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Under the Night Jasmine
How complex are relationships between men and women? How corrupted is a man’s thinking for women he interacts with? Even though a woman gives birth to a man, how little a man understands her!
When the pandemic strikes and the lockdown happens, the usually, always travelling Rohit is forced travel within himself and explore his relationships thus far: with his mother, his teacher, his lovers—relationships that affect his current thought process, his relationships now. With the first stirrings of sexual attraction for his teacher and her lover came the shame of desire. His relationship with his lost girlfriend, with Dushyant, brings in guilt and remorse. What could he have done differently? What kind of a shameless person was he, using people to fulfil himself?
Fluctuating between poetry and prose, questioning even the method of writing Under the Night Jasmine is a world that is layered and many-splendored. It’s a coming-of-age novel — A micro look at a man’s world that both pushes back and fascinates.
When the pandemic strikes and the lockdown happens, the usually, always travelling Rohit is forced travel within himself and explore his relationships thus far: with his mother, his teacher, his lovers—relationships that affect his current thought process, his relationships now. With the first stirrings of sexual attraction for his teacher and her lover came the shame of desire. His relationship with his lost girlfriend, with Dushyant, brings in guilt and remorse. What could he have done differently? What kind of a shameless person was he, using people to fulfil himself?
Fluctuating between poetry and prose, questioning even the method of writing Under the Night Jasmine is a world that is layered and many-splendored. It’s a coming-of-age novel — A micro look at a man’s world that both pushes back and fascinates.
230 pages, Paperback
First published February 29, 2024
5 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Manav Kaul
32 books402 followersकश्मीर के बारामूला में पैदा हुए मानव कौल, होशंगाबाद (म.प्र.) में परवरिश के रास्ते पिछले 20 सालों से मुंबई में फ़िल्मी दुनिया, अभिनय, नाट्य-निर्देशन और लेखन का अभिन्न हिस्सा बने हुए हैं। अपने हर नए नाटक से हिंदी रंगमंच की दुनिया को चौंकाने वाले मानव ने अपने ख़ास गद्य के लिए साहित्य-पाठकों के बीच भी उतनी ही विशेष जगह बनाई है। इनकी पिछली दोनों किताबें ‘ठीक तुम्हारे पीछे’ और ‘प्रेम कबूतर’ दैनिक जागरण नीलसन बेस्टसेलर में शामिल हो चुकी हैं।
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 23, 2024
One Indian Author for the Murakami Musings lover. And more. 🌻
A story of self-doubt, lost love, wandering memories, and a touch of magical realism. Set during the chaotic COVID lockdown, it follows Rohit, a script consultant and poet, who finds himself trapped at home.
As the days blend, Rohit’s sanity starts to unravel, his mind becoming a battlefield of trauma and time.
During his daily walks around his apartment complex, Rohit meets Pawan, a persistent neighbor he tries to avoid. There’s also Antima, an enigmatic figure from his past. Their repeated encounters hint at unresolved feelings, even though she's now involved with someone else.
Rohit’s struggle to maintain his sanity is evident in his interactions and the blurred lines between his reality and the stories he writes.
Rohit’s past haunts him deeply. His family fled Kashmir when he was young, and his father’s grim perspective on the suffering endured there lingers in his mind.
The novel isn’t just about Rohit’s descent into madness; it’s also a peek into the depths of human trauma and identity. Magical realism adds a whimsical yet unsettling touch ( Murakami thing I told you before 👀)
Despite the complex themes and emotional depth, the translation by Vaibhav Sharma is seamless. His work makes the book feel as if it were originally written in English.
Go grab this book!
A story of self-doubt, lost love, wandering memories, and a touch of magical realism. Set during the chaotic COVID lockdown, it follows Rohit, a script consultant and poet, who finds himself trapped at home.
As the days blend, Rohit’s sanity starts to unravel, his mind becoming a battlefield of trauma and time.
During his daily walks around his apartment complex, Rohit meets Pawan, a persistent neighbor he tries to avoid. There’s also Antima, an enigmatic figure from his past. Their repeated encounters hint at unresolved feelings, even though she's now involved with someone else.
Rohit’s struggle to maintain his sanity is evident in his interactions and the blurred lines between his reality and the stories he writes.
Rohit’s past haunts him deeply. His family fled Kashmir when he was young, and his father’s grim perspective on the suffering endured there lingers in his mind.
The novel isn’t just about Rohit’s descent into madness; it’s also a peek into the depths of human trauma and identity. Magical realism adds a whimsical yet unsettling touch ( Murakami thing I told you before 👀)
Despite the complex themes and emotional depth, the translation by Vaibhav Sharma is seamless. His work makes the book feel as if it were originally written in English.
Go grab this book!
April 15, 2024
(3.75) the ending! a full circle moment, finally it all made sense(the pulling of all those hair did not go waste!)
the writing is amazing, the story started of strong and i might’ve annotated every other page but it did get a bit preachy over time, making me contemplate if this was a self-help or lit-fic, swaying between reality and delusion it confused and annoyed me so much but i think the ending made up for it
the writing is amazing, the story started of strong and i might’ve annotated every other page but it did get a bit preachy over time, making me contemplate if this was a self-help or lit-fic, swaying between reality and delusion it confused and annoyed me so much but i think the ending made up for it
July 9, 2024
Finally read one of the most anticipated author and what an experience of reading this book. The book feels like a journey to some parallel world where after a point the characters are clearly visible in front of your eyes. Just like how Rohit's emotions were being controlled by Verma Madam, Manav Kaul also somehow managed to control his readers emotions which is a trait to be highlighted.
Overall the books was a world in its own.
Overall the books was a world in its own.
July 1, 2024
Okay, wow! This was a Sunday evening read. So wasn’t looking forward to anything complex. But oh man, what a book! It’s gripping, coming of age , lit fiction, hair-pulling for a bit, tad magical realism, a little extra long, but the ending!! Wonderful. Loved it. I don’t think the translation lost much of the essence. Can only imagine how much better the Hindi version is. Just a tip- once ur done reading the book, wait for a few minutes. It will sink in, as to what just happened. Loved it!!
May 22, 2024
-When the ink bleeds into blood-
Review of Under the night jasmine by Manav kaul and Vaibhav Sharma ( translated by latter from Hindi)
Kaul and Sharma together bring a tale loosely tied together in knots of self doubt, lost love, memories running amok, darkness invading mind, fickle times and shades of magical realism. It’s a hard book to write and translate and also to read provided you are the one who likes to pop every word into your mouth to chew it carefully until it breaks under your teeth and dissolves to bring the taste (you desired) to your reading palate. If I were to pick a line that represents the story, it would be this-
‘Can you solve the problems of your life in your own stories? Writing is like an apology to those who we know will never forgive us.’
Under the night jasmine takes you back to the chaotic, cruel, what-do-I-do world of COVID lockdown. Rohit is a script consultant and a poet with two poetry books to his credit. Now trapped in his home because of COVID lockdown, his entire world has come to a standstill. And he is slowly losing himself, his sanity being distilled repeatedly by the time and trauma into something hard and gritty, a stone left in a shoe or maybe a cruel word or an unkind memory being too vagabond by crossing the time barriers.
A novel of few characters but ample thoughts, Kaul folds his fictional people into many layers- the person that they are and what they become when touched upon by memories and stirred by time. Rohit, in his daily walks in the apartment complex he lives, meets Pawan who accosts him daily but Rohit doesn’t want to indulge him. That’s the dilemma of an introvert- if you say hi to someone once, you are obliged to do that every day so better to avoid and turn your head away. But Pawan is persistent in his approach and Rohit in his avoidance. Then there’s Antima. The enigmatic girl who has a past with Rohit. She’s now seeing someone else (a guy from Delhi, tells the author) but the repeated encounters between the two hints at the residue of love that still lingers and floats to the surface from time to time.
It is difficult to ascertain whether the lockdown pulled the fibers of insanity from Rohit or it was always there, embers waiting to be fanned into a flame. It’s not wrong to call Under the night jasmine a psychological thriller but it’s not just that. It’s a peek into what you become when you nurse a trauma so deep in your stomach that when it bubbles out of your being, it threatens to overtake your sanity and soul. And Rohit has many.
