Queen of Dreams - Ratu Mimpi

by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Gita Yuliani K. (Translator)

Rakhi, seorang seniman dan ibu muda yang tinggal di Berkeley, California, berusaha mempertahankan hubungan dengan keluarganya, serta dengan dunia yang sedang berubah dengan cepatnya. Ibunya adalah peramal mimpi yang terlahir dengan bakat untuk merasakan dan menafsirkan mimpi-mimpi orang lain, serta untuk membimbing mereka menjalani nasib yang telah digariskan. Rakhi terpesona pada bakat ibunya ini, namun juga merasa terasing dari masa lalu ibunya di India, serta dunia mimpi yang dihuni sang ibu. Rakhi merasa terperangkap dalam beban rahasia pribadinya sendiri, dan penghiburannya datang setelah kematian ibunya, ketika dia menemukan catatan mimpi-mimpi sang ibu yang membukakan pintu menuju masa lalu yang telah lama tertutup.

Genres: Fiction, India, Magical Realism, Indian Literature, Novels, Contemporary, Audiobook

400 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2004

About the author

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an award-winning author and poet. Her themes include the Indian experience, contemporary America, women, immigration, history, myth, and the joys and challenges of living in a multicultural world. Her work is widely known, as she has been published in over 50 magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker, and her writing has been included in over 50 anthologies. Her works have been translated into 29 languages, including Dutch, Hebrew, Hindi and Japanese. Divakaruni also writes for children and young adults.Her novels One Amazing Thing, Oleander Girl, Sister of My Heart and Palace of Illusions are currently in the process of being made into movies. http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/books.... Her newest novel is Before We Visit the Goddess (about 3 generations of women-- grandmother, mother and daughter-- who each examine the question "what does it mean to be a successful woman.") Simon & Schuster.

She was born in India and lived there until 1976, at which point she left Calcutta and came to the United States. She continued her education in the field of English by receiving a Master’s degree from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

To earn money for her education, she held many odd jobs, including babysitting, selling merchandise in an Indian boutique, slicing bread in a bakery, and washing instruments in a science lab. At Berkeley, she lived in the International House and worked in the dining hall. She briefly lived in Illinois and Ohio, but has spent much of her life in Northern California, which she often writes about. She now lives in Texas, which has found its way into her upcoming book, Before We Visit the Goddess.

Chitra currently teaches in the nationally ranked Creative Writing program at the Univ. of Houston. She serves on the Advisory board of Maitri in the San Francisco Bay Area and Daya in Houston. Both these are organizations that help South Asian or South Asian American women who find themselves in abusive or domestic violence situations. She is also closely involved with Pratham, an organization that helps educate children (especially those living in urban slums) in India.

She has judged several prestigious awards, such as the National Book Award and the PEN Faulkner Award.

Two of her books, The Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, have been made into movies by filmmakers Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berges (an English film) and Suhasini Mani Ratnam (a Tamil TV serial) respectively. Her novels One Amazing Thing and Palace of Illusions have currently been optioned for movies. Her book Arranged Marriage has been made into a play and performed in the U.S. and (upcoming, May) in Canada. River of Light, an opera about an Indian woman in a bi-cultural marriage, for which she wrote the libretto, has been performed in Texas and California.

She lives in Houston with her husband Murthy. She has two sons, Anand and Abhay (whose names she has used in her children’s novels).

Chitra loves to connect with readers on her Facebook author page, www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni, and on Twitter, @cdivakaruni.
For more information about her books, please visit http://www.chitradivakaruni.com/, where you can also sign up for her newsletter.

Reviews

[Emily Coffee and Commentary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whimsical tale of identity and accepting one’s personal connections, however complicated. Lyrical and dreamy prose, with a great grasp on all the conflicting feelings one has about failed relationships, family dynamics, and new beginnings.

[Bhargavi Balachandran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chitra Banerjee's book ,Queen of the dreams is deeply unsettling..There are no other words to describe the eerie feeling that shrouds me after i finish the book..
I got hooked on to her writing after Palace of Illusions and picked this one up by chance. The themes might be different,but the writing style is just the same.The same flowery language and the poetic narration with rich visual imagery that i found in Palace of Illusions is there in Queen of Dreams.

Rakhi is a single mother,a struggling artist and a cafe-owner living in Northern California, trying to make sense of her life.She has ambivalent feelings about most people in her life ,especially her ex-husband and her mother. Her mother is a dream interpreter who interprets dreams for other people and helps them face their fears .To Rakhi, her mother is an enigma.She craves to know more about her and be an interpreter like her mother,but fate has other plans. Rakhi isn't given the gift of seeing people's dreams.Chitra brilliantly chronicles the angst -ridden thoughts that plague Rakhi and surprises us with observations on human emotions.The narrative switches between Rakhi's point of view,a third person's point of view and the dream journals written by Rakhi's mother.

Rakhi's life gets complicated with the arrival of a new cafe opposite their shop.The manager of the cafe is out to obliterate them..Her mother passes away in a freak accident and everything changes around her.How Rakhi,her father and her friends save the cafe and Rakhi comes to terms with her life and her dysfunctional relationships with her ex-husband and her father forms the rest of the plot.The backdrop of September 11 attacks and the persecution of Sikhs and Indians that followed after the attacks have been used to weave the story.Of course,the book has a happy ending .But somehow as i finished the book, a sense of incompleteness lingered on. There were so many questions that i didn't find answers to.Like the significance of dream time and why Rakhi's mother decided to die.

Queen of Dreams is immigrant fiction at it's best and i loved the way Chitra has woven stories within the main story line. Fables about dreams and Indian kings lend to the effectiveness of the book. In fact,i thought that was the best part of the book.It gave an almost other-worldly feel to the story.Nothing about the book is luke-warm.It elicits a strong reaction.Also,the narrative serenades and takes it's sweet little time to build up to a crescendo.The pace is languorous at the best times and let's you savor the lovely words Chitra conjures up for you.Every single paragraph is lush with beautiful poetic words and similes and metaphors.You wouldn't want to finish the book fast.You would want to read and re-read every line to derive more sensory pleasure from the exercise.

