Haunting Jasmine by Anjali Banerjee

The Book:

A call from her aunt brings Jasmine Mistry closer to home in Shelter Island. She is determined to restart her life after her divorce with Robert and this could be a good get-away. Auntie Ruma wants Jasmine to run her bookstore for her while she is away and believes that only Jasmine can do this job. Jasmine reluctantly agrees. Little does she know that this favor to her ailing aunt would change her life forever.

With helping literary ghosts, anxious book-readers, a crazy family that lives too close by and an extremely dashing hero she has entered a whole new world.

Will she find love? Can she forgive and forget the past? Is this bookstore going to be her future?

The View:

As part of the Chick Lit Challenge in 2010 I read “Imaginary Men” by Anjali Banerjee and I loved it. She happens to have that unique ability to take me to places through her writing. Since I was missing home and in the mood to read something that would remind me of the flavors of India I jumped at the opportunity to review “Haunting Jasmine”.

The story made me laugh, cry and above all believe that life can be amended. Reality and emotions blended well with ghosts and magic in this book. I cannot imagine if this can even make sense but it does – perfectly.

I adored Jasmine, her character portrayal was realistic and relatable. At first, she struggles with her loss and her denial to accept who she is – but when she understands, changes, grows and even learns to love; you cannot help but truly feel joy for her.

Auntie Ruma with her chiffon sari, cacophony of gold, silver and Kashmiri bangles is an unforgettable character. Her presence in the book is less but she surely makes an impact. She felt so real that I could almost hear her “Ay, Ganesh” resonating through me. Connor Hunt is impressive and I think that is enough said about him. He enters and leaves with an impact.

What for me makes one book stand above the rest is the simplicity and the attention to detail. “Haunting Jasmine” is a classical example of one such writing. The book is enjoyable and I would highly recommend it. While being light on you it also inspires that life will move on and sunshine will soon be here. Rated a 5 on 5.

There were quite a few well written sentences that made me pause and read out loud. Here is one such:

“I was hurt that way, once. No joy without pain and all that. Think about it. Yin and yang. Light and dark. Life and death. Love and grief. You’re grieving.”

Teaser Tuesday – Feb 1st 2011

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here are the rules for participating in this meme..

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser:

“If they had two boys who threw like Mel Harder, my Indians would win the pennant going away, Burt,” he told the deputy. “Win it by ten games.”

Taken from pg 61 “The Cypress House” by Michael Koryta