Rohit lost his home early in the childhood. His parents fled from Kashmir and settled in a safer place. His father comments that since Kashmir is heaven, the entire country will have to suffer as they made Kashmir suffer.
Rohit wants to write poetry but during the process he ends up writing a story, a story of his own life. He wants to write the stuff that’s ‘simple straight and normal’. A character duly warns him- 'Then write fairy tales. If you decide to write about the sunflower, you will have to record its death as well.'
The problem arises when ink starts to bleed into blood. What’s real and what’s imagined? Rohit can’t decide. His life begins to blur into corners that invade into his story or is the story pushing into his life and mind? He is unable to ascertain if an incident was going to happen in his real life or in the story that he was writing. Sometimes he’s unable to decide if he really met a person last night or if he met them in the story he’s writing. The book sometimes induces anxiety and it’s better read in parts than at one go.
Magical realism makes up for a nice little angel wing for the story, tucked neatly at the back but rearing its head now and then. Rohit spotting a deer at the places where you absolutely can’t brings a smile to your face and a flutter of anxiety in your heart, thereby achieving the dual purpose of magical realism. And I have never come across equating kissing someone with picking the petals that appear on their lips. Kudos for making kiss even more glamorous, Mr Kaul. Read some of it here or maybe skip it if you want to experience it organically in the story-
‘He saw yellow and orange flowers floating around on his lips.
He came close to the petals and slowly started to pick them with his lips. He could feel the softness of each and every petal. The petals dissolved in his mouth like lumps of sugar the moment they touched his lips. The more petals he touched, the more flowers he could see emerging from Dushyant's mouth. The colours and the fragrance of these flowers were so intoxicating, his eyes were closing.’
The book asks many questions, some of them hint at the difficult time Rohit is getting through. He feels himself teetering on an edge almost all the times- ‘In my tiring everyday life, I could feel something was about to unfold.’
One of my favourite quotes from the book is- ‘The people who get attracted to you are like you and not like the person you want.’
The book has many poems, the protagonist being a poet. One of my favourites is here-
I'm taken aback, I don't know it anymore It's a deer now, clad in a saree, with a deep navel I want to touch it
The nearer I go, the more it changes I feel myself soaking through
And in between all the changes, I see life I try my best to touch it, When suddenly glass shatters all around me.
Under the night jasmine also brings back the memories of lockdown. The characters are afraid to hug and touch each other. One characters warns the other to not touch even a single person because you never know with how many he has been in contact. Manav writes - ‘The moment they hugged, my mind was filled with the virus and ways to avoid it.’
The story deals with many themes- searching for and finding your sexuality is one of those. The love stories that run through the book are little problematic because altogether the protagonist is a minor, the objects of his affection not so much. Kaul has tried to take the edge of this glaring age gap by suffusing the story with anecdotes of rooftop hopping and chai drinking and dismissing it as a flutter of adolescence.
The story earns the major twist at the end. It’s natural and a fitting conclusion. The story further fans Rohit’s delirium, giving him a new piece to bite into, to lose himself some more.
Last but not the least, let’s finish with a note on translation. Vaibhav Sharma’s achievement in translating this book is that it doesn’t feel like a translation. That’s the hardest thing about being a translator- if your work is invisible, it’s deemed the best. Sharma has smoothly tamed the beast, successfully domesticating it for the reader’s benefit while preserving and petting its soul. It feels as if the book were written in English and not Hindi.
Review of Under the night jasmine by Manav kaul and Vaibhav Sharma ( translated by latter from Hindi)
Kaul and Sharma together bring a tale loosely tied together in knots of self doubt, lost love, memories running amok, darkness invading mind, fickle times and shades of magical realism. It’s a hard book to write and translate and also to read provided you are the one who likes to pop every word into your mouth to chew it carefully until it breaks under your teeth and dissolves to bring the taste (you desired) to your reading palate. If I were to pick a line that represents the story, it would be this-
‘Can you solve the problems of your life in your own stories? Writing is like an apology to those who we know will never forgive us.’