Plot-wise i didn't think it was path breaking ,but the execution is so masterful that only someone as talented as Chitra Banerjee could have pulled it off with such a panache and flourish.

A beautiful book that get a 3.5/5 from me.I am not giving it a 4 only because i found Palace of Illusions better and i had given a 4 for that book. A must-read for all Chitra ji's fans.

[Neha Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Queen of Dreams' another mystical creation from the magical pen of Divakaruni... infact her name itself holds the mysticism, secrets & wonderful traditions of India. She is definitely a mistress of story telling and weaves fantasy & reality so beautifully that you seamlessly flow into the waves of the story. She has in her earlier works touched various aspects on Indian fantasy tales & weaved them into the so different American world. How the magical power bearers come looking for a different world in America, trying to make a difference without giving up their heritage & make their own space in the 'new America'. How they maintain the so called ‘AUTHENTIC’ Indian image which attracts the Americans (most of them being confused about their own backgrounds or of mixed races). How these NRIs are trying to prove to half the world that they are Indians and the other half that they are Americans. Also there are so many stories, books, movies, articles written on 2001 WTC debacle that it sounds cliché, the discrimination suffered by the Asians in Americans after this incident has also become so repetitive that it does not awoke any sympathy or sadness but boredom.

But the book missed something & maybe it was that the pillars of the story the two central characters were a little weak, which is quiet strange because according to me, it is generally the strength of Divakaruni’s writing.

The character of Rakhi was not strong enough to hold the weight of the story. She was fickle, negative & spoil sport always bringing the dullness to the story. She had nothing to boast off other than her good luck that she had such an interesting mother, lovable parents & friends and an understanding & patient husband. Not once in the story I felt that she laughed openly or enjoyed anything. She was always angry & tortured without a reason, she never helped anyone or supported her own family. Infact everything she ever did was fake even her painting, her tea shop, her married life or her motherhood as she wanted to be perfect as her mother or content like her husband but didn’t know what she actually wanted.

Or was it her mother, we don’t know her name, but she was a closed character – her journals throw some light but seem to be designed by her to create her image rather than showing her true self. For what she wanted to go to America, for what she fell in love with a man whom she shuns later, for what she never could be a true mother, for what she always closed her doors to real happiness, for the powers of the dream, the power with which she got to control other’s lives though she says she wanted to help them. That is why Rakhi turned out to be just like her – incomplete & selfish.

My favirite part from the book describin beautifully the art of stories & story telling:

"Each thinking of the story differently, as teller and listener always must. In the mind of each, different images swirl up and fall away, and each holds on to a different part of the story, thinking it the most important. And if each were to speak what it meant, they would say things so different you would not know it wa sthe same story they were speaking of."

Finally a word on Chitra – she is a marvellous story teller with amazing creativity & strong character sketches and she should continue to write her gems because we long to read them. I have finished almost all her books and waiting to grab the copy of her latest release... Thanks Chitra.. though I just found this book ok sorts but I will always be a fan because you have given me some wonderful times, beautiful stories and such dreams that they all seem real....

[Annisa Nuraida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again i have built a nonsense relation with a book, that usually ends up with returning the book to the shelf before even finished it.
Reading the early pages of Queen of Dreams, led me to the nuance of the dim early morning light in Harafish, and the intangible mysery that filled the air like in Sister of My Heart. It’s the feeling that always come over me everytime i read Mahfouz or Divakaruni. But even so, each of them has their own beauty. A different beauty in each reading.
By reading the poetry-like sentences that spread already from the first pages, i’d suspected that it would be another book i would failed to finished. Another Angela’s Ashes or even another Sister of My Heart. Books i failed to finished on fear of facing the implicit mysery.
But Queen of Dreams is beautiful indeed. As i went throught the first pages, i can already sensed the sadness pricking, and it was not a usual sadness. It was something more complicated. Something that has to do with being mentally isolated while physically obliged to fight the world, just like everyone else that passes the street every morning, hurried in their duty to survive and earn life. And yet it described in a swifting, daydreaming-like, sentence.
From my first encounter with the character of Rakhi, i could already tell what i’d find in the next pages of her narrative. It was a narrative of confusement, weary, and uneasy feeling about life. Actually it was quite nice, i mean, the narrative was telling about the gloomy situation, in a cynical yet cheerful and optimistic way, an angry to life-perfectionist-but-lousy-young mother way.
Just..my way it is:)
I started to mirrored my self in Rakhi and surprised of the emotion mix. It’s a surprise to find so many mixtures and opposite emotions. It’s a surprise to see how things going in wrong direction. How my life__just realized this__is like a traffic jam where everything is standing on each other’s way and demanding more and more attention. It’s a topsy turny life. And yet i also found how funny it is. You can only realize it after seeing it in somebody else’s life. It’s like your life has been perfect all this time and there’s nothing to be laughed at. While actually there was.
Your life has been somewhat confusing. A person you used to believed and you have gave your life to turned out to be not so much as what it seemed. The storm is coming. The sky is falling. Your life is failing. Hands are around but no one seems to fit your need. There was always something behind. You can’t feel your hand nor your feet. They were always seem to move in directions that you never planned. They seemed to be no longer your hand and feet. They don’t like you and they won’t obey you. They betray you. Just like your faith did.
And there it is. That’s what would happen when you lost your faith. You lost everything.You feel numb. Your life goes on but it’s not a life you used to know. Things are turning their back on you. Your job is silly, and money is away. You are on the road, on the bus, on the train, on your desk, with the computer, with the friends, with hundreds of people in bus station, but you are not a part of the world.
There were always something you can’t see. There were always something beyond your comprehension. And that makes you feel more lonely. Your daughter is the only thing that kept you from giving up.
Reading the book to me was like talking to a good friend. Sharing the same thing and knowing that it is okay to be stupid sometimes. That it is okay to get angry to life sometimes. And the most important thing is to stand up again and it is also okay to choose any way you like in doing that. Be selfish when it comes to you and your daughter’s life. Let the world just watch.
So again, i have to admit that this lady Divakaruni is a very smart, and deep-hearted writer. She talked about mother-daughter relationship in a way that would surprise you. Revealing things you didn’t realize all this time in your mother-daughter’s life.
I guess it has touched me that far because of the similarity. But i’m sure that only a deep-hearted person can dig that deep too.

