Before she died in childbirth, Anu Roy instructed that if her baby was a girl, she was to be named "Korobi," after the beautiful and unexpectedly resilient pink oleander flower. Growing up in her grandparents' home in Kolkota (formerly known as Calcutta), Korobi is loved and well-educated, and when the 18-year-old orphan gets engaged to prosperous Rajat Bose, adulthood seems to be falling perfectly into place for her. But the sudden death of Bimal Roy, Korobi's grandfather, on the night of the engagement party is the first in a series of cracks in both families' foundations.
Korobi is the title character of Oleander Girl, but in telling her story, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (One Amazing Thing) also explores the stories of those around her, and it's the intersections and overlaps of those stories that make this novel engrossing reading. Korobi uncovers long-held secrets that will permanently alter her sense of self, but she's not the only one whose life is on the verge of change. All the characters, and their relationships with one another, will be tested over the course of the three months between Korobi and Rajat's engagement party and wedding date.
Divakaruni explores issues of class and politics in modern India and immigrant America, but the family issues at the heart of the novel give it a cross-cultural appeal. Told with empathy and intelligence, and accompanied by intrigue, the stories--and issues--of the Roy and Bose families should appeal to a broad range of readers. --Florinda Pendley Vasquez, blogger at The 3 R's Blog: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness