A review of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's OLEANDER GIRL

All journeys we undertake are journeys of the heart. This statement can sum up the theme of Divakaruni’s latest work Oleander Girl. Mapping the journey of protagonist Karobi (Oleander in English-from which the novel gets its name), the book takes us through her life and the lives of its myriad characters. The journey is both literal as well as internal, a metaphysical journey towards personal growth. 

Her cocooned existence shattered by an unexpected revelation, Karobi launches on a search for her mysterious father. This takes her away from her closest people, and pushes her into an unfriendly, hostile America. She discovers the wells of strength and resolve within her after battling the injustices and scars that life deals out to her. Her very foundations of trust are shattered, yet she retains a child-like innocence and basic faith in life. Karobi’s innate goodness shines through and touches all characters positively. She is the touchstone against which each character is transformed.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an amazing writer with critically acclaimed works like One Amazing Thing, Mistress of Spices and Queen of Dreams. She has an incredible insight into human nature, which reflects in her portrayal of diverse characters and settings. Her people come from remote villages of Bengal, crowded Indian cities, or sparsely populated American towns. She is as perfectly at ease portraying the diaspora experience of second generation immigrant Indians in USA, as she is depicting the travails of a small-town housewife grappling with her husband’s dominance. A common thread running through her recent novels has been the search for identity.  

Though a personal tale of love, loss and self-discovery, Oleander Girl has in its background the dark shadows of the 9/11 catastrophe in USA, and the Godhra riots in India. The casualties on the other side of the globe are the very values on which America was built – liberty, individuality and equality. Permanently scarred by its losses, America wakes up to distrust and illogical discrimination, targeting all non-whites in its witch hunt. In India, the riots tear open the tremulous relationship of Hindus and Muslims, leaving in their wake deep-rooted suspicion and hostility. It is like a volcano which was waiting to explode, and when it does, the fragile bonds of trust and reliance are flooded away. 

All in all, Divakaruni ends the tale in hope, with the merging of the traditional and the modern, the secular with the religious; the triumph of the human spirit over frailty and weakness. This legacy of hope is what the reader takes away from the novel.