[Georgiana 1792 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un romanzo un po' particolare, che ha le sua radici in India, nel realismo magico delle interpreti dei sogni, ma che si sviluppa in California, la terra in cui Rakhi, la protagonista, è nata e cresciuta, col desiderio di conoscere le proprie radici e di essere un po' più simile alla madre, la lettrice dei sogni, da cui non ha ereditato il dono, forse perché non lo ha o forse perché la madre non lo ha saputo risvegliare in lei.
La madre, però, le ha sempre negato di conoscere le tradizioni indiane, perché desiderava che la figlia non avesse nulla a che vedere col suo passato, e ha impedito persino al padre di far avvicinare la figlia ai costumi e alla lingua del loro paese d'origine. La figura della madre di Rakhi è molto misteriosa, e verrà svelata pian piano, quando il padre tradurrà per Rakhi il diario della madre, scoprendo cose che neanche lui aveva conosciuto della moglie.
Rakhi si è separata dal marito Sonny, con cui ha una bambina di sei anni, Jona, per motivi apparentemente incomprensibili, ed è gelosa del rapporto d'affetto che la bambina ha col padre. La piccola è una bambina davvero particolare, quasi adulta sotto alcuni aspetti, ma strana sotto altri. E - come tutte le figlie di separati - sogna che i suoi genitori ritornino insieme, cosa che per Rakhi non è certo facile.
Rakhi dipinge e dirige insieme all'amica Belle una caffetteria, che però comincia ad avere problemi quando, sulla stessa strada, di fronte a loro, apre un altro locale appartenente a una catena, che sembra voler fagocitare quello di Rakhi e Belle.
A tutto questo, poi, si aggiunge l'attentato dell'11 settembre 2001, con il suo clima di diffidenza, odio e intolleranza verso tutto ciò che ha un colore vagamente mediorientale, indiano o musulmano.
Belle, non ho bisogno di tirar fuori la bandiera per provare che sono americana! Lo sono in ogni caso. Amo questo paese: accidenti, è l'unico che conosco. Ma non ho intenzione di sentirmi costretta ad appendere un cartello per dichiarare il mio amor di patria al primo che passa per strada.
Il romanzo è strutturato con capitoli raccontati in prima persona da Rakhi, altri narrati in terza persona e altri ancora che fanno parte del Diario del sogno, con la storia della madre di Rakhi, che si alternano.
Si può considerare questo come una sorta di romanzo di formazione, anche se Rakhi è già una persona adulta, perché tutto ciò che le succede nell'arco del romanzo la porterà a maturare e a rivalutare il rapporto con sua madre, con suo padre e con Sonny.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This the the first book I've read by Divakaruni, but I assure you it won't be the last! I think I have found a new favorite author...

The Queen of Dreams is so poetically, eloquently written that I literally drifted through one page after another. I floated through the lives of Rakhi, Indian-American artist, and her mother, a Bengali dream teller. Both characters are beautifully and breathtakingly written. They each exist in a sort of limbo: Rakhi born in America but always longing for the mysterious magic of India; her mother existing both in her skin and in the world of dreams. I was so drawn to these characters and their emotions that I felt an intimate connection to them. The descriptions, even of events that are typical in any life (like cooking, picking up a child from school, etc.) have an ethereal quality that made me feel that my act of reading was a dream--that Divakaruni is a dream teller. Towards the end of the book, a tremendous rift brings us back to reality, though, as the author explores the impact of 9/11 on Indian-Americans. As a reader you wonder: is the beauty of the dream world gone forever? Read the book to find out. I highly recommend this book.

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I once owned this book and I like it before. Not the author's best works but it's still entertaining.

There are two main storylines: the mother and her experience in India from the past and the present-day storyline about the daughter who moved to America since young, now divorced and experiencing the post-991 attack trauma.

Was the mother a dream-teller with real power or was she only a woman with an active imagination? Was the creatures which were seen by the daughter in her daily life real or not? That's a good question.

I like the magic realism undertone of the story and the 'slice of life' scenes when the heroine ran her teahouse with her friends.

[Melanie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially I was disappointed in this book and was not too fond of the main character. However about half way through the book, the different areas of her life start coming together and suddenly it becomes clear. This is a great book that asks a great deal about the role of family, destiny and dreams. It's also a wonderful illustration of what it means to be American and that an American does not necessarily have to be white.

[Uci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selalu ada nuansa magis dalam cerita-cerita Chitra, 'spesialis' tema imigran India di Amerika. Seolah melalui tulisannya, dia ingin memperlihatkan bahwa di tengah kemodernan Amerika yang serba individual dan terburu-buru, ada sebuah oase berupa kenangan tentang India. India yang bijak dan dewasa dalam kekunoannya, India yang berwarna-warni, berbau tajam dan hiruk-pikuk. India yang dirindukan namun pada saat yang sama berusaha dilupakan.

Kali ini dia berkisah tentang Rakhi, wanita muda keturunan India yang setengah mati berusaha memahami budaya leluhurnya, namun selalu terbentur oleh keengganan orangtuanya, terutama ibunya, untuk berbagi tentang masa lalu mereka di negara yang berjarak ribuan kilometer dari Amerika itu. Ibu Rakhi adalah seorang penafsir mimpi, tugas yang begitu misterius dan memukau di mata Rakhi, tapi tidak pernah dia pahami sepenuhnya karena sang ibu menolak bercerita tentang hal itu, sampai akhir hayatnya. Rakhi merasa tersisih dari kehidupan ibunya, yang sibuk menolong banyak orang menafsirkan mimpi mereka, namun tidak pernah benar-benar hadir dalam hidup putrinya. Rakhi tidak tahu bahwa sang ibu sebenarnya menyimpan kepahitan sendiri akan cintanya yang harus terbelah antara panggilan jiwa dan orang-orang terkasih. Yang paling kaucintai justru paling sedikit akan kautolong. Kau akan dikalahkan oleh kesatuan darahmu. (hal. 71)

Kepergian ibunya yang mendadak membuat Rakhi marah kepada semua orang di dekatnya. Kepada ayah yang dia anggap bertanggung jawab atas kepergian sang ibu, kepada Sonny, mantan suami yang dia anggap selalu berusaha membuat hidupnya menderita, bahkan kepada putrinya sendiri, Jona, yang dia anggap lebih memihak Sonny.

