Jaipur Journals - Namita Gokhale (Blog Tour & Review)

Date of Reading: 2/5/2021

Author: Namita Gokhale

Publisher: HopeRoad

Publication Date: April 29, 2021

Rating: 4/5

(This review is part of the blog tour organised by Random Things Tours)

About the book:

From the co-founder of the Jaipur Literary Festival, a brilliant, funny, and moving novel set against the background of the festival, and the characters that make it tick

Told from multiple perspectives, from the authors enjoying moments of adulation after years of creative isolation, to the star-struck public mingling with their cultural icons, to those in-between, who are both author and fan, these diverse stories of lost love and regret, self-doubt, and new beginnings come together in a narrative that is as varied as India itself. 

From a septuagenarian who has completed her semi-biographical novel but does not want to part with it, to an author who receives a threat in the form of a poison pen letter; from a historian who reunites with a past lover, to a burglar who is passionate about poetry; from a young woman who has no idea what this world has in store for her, to an American woman looking for the India of her hippie youth, this metafictional, wryly funny novel is an ode to literature. 

Partly a love letter to the greatest literary show on earth, partly a satire about the glittery set that throngs the festival year after year, and partly an ode to the millions of aspiring writers who wander the earth with unsubmitted manuscripts in their bags, Jaipur Journals is a light-footed romp that showcases in full form Gokhale’s unsparing eye for the pretensions and the pathos of that loneliest tribe of them all: the writers.

Review:

        Attending Jaipur Literary Festival still remains an unfulfilled dream for me and so getting this opportunity to vicariously experience it through the many characters in this story must be a godsend. And the way the author has managed the multiple POVs makes it truly a wonderful work; there are no chapter divisions yet the story flows seamlessly from one participant to the other. Participants from different age groups, social backgrounds, gender and totally unrelated lives come together only because of the one passion that they share: the beauty of the written word.

        A budding novelist of twelve years old, seventy-two-year-old unpublished author, a graphic artist, an academic who makes use of folk artists, a thief . . . well, the list goes on. As diverse as they seem, they all seem to have a ritualistic devotion to the festival. None of them is perfect, quite the opposite in fact. They are the ones who seem successful on the outside with secure jobs and literary achievements to showcase and with vulnerabilities to hide. 

        Pretty much the same scenario we can find in any literary conferences. If your academic pursuits have ever led  to a similar situation where you have wondered what exactly goes through the minds of all these people, then this story is for you. Something that makes you see that even your idols are made of flesh and blood with all the frailities associated with it.

Meet the author:

Born in Lucknow, India, NAMITA GOKHALE, is an award-winning writer, publisher, and the co-founder/director (with William Dalrymple) of the Jaipur Literary Festival. She is the author of over twenty fiction and non-fiction books including the best-selling Paro: Dreams of Passion, Priya, and Things to Leave Behind. In 2017 Namita was awarded the first ever Centenary National Award for Literature by the Literary Society of Assam for her service to the Indian nation in supporting and showcasing Indian writing talents. Described as one of the finest Indian writers, she lives in New Delhi.