Jasmine Days

Jasmine Days is a 2014 Malayalam novel by Benyamin and translated into English by Shahnaz Habib. It tells the story of Sameera Parvin, a young Pakistani woman who works as a radio jockey in an unnamed Middle Eastern country which is on the verge of revolution.[1] First published in 2014 as Mullappoo Niramulla Pakalukal, the novel won the inaugural JCB Prize.[2] It was published by Juggernaut Books.[3]

Jasmine Days
First edition (Malayalam)
AuthorBenyamin
TranslatorShahnaz Habib
CountryIndia
LanguageEnglish
GenreFiction
PublisherJuggernaut Books
Publication date
June 2018
2014 (Original)
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Pages280
ISBN9789386228741

Development

Writer Benyamin has been living in Bahrain for 20 years and his novel Goat Days (2008) tells the story of an abused Indian migrant worker in Saudi Arabia. He said that the real-life incidents of the Arab Spring served as the inspiration for Jasmine Days. He also developed the main characters based on the personalities of his own friends and acquaintances.[4]

Reception

Trisha Gupta of Scroll.in felt that the novel has "more locales, many more characters and a much more complex political landscape" than Benyamin's previous work. She wrote: "But what Benyamin pulls off again is Sameera’s voice: the almost spoken-word simplicity with which this landscape is rendered makes it hard not to listen."[5] C.P Surendran of The Hindu called it "a serious effort to come to terms with the world around us." But, he felt that the novel is "not exceptionally inspirational either in terms of writing or flow of the narrative."[6]

Faizal Khan of The Financial Express wrote: "Benyamin’s craft of conversation-driven storytelling succeeds in revealing the tensions in a society starting to unravel. Nearly every character has a story from their tradition to add to the local narrative."[7] Supriya Nair of Mint called, "The novel is told in first person, but it isn’t really concerned with interiority: it’s the great knock-about events of the story, its gasping pace of riots, deaths, family feuds and mourning, that imbalances our senses."[8] Nandini Nair felt that the "power of Jasmine Days is that it tells a compelling story, but doesn't take sides."[9]

References
  1. "Malayalam Writer Benyamin's 'Jasmine Days' Wins JCB Prize for Literature". The Wire. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  2. "Jasmine Days". JCB Prize. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  3. "Jasmine Days". The Caravan. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  4. Sikarai, Disha (24 July 2018). "Benyamin on his new book Jasmine Days, writing about the Arab Spring and the beauty of Malayalam". Firstpost. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  5. Gupta, Trisha (8 September 2018). "With his new novel 'Jasmine Days', Benyamin once again skilfully presents fiction as fact". Scroll.in. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  6. Surendran, C.P (14 September 2018). "'Jasmine Days': Spoilt by a preponderance of politics". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  7. Khan, Faizal (22 July 2018). "Book Review: Malyalam writer Benyamin's Jasmine Days tells an outsider's story set in the Arab Spring". The Financial Express. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  8. Nair, Supriya (5 August 2018). "Malayalam writer Benyamin's new book in translation takes us back to the Arab Spring". Mint. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  9. Nair, Nandini (3 August 2018). "Benyamin: The Smell of Jasmine". OPEN. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
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