Victory City by Salman Rushdie
A young girl of nine years old experiences a divine encounter that will alter the course of history following a minor conflict between two long-forgotten kingdoms in southern India in the fourteenth century. After seeing her mother die, the grieving Pampa Kampana transforms into a receptacle for a goddess, who starts speaking out of the girl’s mouth. The goddess bestows onto Pampa Kampana abilities beyond comprehension and tells her that she will play a crucial role in the development of the great city of Bisnaga, also known as “victory city,” which will become a marvel of the world.
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
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Over the course of the next 250 years, Pampa Kampana’s life is intimately entwined with Bisnaga’s, from the latter’s tragic ruination by the most human of causes—the hubris of those in positions of power—to its literal seeding from a bag of magic seeds. Pampa Kampana makes an effort to fulfil the mission that the goddess assigned her: to give women equal agency in a patriarchal society by whispering Bisnaga and its inhabitants into life. But every story has a way of eluding its author, and Bisnaga is no different. The very fabric of Bisnaga transforms into an ever-more complicated tapestry, with Pampa Kampana at its heart, as time passes, rulers come and go, conflicts are won and lost, and allegiances change.
Victory City is a chronicle of love, adventure, and myth that is brilliantly stylized as a translation of an ancient epic. It is in and of itself a monument to the power of storytelling.
A complex and epic story plucked from Indian myth and mythology of the fourteenth century. There are monarchs competing for dominance, a young girl (who does grow up), and other features typical of fantasy literature. Yes, there is a metaphor, but the language and storytelling alone will appeal to the general reader.
