library2wonder

[library2wonder]

TEN INCARNATIONS OF REBELLION by Vaishnavi Patel

Thanks to Ballantine Books for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Adult • Historical • LGBTQIA+ • Literary | inspired by Ten Avatars of Vishnu | medium-paced | 2.25 stars 💫

Well, what a fucking disappointment! This is the first time I have finished reading anything by Patel, and her writing style was the major thing that kept me reading. Patel has a way of portraying emotion and character motivations that intrigues me enough to check out her backlist. My favorite character(s) was/were Yashu and sometimes Fauzia. Kaalki is the protagonist and the least interesting out of the three. This entire novel takes place over 9 or 10 years in Kaalki's life as she leads a rebellion-turned-revolution. As the reader, we were given a preface to inform us how Patel decided to create an alternate history novel asking how would India gain independence from the British if their presence was more violent and had another revolution decades after the first attempt. I am not familiar with India's independence movement, but the book kept referencing to real-life independence movements across the world in the 1960s.

This is where my problems start: the novel prides itself with their use of nonviolent protests and look down on the necessity of violent protests and actions, which confuses me immensely when other independence movements, that the book referenced, moved forward when violence was enacted against their colonizers. While I liked Patel's writing style, I felt as though she was telling the reader what these characters saw and felt instead of just showing us. I was told certain events happened and wished the story was told in multiple POVs. I would have loved to read this story in Yashu and/or Fauzia's POV instead of Kaalki or as an addition. Kaalki was passionate for India's independence but not knowledgable enough to understand how a rebellion turns into a revolution. Thankfully, she had other people around her, but I was not a fan of the constant messaging of non-violence over violence.

The pacing was quite slow and the general structure was quite repetitive. I like the inclusion of each avatar of Vishnu explained, but none of those inclusions were seemless and instead were shoe-horned towards the end of each chapter. Patel could have made summarized epigraphs in the beginning of each chapter or spread them out in different parts in each chapter. Overall, this story would have been really good, but the thematic work and messaging brought my rating down. Also, very wild to me that a character who attempted to rape someone got a redemption at the end.

CWs: colonisation, death, racism, murder, police brutality, sexual harassment, sexual assault, violence, sexual violence, islamophobia, religious bigotry, homophobia, lesbophobia, death of parent, sexism

[library2wonder]

I am quite confident I will start reading this behemoth of a classic in August, but fingers crossed if I manage to finish before September.

Full disclosure: I am not reading this for school. This is for my personal enjoyment.