfather who used to tell her many enchanting stories which occur in the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha the two great epics of ancient India.
While listening to those stories, she curiously noticed the fact that “interestingly, unlike the male heroes, the main relationship (the) women had were with the opposite sex with their husbands, sons, lovers or opponents. They never …show more content…
In arranged Marriage, Divakaruni beautifully pictures the lives of the immigrant brides who have lost their identity. The stories in the book address issues such as racism, interracial relationship, economic disparity, abortion and divorce. The book was awarded the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Prize for fiction, the Bay Area Book Reviews Award for fiction, and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
In 1997, Divakaruni wrote her first novel The Mistress of Spices. It is a dazzling tale of misbegotten dreams and desires, hopes and expectations, woven with poetry and story teller magic. Divakaruni says about her first novel the following: “I wrote in a spirit of play,. Collapsing the division between the realistic world of the twentieth century America and the timeless on of the myth and magic in my attempt to create a modern fable”. (Introduction to The Mistress of Spices, P.ii). The main character of the book Tilo owns a spice shop in an Indian community in Oakland, California. She becomes involved in the lives of the customers and helps them by guarding them from abusive husbands, racism, generational conflicts, and drug abuse. The book was short-listed for the Orange Prize from England and was named one of the best books of 1997 by the Los Angels
While listening to those stories, she curiously noticed the fact that “interestingly, unlike the male heroes, the main relationship (the) women had were with the opposite sex with their husbands, sons, lovers or opponents. They never …show more content…
In arranged Marriage, Divakaruni beautifully pictures the lives of the immigrant brides who have lost their identity. The stories in the book address issues such as racism, interracial relationship, economic disparity, abortion and divorce. The book was awarded the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Prize for fiction, the Bay Area Book Reviews Award for fiction, and an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation.
In 1997, Divakaruni wrote her first novel The Mistress of Spices. It is a dazzling tale of misbegotten dreams and desires, hopes and expectations, woven with poetry and story teller magic. Divakaruni says about her first novel the following: “I wrote in a spirit of play,. Collapsing the division between the realistic world of the twentieth century America and the timeless on of the myth and magic in my attempt to create a modern fable”. (Introduction to The Mistress of Spices, P.ii). The main character of the book Tilo owns a spice shop in an Indian community in Oakland, California. She becomes involved in the lives of the customers and helps them by guarding them from abusive husbands, racism, generational conflicts, and drug abuse. The book was short-listed for the Orange Prize from England and was named one of the best books of 1997 by the Los Angels