Melalui jurnal ibunya yang ditemukan Rakhi beberapa waktu setelah ibunya meninggal, dia mulai memahami berbagai hal tentang wanita itu, tentang ayahnya yang seolah selalu berada di latar belakang, juga tentang dirinya sendiri yang selalu gelisah dan menyimpan kecewa serta dendam. Alam semesta selalu mengirimkan pesan-pesan. Sulitnya, kebanyakan dari kita tidak tahu bagaimana membacanya. (hal. 242)

Kisah sang ibu saat dididik menjadi penafsir mimpi dalam gua-gua tersembunyi di India mengingatkan saya pada kisah Tilo dalam novel Chitra sebelumnya, Penguasa Rempah-Rempah, seorang wanita muda yang juga terpilih untuk menolong orang-orang di sekitarnya, tapi melalui rempah-rempah. Seperti halnya, Tilo, ibu Rakhi juga melanggar peraturan para tetua karena dia memilih pergi meninggalkan saudari-saudarinya sesama penafsir mimpi untuk menikah dengan pria yang dia cintai setelah hanya dia temui satu kali. "Bagaimana mungkin kau mencintai seseorang yang tidak kaukenal?" / "Bukankah ketidaktahuan justru cara satu-satunya untuk mencintai?" (hal. 201) Nampaknya Chitra percaya bahwa ada konsekuensi yang mesti ditanggung saat kau memutuskan untuk melepas ikatan dengan leluhurmu. Konsekuensi yang terkadang setimpal dengan kebahagiaan lain yang kaudapat, karena memilih untuk mengikuti kata hatimu.

Seperti banyak karya penulis AS yang dibuat setelah tahun 2000, peristiwa 9/11 juga memegang peranan dalam kisah ini. Tanpa mengecilkan arti peristiwa tersebut, maupun dampak yang ditimbulkan berbulan-bulan bahkan bertahun-tahun sesudahnya, mau tak mau saya bertanya-tanya penyelesaian seperti apa yang akan dipilih Chitra andai 9/11 tidak pernah terjadi. Karena kadang saya merasa peristiwa tersebut menjadi penyelesaian yang 'mudah' saat hidup tokoh-tokoh dalam sebuah novel berubah drastis setelah mengalami kejadian yang teramat mengguncang itu. Sangat mudah untuk berubah ketika kau dihadapkan pada kenyataan antara hidup dan mati. Dan dari sana, cerita bisa meluncur mulus ke mana pun, bahkan ke arah yang benar-benar berlawanan. (Tentu saja, itu hanya kesinisan saya sebagai orang yang tidak mengalami langsung :) )

Terlepas dari sedikit (hanya sedikit) kekecewaan saya karena lagi-lagi 9/11 menjadi 'komoditas' dalam sebuah cerita (mungkin ini pandangan yang tidak adil karena semua penulis Amerika tentu terdorong untuk merekam peristiwa tersebut dalam tulisan mereka, tidak mungkin tidak, dan kebetulan saja novel ini saya baca belakangan, setelah membaca beberapa novel lain yang memasukkan 9/11 dalam ceritanya), saya tetap memberi tiga setengah bintang untuk kepiawaian Chitra bercerita, sesuatu yang membuat saya jatuh cinta kepada penulis ini sejak pertama kali membaca karyanya. Untuk kefasihan Chitra menggambarkan tokoh-tokohnya sehingga berhasil membuat saya jengkel kepada Rakhi yang egois, atau bersimpati kepada ayah Rakhi yang mencintai tanpa syarat.

Dalam dunia yang gila ini, kadang bermimpi menjadi pelarian yang menyenangkan, pergi dari kenyataan yang tidak selalu indah. ...kita semua senang mimpi. Mimpi seperti layang-layang yang dilepaskan dari asalnya, bebas dari benang kaca perasaan bersalah (hal. 95)


--review terakhir di tahun 2011--

[Kat Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Words are tricky.

My mother had tried to teach me this. Once when I was persteringly insistent with my questions, she said, 'Everyone breathes in air, but it’s a wise person who knows when to use that air to speak and when to exhale in silence.' "

Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young, rudderless woman raising a smart and innately aware young girl; a young woman clinging to her bitterness and to the fable that her ex-husband is the “bad guy” in every scenario; and a young woman finding her way as a painter and making a go of a tea shop (partnering with her best friend) in the swells of Berkeley, California.

An older woman, born in India, into poverty, is seen to have the gift and is taken by a loving “aunt” to the caves to be instructed in the ways of dream tellers. This same woman abandons that inheritance and gift to enjoy the love of a man and migrates with him to America. This is a woman who despairs upon realizing the cost of losing her gift, then becomes desperate and manages to reclaim a portion of her gift, only to be reminded on a daily basis of the consequences of that choice—for her husband and her daughter.

The young woman is Rakhi, the older woman her mother. We hear Rakhi’s story from her first person perspective as well as 3rd person, and we learn about her mother, who’s always been a frustrating enigma to her, through her journals, which provides the history of dream tellers, the education, the learning process and we read about the dreams themselves, sometimes just as stories, sometimes with interpretation. The journals also become more personal over time as Rakhi’s mother understands and sees more clearly the effects of her decisions.

The old world and the new. The life and difficulties of an immigrant. Old cultures,, ways, foods, and ancient beliefs alongside a world only 200+ years old. The children of said immigrants (Rakhi, Belle, Jespal) finding their way as natives, the first generation born in this new world, the only world they know, caught between respecting, learning, and embracing the ways of the old world and discarding it entirely, or walking the tightrope between the two.

Queen of Dreams is also a story of Rakhi as a fearful, impatient, controlling girl; a young woman in love; a new wife then new mother; and as an ex. Her lashing out at the ex (Sonny), her father, her mother, and even her daughter – how she does, then regrets it, yet can’t change her pattern – is part of the learning and growth of Rakhi’s story, though it can be tiresome and takes a leap of faith that Sonny’s undying love for her is founded on something genuine.