Under the night jasmine takes you back to the chaotic, cruel, what-do-I-do world of COVID lockdown. Rohit is a script consultant and a poet with two poetry books to his credit. Now trapped in his home because of COVID lockdown, his entire world has come to a standstill. And he is slowly losing himself, his sanity being distilled repeatedly by the time and trauma into something hard and gritty, a stone left in a shoe or maybe a cruel word or an unkind memory being too vagabond by crossing the time barriers.
A novel of few characters but ample thoughts, Kaul folds his fictional people into many layers- the person that they are and what they become when touched upon by memories and stirred by time. Rohit, in his daily walks in the apartment complex he lives, meets Pawan who accosts him daily but Rohit doesn’t want to indulge him. That’s the dilemma of an introvert- if you say hi to someone once, you are obliged to do that every day so better to avoid and turn your head away. But Pawan is persistent in his approach and Rohit in his avoidance. Then there’s Antima. The enigmatic girl who has a past with Rohit. She’s now seeing someone else (a guy from Delhi, tells the author) but the repeated encounters between the two hints at the residue of love that still lingers and floats to the surface from time to time.
It is difficult to ascertain whether the lockdown pulled the fibers of insanity from Rohit or it was always there, embers waiting to be fanned into a flame. It’s not wrong to call Under the night jasmine a psychological thriller but it’s not just that. It’s a peek into what you become when you nurse a trauma so deep in your stomach that when it bubbles out of your being, it threatens to overtake your sanity and soul. And Rohit has many.
Rohit lost his home early in the childhood. His parents fled from Kashmir and settled in a safer place. His father comments that since Kashmir is heaven, the entire country will have to suffer as they made Kashmir suffer.
Rohit wants to write poetry but during the process he ends up writing a story, a story of his own life. He wants to write the stuff that’s ‘simple straight and normal’. A character duly warns him- 'Then write fairy tales. If you decide to write about the sunflower, you will have to record its death as well.'
The problem arises when ink starts to bleed into blood. What’s real and what’s imagined? Rohit can’t decide. His life begins to blur into corners that invade into his story or is the story pushing into his life and mind? He is unable to ascertain if an incident was going to happen in his real life or in the story that he was writing. Sometimes he’s unable to decide if he really met a person last night or if he met them in the story he’s writing. The book sometimes induces anxiety and it’s better read in parts than at one go.
Magical realism makes up for a nice little angel wing for the story, tucked neatly at the back but rearing its head now and then. Rohit spotting a deer at the places where you absolutely can’t brings a smile to your face and a flutter of anxiety in your heart, thereby achieving the dual purpose of magical realism. And I have never come across equating kissing someone with picking the petals that appear on their lips. Kudos for making kiss even more glamorous, Mr Kaul. Read some of it here or maybe skip it if you want to experience it organically in the story-
‘He saw yellow and orange flowers floating around on his lips.
He came close to the petals and slowly started to pick them with his lips. He could feel the softness of each and every petal. The petals dissolved in his mouth like lumps of sugar the moment they touched his lips. The more petals he touched, the more flowers he could see emerging from Dushyant's mouth. The colours and the fragrance of these flowers were so intoxicating, his eyes were closing.’
The book asks many questions, some of them hint at the difficult time Rohit is getting through. He feels himself teetering on an edge almost all the times- ‘In my tiring everyday life, I could feel something was about to unfold.’
One of my favourite quotes from the book is- ‘The people who get attracted to you are like you and not like the person you want.’
The book has many poems, the protagonist being a poet. One of my favourites is here-
I'm taken aback, I don't know it anymore It's a deer now, clad in a saree, with a deep navel I want to touch it
The nearer I go, the more it changes I feel myself soaking through
And in between all the changes, I see life I try my best to touch it, When suddenly glass shatters all around me.
Under the night jasmine also brings back the memories of lockdown. The characters are afraid to hug and touch each other. One characters warns the other to not touch even a single person because you never know with how many he has been in contact. Manav writes - ‘The moment they hugged, my mind was filled with the virus and ways to avoid it.’
