Lakshmi and the River of Truth: A Fairytale for Adults is political satire following the literary nonsense genre like that of Alice in Wonderland. Instead of falling down a rabbit hole, readers follow protagonist Lakshmi into a dream. In her world, “dreams are thought molecules that live, breathe, and float in the brain; expanding, contracting, and fluidly melding into one another to create new thought molecules.”
Lakshmi’s quest for the River of Truth starts out with making a choice to go right or left in the fork in the road. Only, she doesn’t make a choice. Instead, her thought molecules allow her to grow tall and follow both at the same time. When the two roads merge, she shrinks to normal size to find herself at the Hospital for the Ironically Challenged. The author’s clever nomenclature for places and characters includes the orange-skinned Mr. Bigly and his followers the “Questionables” who are expected to live life upside-down hopping on their heads. My favorite character was Special Ed, the talking dog who accompanies Lakshmi on her journey.
This creative story held my interest but the left-of-center political ideology and the mean-spirited depiction of Mr. Bigly’s minions left me disappointed. I had hoped that the River of Truth might provide a course correction. However, people who get their news from CNN or similar networks will enjoy this book.
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