Divakaruni does very well creating the life of Rakhi as a child, how it was for her growing up with an elusive mother who she also adores and toward whom she is desperate for attention, love, and understanding. The author equally succeeds at unraveling the mother’s story, creating a real, multi-layered, 3-dimensional woman who’s life was a series of lucky strokes until she struck out on her own, and because of her own will and desires must live with the repercussions. Yet, she maintains her humanity and compassion despite her regrets and the weight of her failures.

The ending is a combination of well-done ambivalence and uncertainty (no clear cookie-cutter, happy ending) alongside story lines the reader is certain of, regarding their outcome, and perhaps a too-quick fix, eye-opening, revelatory experience for Rakhi. But for the most part, Queen of Dreams is a big story, with lots of stories, about stories, and the human beings who inhabit them, share them, and tell them. And, the surprise when people turn out to be not what you—for a lifetime—have thought them to be.

Queen of Dreams is grounded in the real world with a veil of the “other” as one finds with Toni Morrison’s novels. There are other realms, real magic that touches our world (for those few with the gift to see it), and also a real world-type magic in those around us, through the people we can touch, hug, aid, comfort, welcome, listen to, and love.

[Jas Deol · Rating 3 out of 5]

i enjoyed the prose and concept. in some instances, i was bored. i loved the writing but the ending was lame.

[Anangsha Alammyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rakhi is a single mother, a struggling artist, and a cafe-owner living in Northern California. Every day, she wakes up trying to make sense of her life.

She has always been close to her mother, but her feelings now have evolved to something darker and more viscid. Her mother was an enigma in her childhood. Now, Rakhi learns that she is a dream interpreter. She can see the dreams of other people and help them navigate their fears and insecurities.

While a noble profession, Rakhi always envies how her mother can touch lives simply by going to sleep each night, while she herself is average in all senses of the word. Divorced, struggling with her art and business, and trying to form a bond with her own daughter, Rakhi feels disconnected from her mother and blames her for not inheriting this precious gift of reading dreams.

The author brilliantly chronicles the angst-ridden thoughts that plague Rakhi and surprises us with observations on human emotions. The writing is beautiful and evocative, leaving you feeling emotions you didn't even know you had the headspace for.

Why you need to read the book

This book explores the beautiful bond that exists between a mother and daughter. About how, no matter how much she gives, a mother always feels her child deserves more. And now, no matter how dedicated the mother is, a daughter always feels betrayed, as if her mother owed her something more.

And on both sides of the relationship, there's the burden of expectations: of how one expects the other to be selfless, while justifying their own need for selfishness.

Seeing the same emotions I have struggled with all my life portrayed so beautifully in the minds of the characters gave me much-needed validation that it's okay to feel this way. The book gave me tools to communicate better with my mother - tools I wasn't expecting in a fiction novel about a woman who can read the dreams of other people.

[anusha · Rating 2 out of 5]

the book was a HUGE let down after having read and loved The Palace of Illusions by the same author.

Perhaps I missed the point of the story entirely but this book did not make sense to me at all. It felt as if random events were compiled haphazardly and voila! it's a book!!

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this after seeing Mistress of Spices, and for a while it looked like another tale where realities of India are dressed up in extraordinarily exotic garb hiding the reality that is far more complex and beautiful, because the readership in west is unable to take in the latter and is going to think the former anyway.

And then came the scenes describing those racist attacks, phenomena that was heard all the way in India - not in main news, even though it concerned India's own people, but in private tales and general muted stories that were told in a way that was indisputable - in US post 911. One read, now fully awake, horrified, and while the scenes rang true one realised that it was a reality that had been never far from the surface.

We had lived in US in a parallel universe believing in justice of the system, in fairness, in rewards for merit. And yet when the slumbering beast awakes it does not discriminate between Chinese and Japanese or innocent citizens and would be terrorists, it only knows the difference of colour and features. Technicolour is acceptable, sepia is suspect, must have gone the reckoning.

Later happened the accelerated migration of expats returning home to India, and their mother country had wanted them back anyway, all those years, always.

So it was vaguely ascribed to the prosperity accelerating back in India - which was true, but not to that extent, not the way they were used to back there in their adopted home - and no one questioned if they had come back running due to the terror, of not being dealt with in fairness and being denied justice, all becuase they were sepia tone - and not technicolour - people.

After all Indians still have a nation, a place to return, Indians' own country, and there is no reason why any of those from India should have to suffer a holocaust out there after working hard to make it sheer on merit and fighting the biases that are racist and more - and certainly those biases are neither limited to another time nor to the geography of another continent, look at the klan and its neo nazi active versions reported through their own media other than mainstream news - so the mother country had welcomed them en masse, though their return looked like a preference for cultural and other home comforts that now was undeterred by the previous era of economic difference on a much more huge scale. The difference still does exist, but there is a lot to be said for being close to your own people, eating your own food, went the comments.

The scenes described here and their truth were all brushed under the rug for sake of economic expediency of the hour.

[Marcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I read by Chitra Banerjee. After the first book, I bought all of Chitra's books. This one drew me in, and kept me engaged by the mystery of the man wearing white, who shows up at unexpected times, one time when the dreamer is killed in a car accident as she chases a man wearing white in a black car...

I was fascinated by the mother, the "dreamer" who dreams the troubles that people have, and the horrific events that are about to occur, and she reaches out to warn them...Her dreams take over her life. The dreamer's daughter is fascinated by her mother's life, and craves stories about her mom's life in India, before she came to America. Mom does not share anything about her Indian life. Dad and Mom do not sleep together. Dad is a binge drinker, not respected by mom or by the daughter.

When the wife is killed in a car crash, and the father remains alive, father and daughter build a new relationship together by reading the journals mom has left for them to unravel her secrets about her previous life, her wants, her desires, and her ability to be clairvoyant. Dad becomes the friend, the confidante, and the ideal father the daughter did not know she had.

The daughter has also been coping with a separation from her husband, and the tea shop she owns with a friend is failing. There is a mystery of a manager who opens the fancy new coffee shop that takes away all of the daughter's customers. There is the mystery of the man in white. I was disappointed not to really learn what those mysteries meant. Maybe I missed it. Or maybe those mysteries were no longer important as the daughter finally finds herself. Still, there was so much mystery surrounding these two people, that it did not make sense to me that one just vanishes and the man in white finally meets the daughter in a grove where she first sees him and is drawn to him, and he spends a few moments with her doing Tai Chi.

I will continue to read Chitra's books, and hope that this dream-like story with unattainable answers is singular to this book.

[Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read about immigrant daughters, mother-daughter relationships that are strained, and the life of an artist struggling to be fresh, new, and pulled in too many different directions.

The book is written from two different viewpoints--the daughter's and mother's. * * *[Spoiler alert] * * * After the mother dies, the daughter asks her father to translate her mother's journals. She discovers that her mother was a dream-teller, an exalted position of oracle in India. Here in the US, she has built a coterie of followers, most of them South Asian.

The daughter, a talented artist, is pulled in different directions. Like many first generation women, she wants to be free of the old, confining ways, but also finds them comforting. She is having problems with her art, because she paints scenes from India, but catches flashes of so much more.

Rikki, the daughter, wanted to be a dream-teller, too, but did not have the gift. Or perhaps her mother bought it from her early in life to prevent her from suffering the dreams of others. The open-ended portions of the story don't feel unfinished, they feel mystical. Appropriate.

Rikki also owns a restaurant with a friend, and the restaurant is under attack from competition--both for their patrons and for the heart of what a restaurant should be--a "third place"--different from work and home, where we can be ourselves. The story of the restaurant is another facet of Rikki's life.

Of course, there is more. Rikki is newly divorced and negotiating bringing up a daughter, who may have inherited the dream-teller status of her mother, as well as the painting talent of her mother. The next generation of mother-daughter tension is in the works.

Rikki's mother's story is also explained--the training of a dream-teller, how she struggled with the talent, what she chose in life when choices to be made--all are fascinating

The book covers a lot of cultural ground, mystical ideas, and wonderful story telling. I enjoyed it fully.

[Cheyenne Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The question was: could this book possibly measure up to "Mistress of Spices", the author's earlier novel?

Well, the short answer is "No", but that doesn't mean "Queen of Dreams" isn't worthwhile. Divakaruni writes about first generation Indian women in America, and there's often a touch of the mystical mingled in with discomfort, difficulties and yearning for India. "Queen of Dreams" is about Rikhi, daughter of a dream teller. Rikhi and her friend, Belle, run an Indian chai house in San Fransciso which is being put out of business when a chain coffee house opens opposite. While this plot runs through the book, the main story is about Rikhi's relationship with her dead mother, her own daughter, her ex-husband, her friend Belle, and above all her alcoholic thrust-into-the-background father.

The first third of the book I had a refrain beating in my head: "This-isn't-as-good-as-Mistress-of-Spices,-isn't-as-good-as-Mistress-of-Spices,-isn't-as-good-as-Mistress-of-Spices,-isn't-as-good-as-WAIT!!" Because, abruptly, in the middle of the book, it WAS as good. It was poignant, and reflective, and as Rikhi developed a new relationship with her father, the book was fine and deep and quite simply, a lovely read.

The POV shifted in alternate chapters between first person POV (Rikhi's) and an omniscient third POV. This was somewhat distracting, and I didn't see the need for it: it seemed self-consciously arty, as if Divakaruni was trying to maintain her reputation as a lyrical literary writer. No need, dear writer, you do just fine if you leave it alone and just WRITE in your natural, beautiful, flowing, lyrical prose.

Still not as good as "Mistress" but overall a worthwhile read. 7/10

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a while since I have read any books by Divakaruni. Queen of Dreams popped up on my library's Kindle site, and I decided to check it out. I am so glad I did because I have not had such a mesmerizing read in months! This book is definitely not for everyone though. It is mystical and magical and full of coincidences which really are not coincidences. Readers who have to like the main character (something I have never understood) will have problems with this book. The main character is at times whiney and immature. However, this book is about growth and change and getting to know one's inner nature. By the end, the main character has changed, but not so much that it is unrealistic.

I especially like how Divakaruni mixes the main character's mother's diaries with first person from the main character's POV with sections that are third person. The diaries also include Indian stories,the centerpiece being the story of Tunga-dhwaja, an arrogant king who encounters a white boar while hunting. This white boar leads him on a magical journey which results in his learning life changing truths about himself. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the Breton Lai and encountered many works in medieval European literature where someone would encounter a white animal--usually a boar or a deer--who would lead them on some otherworldly journey. I was immediately intrigued by the connections between cultures, but it was not until a few hours after finishing the book that I realized how much that story played out in the course of the main narrative.

Divakaruni's other books have definitely been moved to the top of my TBR pile!

[Andrea Ika · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Queen of dreams, the focus is on relationships, mostly between a mother, Mrs. Gupta, and her adult daughter Rahki

Rakhi yearns to understand her mother, a dreamer who insists on keeping her at arm's length. She struggles with her relationship with her ex-husband, which went downhill after he once failed to live up to her expectations and protect her the way she felt he should. Her mother, though distant, has always protected her. When she dies in a car crash, Rakhi and her father find a stash of journals her mother had written, full of entries about her life written in words she could never say aloud to the people she loved. Rakhi's father helps by translating the entries and bringing new life to Rakhi's failing business.

The book follows Rahki's attempts to understand her mother better, and at the same time the reader, and later Rahki, are allowed to see what Mrs. Gupta's dream journal confesses. The journal tells Mrs. Gupta's story, from her days in India to her dreams that foretell her death.
Her relationships with her father and ex-husband get stronger after her mother's death as she learns that she doesn't always have control over everything.

Divakaruni is now on my list of favourite authors. Love her style; her writing is very poetic. The story has mysterious and supernatural overtones that harken back to her Indian heritage.

I read it very quickly because the story kept pulling me forward; one climax after another made for a very exciting read. I reread it more slowly, then, to enjoy details I might have missed. I was never disappointed.

For those who enjoys stories of mothers and daughters, this book is for you. I recommend this book heartily.

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book...I feel like it was way too much like "Mistress of Spices", by the same author. It had the same element of giving up something you loved for a man - risking the loss of your trade.

