"Sita's Ramayana" by Samhita Arni and Moyna Chitrakar

"Sita's Ramayana" is a graphic novel retelling of one of the more famous folktales of India, focusing on the tragic love story between Sita and Rama.  Full of twists, turns, monsters and magic, it makes the works of Homer seem downright simplistic.  For those unfamiliar with Indian myth, be prepared for anamistic plants and animals, more battles than you can throw a stick at, and very large, complicated familial connections (it's kind of like a bunch of Irish Catholics at Easter ...)  In any case, the authors provide a set of genealogies at the beginning and some information on Indian story-telling traditions at the end of the book.

The tale is told as succinctly as possible (which pretty much means:  love, death, escape, capture, hope, hopelessness, battle, battle, battle, etc, betrayal, estrangement, and more death).  Images (which came first, according to the notes) are painted in primitive style, with bold colors, disproportionate figures and expressions which don't change much, but are rotated in such a way as to make them more vertical or prone depending on their circumstances.  The text almost seems to be an intrusion into this, as the images flow like Indian music -- on a single, unending path (see the term "Raaga" for an explanation) but the words are fairly staccato.

It's not that I disliked this book, but it takes effort on the part of the reader to engage.  This book is truly "Indian" -- with Indian creators and publishers.  It is one of many new books I have purchased to appeal to the burgeoning Indian population here in the states, but in many ways it feels foreign to those of us unaccustomed to this kind of literature.  In other words, if you know nothing about Indian culture, don't start here.  If, however, you know your Bhangra from your Bollywood, you might enjoy dipping your toe into this full-fledged homage to the female perspective on the Sita/Rama legend.