Shiva's Fire is by Suzanne Fisher Staples. It tells the story of Parvati, a little Indian girl who is one with nature. Her destiny is to become a devadasi, a legendary dancer. Or at least this is what she believes, until she meets a kind boy who captures her heart. Parvati is faced with a choice: should she continue dancing or run off with this gentle-eyed boy? Through this choice, Parvati will discover that destiny can be elusive.
This book started out being somewhat slow and maybe even a bit boring, but it got better as it went along. Overall, not one of the best books I've ever read, but I did enjoy it.
I give this book 7 out of 10 stars.
The Spring Reading Thing reading challenge: 11 books down, 19 to go.
3 comments:
Interesting that you picked and have read two books about Indian girls. You've probably learned a lot about the culture. Were the cultural things in both novels similar? I've never been to India, but I think it would be a very interesting place to visit.
Jean--
The cultural things weren't that similar, actually. Maybe it's because most of Shiva's Fire is about the gurukalam, where the devadisis study, and Seema in Blue Jasmine didn't really dance.
--Annie
I actually know someone (his name is Kannan; he's a friend of my older son Don) who is a very, very accomplished Hindu dancer. He does temple dancing of some sort and has actually performed in India. I'm not sure if that's the same thing as in Shiva's Fire. I just know it is amazing to watch Kannan dance. I may have to take a look at this book and see if it's the same sort of dancing.
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