There were two many loose endings as well: who really was the "man in white" and why was Rakhi so tied to him? Why did Rakhi's mother follow this black car and thus kill herself? Who was Emit Maerd and of what significance is it that backwards his name spells Dream Time? And what is to become of Jona's ability to tell dreams!?

With all these unanswered questions it's any wonder there was a plot to this book at all. Things really only begin after Rakhi's mother dies and her dream journals are discovered to be translated. Even then, the story begins to be more about Rakhi and her father, and not her mother at all.

A bizarre book. It was an entertaining read - a good summer book. I'm glad I didn't spend money on it, though!

"...she'd realize you couldn't build a relationship on a new experience. Because one day it wasn't new anymore, and what were you left with?"

"Isn't not knowing the only way it is possible to love?"

"...it is the wish of all men to construct without interference the story of their wives' lives."

"Unless you observe a life of service and compassion and cultivate the six treasured virtues you may never learn this skill. But when - no, if - you finally hear, you will see the intricate web of love that binds existence together, and you will never need anything else in order to be happy."

[Luminalsl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Première fois que je suis déçue par un roman de Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. J'avais adoré la Maîtresse des Epices et son univers onirique et sensuel. J'avais suivi avec beaucoup de joie le destin de Sudha et Anju sur les deux tomes qui leur sont consacrés et, j'avais refermé le dernier livre avec une pointe de tristesse de les quitter.

Autant dire que je partais avec d'excellents a-prioris pour cette nouvelle histoire, d'autant plus qu'elle semblait reprendre une partie de l'univers de la Maîtresse des épices.
Résultat ? Je suis totalement passée à côté, pire, je n'ai même pas reconnue la patte, la plume et le don d'écriture de Chitra Banerjee. Cette histoire, je dois dire, lui ressemble bien peu : ces personnages sont dénués de complexité, manquent de profondeur et, pour certains, sont franchement caricaturaux (exemple avec Belle).

Surtout le personnage personnage principal, Rikhi m'a vivement tapé sur le système tout au long de l'histoire. Elle se montre agaçante, vindicative, toujours prête à baisser les bras, à s'en prendre à son entourage, à se plaindre puis à envoyer bouler quand on lui propose des solutions pour lui venir en aide. Elle ne fait confiance à personne mais vitupère quand les gens n'agissent pas comme elle souhaiterait qu'ils le fassent. Elle prie toute son enfance pour avoir le don de sa mère mais traite quasiment de menteuse sa fille qui développe les signes de ce don.

De même j'ai trouvé que l'histoire ne restait pas assez sur l'interprète des rêves et sur son monde, contrairement à la Maîtresse des Epices. Bref une grande déception !

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Divakaruni's writing. She has once again proved herself to be a master storyteller. She writes such fascinating stories with such wonderful characters and prose. This is the third book that I've read by her and loved.

Rakhi is the central character here along with her mother. To be honest I didn't really like Rakhi's character at first. I felt that she never took responsibility for the way her life was going and she chose instead to blame everything on her ex-husband Sonny or her mother. Rakhi wants to be close to her mother but is unable to because of her mother's refusal to discuss her work and her previous life in India.

After her mother is tragically killed Rakhi opens her journals and discovers the truth behind her mother and for the first time in her life, notices her father.

It was interesting to see Rakhi grow within herself and her ability to become open and honest with the people in her life. The developing relationship with her dad was one of the best points in the novel.

Divakaruni has created believable characters here. It was so sad to see that these people had these lives within themselves that they couldn't or didn't share with their loved ones. Only after terrible loss and tragedy did Rakhi and her father both come to truly discover themselves and their relationship with one another.

I would recommend this book highly.

[Darnia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I'm starting to love Divakaruni's writing since this book (even my introduction book wasn't this one

Kisah ini dibagi dua tokoh utama, Rakhi dan ibunya (yg sebagian besar dijabarkan lewat jurnal mimpinya). Rakhi, janda cerai beranak satu, pelukis serta pemilik Kafe Chai House (yg nantinya menjadi Chai House International) merasa bahwa dirinya adalah orang Amerika berdarah India, yg sangat mencintai India tanpa pernah menginjakkan kakinya di negeri tersebut. Sedangkan ibunya, seorang penafsir mimpi, jarang berbicara jika tidak perlu, tidak bercerai tapi tidak tidur sekamar dengan ayahnya, pemberi nasihat paling bagus (menurut sahabatnya) dan koki jempolan (menurut mantan suaminya).

Rakhi mendambakan "kekuatan" yg dimiliki sang Ibu, karena menganggap pekerjaan sang Ibu sangat cemerlang. Namun, selain tidak memiliki bakat tersebut, sang Ibu juga nampak enggan membicarakan kekuatannya. Rakhi tumbuh dengan berjarak dari sang Ibu. Hingga kematian sang Ibu membuka tabir misteri dalam kehidupan mereka, mendekatkan dia dengan sang Ayah serta membantu upayanya mempertahankan Chai House dari jeratan kapitalisme.

***
Citra Banarjee Divakaruni sangat piawai dalam menyusun kata-kata. Dan topiknya sangat kompleks.

Dan gw gak tau mau komen apa lagi selain...baca sendiri deh! :D

[Mishika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first book by the Author and it was just about an ok read.
The protagonist is a very, if I may say so, cynical character. Throughout the book, I could her a voice in my head saying that the narrative won't get better, but i kept going at it against all hope. The voice was right.

The novel is not one big story, it's a collection of the lives of several people, all of them connected through one person - Rakhi. Things happen, things don't happen, you think that things are happening but nothing ever does - it's one of those stories. The book has left with me a gaping hole (in my head and heart) that I have been desperately trying to avoid because I don't know how to fill it.

If someone was starting with this author, I don't think i would recommend this book. It is, in a way, not very complete.

I liked the writing style, I liked some of the characters, I liked the small bits and pieces of story-telling woven here and there, adding much needed colour.

Despite everything, and I can't really say why, I liked the book.
Recommended if you have read other books by the author. Again, don't begin with this.

