A Mayan God of Death... and journey that changes... the God and the girl...

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The world is a beautiful place. It is filled with wonder and awesome stories. Some stories we know, some we don’t. The world of mythology and folklore is always a fascinating one. Every country in the world has their share of these wonderful elements that are shaped by their own environment. So even when you have similarities between the pantheon, the function of them is vastly different. I’m raised in India, so Indian myths and folklore is familiar to me. Most English literature is influenced, one way or another with Greek and Roman myths, so that is also pretty familiar to anyone who reads. It’s astonishing how many similarities exist between the Greakoroman pantheon and Indian one. Egyptian myths and pantheons are familiar but not so similar. So I was under the impression that I am well versed with how gods would look n feel in other cultures. in the world of food, Indian and Mexican share a similar palate. So I thought we also might share similar mytho or gods. Little did I know how wrong I was. How false was my knowledge and confidence…

 Silvia Moreno-Garcia was a new name for me. But the book cover was so interesting.  And the byline of the book sounded mysterious…. It read

“The Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore.”

 Now for those who don’t know anything about Spanish or Mayan folklore… it isn’t anything like the Indian or Greek one. And there are times when you find it hard to grasp the narration. But hold on to it… stay with it, and it offers you a very rich experience. The book, opened up a whole new world to me. The novel is story of Casiopea. A sweet little girl who lives in southern Mexico. A girl who had the heart of an Eagle. Who knew that she was part of a bigger world and wanted to explore it. She’s stuck in a family where girls, don’t get a voice, especially girls without a father. She’s suffocated in the rural world where her views are trampled only because of her gender. Maybe it’s luck or accident, she opens a chest in her grandfather’s room, and sets free the Mayan god of Death. Hun-Kame. By the fate, her life is tied to the life of the God of death. He is almost free. He needs her to take on a journey to restore him to his kingdom, Xibalba. A place where his brother is ruling. A brother who was responsible for his imprisonment. She needs him, coz in his journey is her way out of her small town. What follows ahead, is a very engaging, and strange tale of a journey. As much as a physical one, as it is a mental and emotional. In him, she’s learning the strange world of freedom, danger and self awarenes… in her, he’s finding his humanity… if that’s even possible for a God. It isn’t a love story in the traditional sense of the word. But it is about love. And it’s about self discovery. And about learning how to deal with the world. With all it’s ups and downs. Things you expect and about things that you should not expect from the world.

Casiopea and Hun-Kame are the oddest pair you can ever imagine. And the subtle bond that they form between themselves is even more odd. It’s not friendship, but it’s not familial also. The interdependency that is thrust on them, slowly evolves into more… but I’ve not been able to find the right word to define that “more”. I think that is the beauty of it. The complexity of this bond that you know is more than and less than what you want it to be. It is a narrative that makes you think. And if you are like me, you will find a lot of little gems that touch your heart unexpectedly.

For example take this particular conversation… it’s a conversation about naming things. Where Hum-Kame is trying to impress the importance of names or naming things to Casiopea. The dialogue goes…

 

“Words are seeds, Casiopea. With words you embroider narratives, and the narratives breed myths, and there’s power in the myth. Yes, the things you name have power"

 

It’s a bright little gems like these that keep you engaged in the story. You see both of these protagonists growing. Both struggle with mortality and the need to BE something more that what they are at the moment. Near the end of the tale, there’s this beautiful struggle that Hun-Kame goes through, where for a brief moment, he wants to give up… his immoratlity. For her. And you, as a reader struggle to understand that stand. At least in my case, I was somehow disturbed by his thoughts. While, I loved the blossoming relationship they had, I didn’t want the story to take the typical… “And they lived happily ever after” route. I’m glad that Silvia didn’t go that way. And I think that’s a great thing about this book. Nothing is predictable. Nothing goes, as you expect it to go. Everything is fresh. Everything is novel.

 

Pick up “Gods of Jade and Shadow” for its unusual voice. It’s a wonderful little story. I am so looking forward to picking up more from Silvia Moreno-Garcia in future. In short, a BIG thumbs up.