The story deals with many themes- searching for and finding your sexuality is one of those. The love stories that run through the book are little problematic because altogether the protagonist is a minor, the objects of his affection not so much. Kaul has tried to take the edge of this glaring age gap by suffusing the story with anecdotes of rooftop hopping and chai drinking and dismissing it as a flutter of adolescence.
The story earns the major twist at the end. It’s natural and a fitting conclusion. The story further fans Rohit’s delirium, giving him a new piece to bite into, to lose himself some more.
Last but not the least, let’s finish with a note on translation. Vaibhav Sharma’s achievement in translating this book is that it doesn’t feel like a translation. That’s the hardest thing about being a translator- if your work is invisible, it’s deemed the best. Sharma has smoothly tamed the beast, successfully domesticating it for the reader’s benefit while preserving and petting its soul. It feels as if the book were written in English and not Hindi.
March 23, 2025
"I couldnt decide where my life ended and writing begin". "How crazy can a writer get? I was dreaming that a character I had created was writing my story" (Page 101).
Writers and poets can surely relate to this third book 'Under the Night Jasmine' (Book 29/ 2025) by Manav Kaul that I read.
This 229-paged book tells the poignant story of Rohit, a writer grappling with creative stagnation and the isolating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Named after a failed writer, Rohit finds himself trapped in his own home, his days marked by the unsettling regularity of waking at 3:10 am.
His fascination with the elusive fragrance of the night jasmine, a symbol of inspiration, becomes a central motif, mirroring his own struggle to find his voice.
The novel effectively captures the anxieties of the pandemic era. Rohit's agitation at the news of migrant workers' plight, his desperate attempts to impress women with Russian literature, and his pervasive sense of lost time all resonate with the collective unease of that period.
Manav skillfully weaves in social commentary, particularly regarding the pandemic's impact on mental health and societal inequalities.
Rohit's relationships are portrayed with nuanced complexity. His dynamic with Antima, a woman he is better suited to as a friend, highlights the awkwardness of clandestine meetings and the pain of unrequited affection.
The interactions with his friend Pawan or Dushyant, who brings unwelcome distractions and unsettling stories of lizard extermination, underscore Rohit’s desire for solitude.
His strained relationship with his father, marked by unspoken resentments and a lack of emotional connection, further contributes to Rohit's sense of isolation.
The absence of his mother, the family’s former mediator, leaves a palpable void.
Manav’s writing shines in its ability to convey Rohit’s internal turmoil.
Rohit’s gradual descent into depression, revealed in Chapter 6, is portrayed with raw honesty. His struggles with emptiness, excessive sleep, and an inability to sustain conversations are painfully relatable.
The question, "If everything around me was abnormal, how could my writing stay normal?" encapsulates the creative paralysis many experienced during the pandemic.
Chapter 8 delves deeper into Rohit’s psyche, revealing his dreams of Kashmir and school teacher Verma Madame, and his self-destructive tendency to push people away.
The introspective question, "How long would I live inside my own head?" and the admission of being "forever racked with guilt for others" highlight his internal conflict.
Manav also tackles the theme of patriarchy through a friend’s casual declaration, prompting Rohit to reflect on the societal conditioning that hinders genuine human connection.
"Under the Night Jasmine" is a compelling exploration of isolation, creative struggle, and the search for meaning in a world turned upside down.
Manav’s narrative, though sometimes fragmented, effectively captures the emotional landscape of a writer navigating a period of profound uncertainty, making it a relevant and thought-provoking read.
Ends.
Writers and poets can surely relate to this third book 'Under the Night Jasmine' (Book 29/ 2025) by Manav Kaul that I read.
This 229-paged book tells the poignant story of Rohit, a writer grappling with creative stagnation and the isolating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Named after a failed writer, Rohit finds himself trapped in his own home, his days marked by the unsettling regularity of waking at 3:10 am.
His fascination with the elusive fragrance of the night jasmine, a symbol of inspiration, becomes a central motif, mirroring his own struggle to find his voice.
The novel effectively captures the anxieties of the pandemic era. Rohit's agitation at the news of migrant workers' plight, his desperate attempts to impress women with Russian literature, and his pervasive sense of lost time all resonate with the collective unease of that period.