[Bookmarks Magazine]

The word magical gets thrown around a little too casually in review circles, but when it comes to Divakaruni's new novel, the description seems apt. More cynical reviewers feel the plot is contrived and the characters hollow. The book's boosters praise Divakaruni's descriptive skills, shifting point of view, and acute presentation of Indian-American culture. The mother's eponymous dreams, presented in separate chapters, add complexity to the narrative structure and drop a heavy dose of mysticism to this tale of immigrant assimilation. It is this same mysticism that determines the success of the fictional illusion: for some it is awe-inspiring; others just see smoke and mirrors.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[David Raz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Queen of Dreams by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Hebrew review follows סקירה בעברית בהמשך
By now, I should have known what to expect. I read and enjoyed The Mistress of Spices but every book I read after that one was a disappointment. From some reason, I keep reading them though I should know by now that this is not an author I enjoy.
I will start with what I do enjoy and why I do come back for more, which is the ethereal, dreamy fantasy that Divakaruni so gracefully depicts. I especially like the way Divakaruni weaves the fantastical with the urban day-to-day life of the India immigrants. I also felt most characters were well rounded and justified, and I could easily empathize with them. The writing is also fluent and engaging and I often find that I read for hours without noticing.
The problem is that in this book, the fantasy and the character building are just not strong enough to hold the book together, and then it becomes clear that the plot is not tight enough. The author starts with many threads, some of them quite intriguing, like the relationship with the daughter and the person in white (not to spoil any of the details), but none of them is taken to the end. One by one, you get to realize that the author does not intent to tie these loose ends for you. I guess some readers enjoy this but I cannot. I also felt the twisting point created by the September 11 attacks was awkward and it breaks the flow of the book. The subjects that arise from 9/11 could easily have filled another book, and I did not think they fit well in this one.
I still think I will try to read other books by this author since I do enjoy one aspect of it, and reading is quite effortless, but I do wish she would focus more on the fantasy. I give the book two and a half stars out of five, rounded down to two stars.

כנראה שכבר הייתי צריך לדעת למה לצפות. קראתי את אדונית התבלינים ונהניתי ממנו, אבל כל ספר של דיוואקרוני שקראתי אחר כך היה אכזבה. מסיבה כלשהי אני ממשיך לקרוא אותם למרות שכנראה שזו לא סופרת לטעמי.
אני אתחיל עם מה שאני אוהב וכן גורם לי לחזור והוא הפנטזיה האוורירית והחולמנית שדיוואקרוני מציירת בחן רב כל כך. אני אוהב במיוחד את האופן שבו היא טווה את הפנטסטי עם חיי היומיום העירוני של המהגרים מהודו לארצות הברית, מה שנותן נופך של אקזוטיות. גם הדמויות שכותבת דיוואקרוני מעוגלות ומוצדקות ויכולתי בקלות להזדהות איתן. הכתיבה שלה שוטפת ומעניינת ולא פעם אני מוצא שקראתי שעות בלי לשים לב.
הבעיה היא שבספר זה הפנטזיה ובניין הדמויות פשוט לא חזקות מספיק כדי להחזיק את הספר ואז מתברר שהעלילה לא מספיק חזקה. המחברת מתחיל בחוטים רבים, חלקם מסקרנים למדי כמו היחסים בין האם לביתה לאור היחסים עם אימה והאדם בלבן (ואני לא מתכוון לפרט כדי לא לקלקל), אבל אף אחד מהנושאים לא נלקח עד הסוף. אחד אחד, אתה מבין שהמחבר לא מתכוונת לקשור את הקצוות האלה עבורך. אני מניח שיש קוראים שנהנים מזה אבל אני מעדיף שהעלילה תסגור את הקצוות. לתחושתי גם נקודת פיתול שנוצרת על ידי ה-11 בספטמבר מוזרה ומלאכותית ושוברת את הזרימה של הספר. הנושאים שנוצרו מהאירוע הזה יכולים בקלות למלא ספר אחר, ולא חשבתי שהם מתאימים היטב לספר הזה.
אני עדיין חושב שאני אנסה לקרוא ספרים אחרים של המחברת כי כאמור אני אוהב את ההיבט הפנטסטי בכתיבה שלה והקריאה היא נעימה וקלה, אבל אני מייחל שהיא תתמקד יותר בפנטזיה. לספר הזה אני נותן את שניים וחצי כוכבים מתוך חמישה, מעוגל למטה לשני כוכבים.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's lots of chatter about "strong women characters" but Divakaruni writes complex female characters, which is even better. I knew very little about this book going in, other than that I liked the author, but the teasing mystery story combined with very familiar, often irritating, and yet everyday characters make for a thoughtful and compelling read. Lots of threads are woven in here - cultural identity, parenthood, the isolation of selfhood, the migrant experience, divorce - even the death of small independent business, and in no small way, spirituality. Divakaruni eschews the simple answers or simplistic characterisations. The book leaves many elements of the plot unexplained, or open to multiple interpretations. Her protagonist, Rakhi, narrated in both first and third person, is often infuriating. Rakhi's mother, whose motivations hover just out of reach until the story gets going, is a more tragic than heroic figure. And yet, this stumbling to enlightenment is a much more familiar journey than those from more tropey heroines, and their struggle - to be the person they want to be - is worth the ride.

[Anvesh]

I got this as part of audible membership included free book. It tells story of daughter and mother who will develop ability to interpret dreams and help people. While the overall story is ok, I liked listening to story of Rakhi who grows up in US and is burdened by desire to set up her own cafe and succeed who is helped by her father later on. However, story seemed to stray into multiple directions and had no consistency.

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book of dreams because I’ll revisit it very often. Purely because of how much the world of dreams has done for me.

How often I have dreamed the future, watch it come into action and how often I’ve carried the weight of dreams I remember. I’m not a dream teller but I have deciphered many dreams, mine and others; to understand the magnanimity of being one.

Chitra ji has an innate ability to weave words into a magical folklore sorts and again doesn’t disappoint at all. The story however does have one unnecessary point of infamous terrorist arracks in US - which personally didn’t make sense.

Otherwise the book is full 5/5 for me.

[Lina Maharani · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's really hard to explain what I have done while reading this.
Rakhi, sometimes remind me to myself. Too much worrying about something that only 'if'. Her mom is another one. I barely weeping tears in some part. 😢