Rama's Labyrinth
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Rama's Labyrinth Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
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Biographical historical fiction that takes the reader across India during the last decades of the British Raj.

From a girlhood among Hindu shrines to widowhood and Christian conversion, Rama seeks her destiny. Is it only to educate Hindu widows? Or does God have a larger plan in mind?

Rama's Labyrinth traces the life of Pandita Ramabai, a social reformer who rose above personal adversity to rescue and educate famine victims.

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  1. Listening Length
    20 hours and 41 minutes
  2. Author
    Sandra Wagner-Wright
  3. Narrator
    Deepti Gupta
  4. Audible release date
    June 13, 2016
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Wagner-Wright Enterprises
  7. ASIN
    B01GVUWAC8
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 20 hours and 41 minutes
Author Sandra Wagner-Wright
Narrator Deepti Gupta
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date June 13, 2016
Publisher Wagner-Wright Enterprises
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B01GVUWAC8

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
15 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Susan Ozmore
5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and Thoughtful
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2016
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I really enjoyed this book, although in at least one respect it wasn't what I was expecting. It's a novel based on the life of a real woman known as Pandita Ramabai. She was a Sanskrit scholar and social reformer who focused on women's education. Her father was a Brahmin who took the unusual step of educating his daughters as well as his son. The novel takes place during the last half of the 19th century into the 20th, and follows the actual events of her life, including her education, work, and her conversion from Hinduism to Christianity.

Rama faced many challenges throughout her life, from the obstacles she faced with her family due to their itinerant lifestyle, to her inter-caste marriage, and as a woman who lectured both men and women during a time when many considered that scandalous. She struggled to understand her purpose in life and how to fulfill her promise to her father to honor what he saw as her destiny. This is interwoven with her internal struggles over religion and the prejudice she faces from men and women within both religions.

I particularly enjoyed the early part of the book as her family travels throughout India, visiting Hindu holy sites. The author describes the sites, the Hindu gods and how they were worshiped as well as the people they encountered, all of which were unfamiliar to me. As Rama's life story moves from India to England and to America, the author does a good job describing her reaction to the different cultures and real life people she encounters. Much of this is based on primary sources which she details in the back of the book.

What was unexpected for me was the extent to which the latter half of the book describes her Christian life. It is basically a Christian testimonial and reminded me of books I have read about Christian missionaries, one of whom was mentioned in the book, Hudson Taylor. It is well done and is in some ways necessary to understand the impact her work had on the people she encountered and the events she was involved in. It was just unexpected to me.

I would recommend this to anyone interested in India, women's history, or Christian missionary work.
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Bob Stimson
5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling blend of colonial history, precarious living, and great courage
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2015
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Rama’s Labyrinth is an important book. The social maladies that inform the book’s action have counterparts in today’s world, including America. The story recounts the real-life travails of a woman who lived in India, with sojourns in England and America, during the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth, a woman who overcame daunting odds to become an international advocate for women’s rights and also for children and the downtrodden. The book has obviously been meticulously researched. The narrative will immerse you at ground level in a nation subjugated by foreign rule and stifled by an artificial social order that still persists.
We follow Rama from the age of eight as the child of a high-caste but poverty-stricken Hindu family. Her Brahmin parents have been ostracized because the father chose to educate his child bride and offer her equal status. The family is forced to eke out a hand-to-mouth livelihood as itinerant preachers. We follow Rama as the recurring famines, rudimentary sanitation, and social injustices of Hindu-controlled British India take their toll on her parents, her brother, and later her husband. We watch as, by her own persistence, creativity, and determination to help others, she pulls herself out of the quagmire of colonial India. The school she founded still functions today.
I won’t go into further detail for fear of spoiling the suspense inherent in Rama’s day-to-day struggle. If you like to experience history at ground level, not as summarized by “learned” historians, you will love this book. I promise you won’t be bored. Wagner-Wright’s writing style is the opposite of pedantic, consisting mostly of simple sentences, quite like Hemingway’s, in which you can feel the goings-on between your fingertips while the bulk of the story hovers beneath, as when Rama’s brother, Srinivas, grows so discouraged by their plight that he begins sticking his hand down snake holes.
I roundly recommend Rama’s Labyrinth. You will experience a time and place otherwise inaccessible, you will be deeply entertained, and you will enrich your understanding of the human condition
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David Hammes
5.0 out of 5 stars Skillfully Woven Tale
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2015
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Bob Stimson's review captures the many strengths and virtues of Rama's Labyrinth. Uppermost to me--not being at all familiar with the historical Rama--is the inventiveness and skill Wagner-Wright uses to create three-dimensional characters, expressing feeling, emotion, and engaging in smoothly flowing dialog. Being in the 'here-and-now' with the characters makes the pages fly by. What could have been a dry, skeletal, chronological recounting of a remarkable life instead is a very colorful, believable, fully fleshed-out characterization of a remarkable person.
As a side note, I am neither religious nor inspirational. Do not let the categorization of this book ("Christian Books and Bibles", "Religious & Inspirational") deceive you. This is not an exhortatory religious tract or the author's testament to their own path to salvation guided by bright lights and helping hands from above. It is a very well-crafted and engrossingly written story of how an important historical figure navigated through the challenges and vicissitudes of her life.
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JUDITH
5.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING WOMAN
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2019
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I ENJOYED THIS BOOK VERY MUCH - ENJOYED THE WRITING - THE TIME FRAME
LEARNING MORE ABOUT INDIA POLITICALLY AND CULTURALLY THE BIOGRAPHY
OF RAMA WAS FACINATING AND ENERGIZING
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M. Kronlund
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story of a strong woman.
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2019
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This was a fascinating life story of Rama that brings insight into India of her times.
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Sandra Monaghan
5.0 out of 5 stars I received this book from librarythings.com member giveaway.
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2015
I received this fromlibarythings.com member giveaway. I am truly glad I won a copy. Rama is a true champian. An advocate of women's rights around the world. A woman who traveled from India to US in the 19th century. She was she was down caste to fend for self-survival. A woman who was self educated to help others who needed a little hand up in life. A must read. I will re-read the book and also recommend it to my friends and family.
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