The Jasmine Bloom by Rajat Narula (Book Review)

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Title – The Jasmine Bloom 

Author – Rajat Narula

Genre – Fiction

Publisher – Srishti Publishers & Distributors

No of pages – 225

Main characters – Sameer, Kavita, Ritu, Pari, Tania

Other Characters – Ammaji, Harmeet, Imran

The Blurb

Sameer Chadha lives with his wife Kavita and two adorable daughters named Pari and Tania. Caught in a mid-life crisis, he is unhappy with everything. His corporate career is languishing and is increasingly alienated from his family. His wife Kavita is a part-time poet and a homemaker who dwells in her past all the time whereas Sameer gets carried away with one of his colleagues, Ritu.

When their lives collide with Ritu, a married woman coping with her abusive husband and an autistic son, a chain of events gets triggered that throws everyone’s life into the unstoppable whirlwind.

My Review

The Jasmine Bloom is an extremely impressive and descriptive novel written by very talented author Rajat Narula. The story is about love, lust, complicated relationships, loss, pain and an unquenchable thirst for happiness in life. It is a commentary on the fragility of modern family life and an eye-opener that how our unfulfilled desires can wreak havoc on everyone.

The plot is not something unusual but the author’s writing skills are simply flawless and impactful that grabs your attention until the last of the page of the novel.

The author has left no stone unturned describing each character painstakingly that one could actually imagine each one of them. Pari’s bubbly and cheerful behavior, Tania’s typical teenage character, Kavita’s sensitive side as a poet and a dedicated homemaker and amma as a maid, each character are portrayed so well that you could marvel at the author’s impactful descriptive writing.

With that same grace and ease, the author has managed to turn this simple story into an irresistible feast that keeps a reader at a continuous pace.

Each character has his or her own story that you could relate them in your real life. It usually happens when the romance trickles down and adultery enters in a modern man’s life when he is burdened with so many things at a time. The author daringly brings forth the stark reality of modern man’s life where he never seems to contend with his life. Kavita’s indifference, Sameer’s incapability of balancing life and career and vulnerability of involving in adultery and Ritu’s easy way to escape from harsh realities of life and getting involved into an extra-marital affair seems absolute reality that one could find easily these days.

Yet the author maintains suspense at the end, letting the reader seep into the lives of these characters. Through the characters like Pari and Tania, the author smartly conveys how adultery or fickle decisions are taken by adults impact children’s lives.

All it takes one wrong action to get into a whirlwind of troubles that soon become never-ending. Sameer and Ritu’s immature decisions not only jeopardize their families but force them to repent all their life.

One of the scenes from the Jasmine Bloom reveals how adultery can go to such extent where a man and a woman are not bothered by anything. When Sameer’s wife Kavita suffers from a heart attack at home, her daughter Tania frantically tries to call Sameer but he is busy having sex with Ritu. This is one of the scenes that make your heart cry in pain. 

Rajat’s effortless writing and narrative style leave you astonished as he sums up the story with a shocking end. 

I strongly recommend this novel as the author’s impactful writing and narrative skills will leave your jaw drop for sure.

The Best Part

An excellent and dramatic narration, extremely well-depicted characters and well-written scenes

Not so Good Part

Ritu’s decision of keeping baby from her extra-marital affair seems unconvincing and makes you question is this how Indian marriages are supposed to be.

Writing Style

Rajat Narula’s writing style is easy breezy. The story flows in an effortless manner and nowhere in the story, one could lose the direction. His descriptive writing is simply admirable. Below are few paragraphs from The Jasmine Bloom that shows how painstakingly minutest details have been captured by the author:

“Don’t know.” She shrugged her bony shoulders. She hugged him standing up on the sofa, without taking her eyes off the TV. 

Tomato paneer, black daal, and rice lay steaming on the table. A dollop of butter melted slowly on the daal. There was a bowl of cucumber raita and the lidded box for rotis.

 They were a few feet away when Tania lifted her head and his eyes met hers. In that moment, everybody else ceased to exist. Aditi vanished, Shruti and Avantika also. The angry cafeteria lady and her two assistants too. It was only him and her. And then they looked away and everything returned to normal. 

The book cover and the title

The title is apt given its frequent references in the story. The book cover is not that appealing. However, they say, ‘Never judge a book by its cover’ and so is the story of The Jasmine Bloom. You will not be disappointed with the story as the author takes you for a whirling ride of emotions.

My rating 4.5/5 

I strongly recommend this book for its impactful storytelling and descriptive writing style. The novel ruthlessly sheds a light on our fickle modern relationships and it is totally worth your time and money.

About the author

Rajat Narula is a lead financial management specialist at The World Bank. His several articles and poems have been published in renowned newspapers and has won the Fairfax District award in USA for his poetry. He has worked and lived in India, Indonesia and USA.

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