Oleander Girl: A coming-of-age novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

“Sometimes — she knows this from her own life — to get to the other side, you must travel through grief. No detours are possible.”
― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Oleander Girl

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is known for writing stories that are jam packed with truckloads of emotion and drama, which I only read at occasions when I am in some emotional dilemma. However, Oleander Girl is a novel of all moods and seasons and has won over me. The novel is stuffed to sensibility which perfectly suits the protagonist who is seventeen years old and the soap opera plot twists seem par for her course.

 Oleander Girl is a coming of age novel in the best tradition and is the best of its kind. It opens up the story of a heroine, whose evolution has been from inconsiderate pampered blossom to a human being who comprehends risks and consequences and readily bears accountability, which is just plausible and natural. 

The book is a rare contribution to the society which comes up with the elements that everyone would want to savor and will grab the readers’ interest which will convince them to turn up the pages as to find out what happens next in the story. The novel, Oleander Girl is such a delightful read that while reading it, I found myself wishing that it would never end. And when eventually it ends, it leaves you with a lingering effect, to a great extent like that of the scent of oleanders.

 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has done it all over again here with this novel as she is well aware of  her craft, the portrayal of characters and the narration of the story that draw you in, along with an effective use of imagery, imposing dialogue that rings true and situations which are experienced and faced by ourselves in our lives.

 The author has represented a fine understanding of human nature with their complexities. The characters in her novels are living and existing people. The novel is written in multi-person narrative style with the voices of Korobi, her fiance Rajat, her grandmother, Rajat’s mother and the family chauffeur Asif. With the progress of the story and moving perspectives in the story, the doubts, fears and anxieties plaguing each person are exposed. The characters in the novel are portrayed as struggling hard to rise above their flaws whereas the readers will find themselves  rooting for them.

 From a country that is just emerging from the 2002 Gujarat riots to a post 9/11 U.S.A., the writer has touched upon concerns and problems of religion, caste, race, gender and economic inequality.  The novel is stuffed with weighty issues on one side and on the other side, it is filled with the emotions like love and relationships including filial bonds, romantic love and all the bonds that encourage us to be the best adaptation of ourselves. Really a gem of a novel.

After having an insight about this wise and transformative novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, who is well known for expressing and portraying emotions in a detailed manner, you might also be feeling the same as I do. So do the same as I am going to do. Purchase it! You can also buy books online through some of the authentic online book stores in India and get your favorite books at your doorstep.

Indian Express, “The voyage of discovery [Korobi] undertakes, and the secrets, lies and buried tensions she unearths along the way — is the stuff of a classic coming-of-age story, with the added excitement of a quest. . . . Divakaruni's language is lyrical. . . . Rajat's transformation from Prince Charming to a more complex romantic interest is one of the book's more pleasurable aspects. He embodies a struggle between the traditional and the modern, the product of a time and a country that has yet to define itself. Divakaruni’s Kolkata is a teeming cosmopolis, the beating heart of the book”.