Customer Reviews

The Twentieth Wife: A Novel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Though too young and way beneath his station, Mehrunnisa, the daughter of a Persian courtier to the Mughal Empire, plans to one day wed the heir apparent to the throne Salim. The very intelligent eight-year-old Mehrunnisa knows she needs a plan if she is to achieve her impossible dream of marrying her beloved whom barely knows she exists.

A few years later Mehrunnisa is forced to marry a cruel soldier. Besides abuse from her odious spouse, she suffers several miscarriages. However, she ultimately succeeds in gaining more than just the attention of Salim, who is now the Emperor Jahangir, she shares passion with him. Finally, Mehrunnisa accomplishes her dream goal, but though now a powerhouse empress she and her family paid quite a price for her attaining her childhood desires that she never let go of as an adult.

Historical fiction readers that relish a deep look at seventeenth century India will gain much pleasure from this descriptive tale. The story line is loaded with historical references with a very illuminating portrayal of Mughal court life. However, the wealth of information, which seems authentic to this pre-school novice on the history of India, overwhelms the characters and thus undercuts the prime tale of Mehrunnisa's efforts to become the empress. Indu Sundaresan provides a vivid tale that the hard core sub-genre audience will want to read, but the weak characters make it difficult for casual fans to care what happens to Mehrunnisa or anyone else.

Harriet Klausner

I typically love books based on Indian culture and cultures that have arranged marriages, etc. However this book was not what I had hoped it would be.

While the story starts out great with a growing family moving to make a better life for themselves and the experiences they face, it slowly becomes something a bit more political and focuses on war too much. I could not get passed the war talk! It seemed to go on forever and I was disappointed by how the story unfolded. There seemed to be too much about the war and not enough about the main characters. I was very disappointed but that is probably because I was thinking the story would be something entirely different.

I have started reading this book and I am mesmerised, i can not put this book down I need to read constantly. I am halfway reading and am really enjoying it.

I will not go into the description of the story since this site allows the reader to preview excerpts and provides a description of the book. On the positive side, the plot and characters were well developed and the book had great potential.

Alas, there was also a negative side which resulted in a frustrating, and somewhat annoying, read. Although the book had a glossary at the back, there were so many foreign words throughout that one had to constantly flip back and forth to understand their meaning in English. Also, there was a lot of terminology, not contained in the glossary, that was meaningless unless you had an understanding of the hierarachy and language spoken in India.

Another issue with the book was the characters' names and the fact there were too many primary and secondary characters. Some names and positions held were lengthy and completely foreign to one not from India i.e., Ruqayya Sultan Begam, Qutubuddin Khan Koka and Ali Quli Khan Istajlu?? The reader had one heck of a time trying to remember "who was who" and what relationship one was to another. In one case, there were even two individuals with the same name (Muhammad Sharif.) The further one read, the more frustrating the book became to the point where, for all it's potential, I found myself counting the pages until the entire vexacious thing ended once and for all.

This book is truly phenomenal! The way they portray Mehrunisa as a strong woman could not have been written any better. This book takes a stroll through Mogul India which I must say is truly amazing. It is a definite must read and will keep you turning the pages!

Many of the reviewers have already written extensively about the plot so I won't repeat it here.

All the reviews I saw before I read the book complained about the shallow character development, and armed with that information, I read the book without high expectations. It did not disappoint, but neither did it surprise me. The problem with the characters is that you can't relate to them. You have no idea why they are doing this or that, only that they are doing certain things because Indu Sundaresen stated that they were. Because, of course, it's in the customs of the "times." Sometime she would give a reason for it, and we the readers would understand its logics, but we would not be involved emotionally in the decisions and care about what the characters are doing. The characters speak their own language, think their own thoughts, walk their own land, and Sundaresen details all that beautifully, but ultimately they, as real flesh-and-blood feeling thinking emotional human beings are as distant from us as their names on a pages of a history textbook.

Sometimes I would be anticipating a dramatic moment, but instead of a in-depth analysis of that moment, Sundaresen whooshes past it with a line or two. I am taken aback often by the woodenness of the characters, by their inability to respond in a human way. Of course, there are some places where Sundaresen excels and I am taken completely into the story.
The plot is quick, there are some parts which some people may call "war talk" but in fact it's just court intrigue that takes place outside of the court and with men. Sometimes all the telling and not enough showing might become tedious but it is a good history lesson. I'm an avid history buff and I love historical fiction no matter what form they come in so I didn't mind at all. All in all, this book left me with very little impression, but while I was reading it I was engrossed. Sundaresen knows her 17th century Indian history, customs and trivia well and I was highly entertained my her descriptions. I only wish that, while writing the book, she removed herself with all of her 'modern' influences from the book completely and let her characters run free. Just because the book is set in history doesn't mean the characters need to be as distant.

I also wanted to remind all of you that reviews are a simple way of summarizing your feelings about the book. In no way are they a complete reflection of all the thoughts and feelings toward a book. There are so many little things about the book, good and bad, that I can't remember or can't even articulate, and what I have written here is only a crude description of what the book really is about.

I know most of you have probably heard about Memoirs of a Geisha, so I won't rave about it here, and I absolutely recommend it because years after I read it the characters' personalities are still imprinted on my mind. One other lesser-known book, probably because it's relegated to the young adult section instead of the adult section (although it deserves to be placed in both) is Mara, Daughter of the Nile. This book is an absolutely amazing piece of historical fiction, it manages to capture a fast exciting plot, character development and a beautiful romances all in one package.

I was so captivated by this book that I had to struggle between my desire to read it straight through and taking my time, savoring it and making it last. The book is beautifully written. The main character is engaging, intelligent and very human. I disagree with some of the other reviewers who have said the characters are poorly developed. As an American-born Indian, I think that a person unfamiliar with Eastern cultures may miss the many subtle traits/events/descriptions that create a dynamic and vivid world that these richly developed characters inhabit. I actually received "The Feast of Roses" as a gift, read the first ten pages and knew I had to read the first book - because I fell in love with the world the author created. It is thrilling to see Indian authors telling our stories in a beautiful, poetic way.

This is a fantastic book...my favorite. I have read it atleast 5 times because I just cant get enough of it! Basically the plot is Mehrunissa falls in love with a prince, and he falls in love with her...except she is already engaged. So she yearns for him and he yearns for her...I dont want to give anymore away. But anyway BOTTOM LINE:Read it I guarentee you will love it.

I loved this book! It was the first book I've read in a long time that I simply couldn't put down! I finished it in one day!
I really liked the character of Mehrunnisa and we get a very interesting glimpse of life in Mughal India and inside its' harem walls.

I really enjoyed reading this book....with each turn of a page came such anticipation in what would happen next. This is a captivating book, Indu has creatively taken me on a historical journey and brought to life, historic India. I recommend this book to anyone intrigued about the country and what life was like in that era. I have already purchased the following book "The Feast of Roses" where Indu continues the epic of Mehruninsa and the Monghul empire.