Another 5-star novel: I have now read 4 of Ms. Divakaruni's books, and hope she writes another novel soon. She has a tremendous gift to make her images come to life in your head as you are reading. I also felt again that I was being given a privileged tour of a culture different than my own, and could see my own culture through different eyes. So in addition to being entertained, I was being educated. Along with a great story comes a little magic--in that way her work reminds me of Alice Hoffman--the magic seems like a completely natural and believeable part of the world. Read this book, and then read the rest of her work!

a well written blend of fantasy story of a dream teller mother and her daughter who is firmly planted in reality.This author is a great storyteller of the Indian and American cultures combined together, ( )

I really enjoyed The Mistress of Spices, so was happy to see this come up on Bookmooch.

Rakhi, born and brought in America, but from an Indian family. She has grown apart from her family, mainly because of her father's drinking and her mother's strange 'job' reading dreams. Reading people's dreams, those of strangers, makes her mother distant herself. She sleeps in a separate room, so the dreams can flow. There is an emotional estrangement between the family members, Rakhi feels her mother is disappointed that she doesn't share her gift, her father drinks to try to cope with his loneliness, and her mother is torn between the dreams and wanting a family life.

Rakhi has other problems to deal with. She is divorced, with a daughter, but her ex-husband still gets under her skin, there is a lot of unresolved business between them. His presence affects Rakhi's art, she is a painter, but seems to be blocked. With her business under attack from Java, part of a chain, Rakhi and her friend are encouraged to make their business more unique, like a real Indian chai shop. This turns it into a local meeting point, with music and discussion, as well as a place to eat and drink.

Divakaruni brings all the threads together with her usual fantastic style. I enjoyed reading about the dreams, the art of reading them, and the stories of Rakhi's parents' lives in India before their emigration. Divakaruni draws you, weaving the stories together, making you want to read on. ( )

I had hopes for a repeat along the lines of Sister of My Heart, but this story was a different kind of tale.

In Queen of Dreams, Divakaruni focuses on family: a woman and her relationships with her father, mother, ex-husband, and daughter. Above all, this novel points out that we can never truly know every aspect of a person. ( )

Chitra Divakaruni's Queen of Dreams is shelved as mainstream, but definitely qualifies as fantasy - specifically Indian fantasy. It's about being both Indian and American, about assimilation, about having to reclaim your own culture, about dangerous, real, possessing dreams.