Manav skillfully weaves in social commentary, particularly regarding the pandemic's impact on mental health and societal inequalities.
Rohit's relationships are portrayed with nuanced complexity. His dynamic with Antima, a woman he is better suited to as a friend, highlights the awkwardness of clandestine meetings and the pain of unrequited affection.
The interactions with his friend Pawan or Dushyant, who brings unwelcome distractions and unsettling stories of lizard extermination, underscore Rohit’s desire for solitude.
His strained relationship with his father, marked by unspoken resentments and a lack of emotional connection, further contributes to Rohit's sense of isolation.
The absence of his mother, the family’s former mediator, leaves a palpable void.
Manav’s writing shines in its ability to convey Rohit’s internal turmoil.
Rohit’s gradual descent into depression, revealed in Chapter 6, is portrayed with raw honesty. His struggles with emptiness, excessive sleep, and an inability to sustain conversations are painfully relatable.
The question, "If everything around me was abnormal, how could my writing stay normal?" encapsulates the creative paralysis many experienced during the pandemic.
Chapter 8 delves deeper into Rohit’s psyche, revealing his dreams of Kashmir and school teacher Verma Madame, and his self-destructive tendency to push people away.
The introspective question, "How long would I live inside my own head?" and the admission of being "forever racked with guilt for others" highlight his internal conflict.
Manav also tackles the theme of patriarchy through a friend’s casual declaration, prompting Rohit to reflect on the societal conditioning that hinders genuine human connection.
"Under the Night Jasmine" is a compelling exploration of isolation, creative struggle, and the search for meaning in a world turned upside down.
Manav’s narrative, though sometimes fragmented, effectively captures the emotional landscape of a writer navigating a period of profound uncertainty, making it a relevant and thought-provoking read.
Ends.
July 16, 2024
Name : Under The Night Jasmine
Author : Manav Kaul
Translator : Vaibhav Sharma
Genre : Contemporary
🏅
My 💭:
[16/07/24 9.11PM]
What did I just read? A masterpiece? My best read of 2024? Answer is both. 🙌
Well, first of all, consider my slump cured. Any sign of existential crisis also non-existent. All thanks to this book and the wonderful lyrical writing of @mana and @vai . I'm honestly speechless at the moment and grasping for words while penning this review.
This is the first time, in my whole life, that a book has reflected my innermost personal thoughts unexpectedly. Thoughts that I haven't even shared with my closest confidantes or maybe even never properly understood myself. It's too private to share here, but let's just say, at around 4.15pm, I jolted straight up in my bed after reading one sentence. I had been feeling remorse over this for the past 3 years and suddenly reading this exact thought of mine in a book removed 90% of my burden. The moment we know we are not alone in a particular difficult situation, half of the hardship is gone. I'll never be able to forget today and the feeling I experienced reading it. Page 35, line 21.
Honestly, I have never read a book as layered as this one. Halfway through the story, I wasn't even sure what was real and what was not. It was like the 4th wall breaking inside a book where the protagonist is the author. Can you imagine the sensation of reading such a book 😵💫? It's every reader's heaven 💯! And I especially love books where the narration feels like the author's personal diary thoughts. There was so so much happening in this story, coming of age experiences, growing up, growing old, losing friends, being forced to witness loved ones grow old - you get the gist, right?
Since the narrator of this book, Rohit is an author, I got to know about a lot of authors' writing process and their frustrations while forming a story. I had no idea that a writer's life can be this demanding. We readers finish a book within a day and be done with it, but for an author, a story is a part of their soul, literally, just as I learnt from Rohit's experience 🥺. Honestly, I can't thank all the authors of the world enough for doing this for us.
Guys, seriously, if you ever land in a mind numbing existential crisis like me, pick this book. It will heal parts of you that you never knew were wounded. 🤍
This book is yet another example of how the perfect book reaches you at the moment you need them the most. I thank my guardian angels for saving me again and again with these tiny life blessings. Now, I am going to reread my favourite parts in the book again before falling asleep :)
Author : Manav Kaul
Translator : Vaibhav Sharma
Genre : Contemporary
🏅
My 💭:
[16/07/24 9.11PM]
What did I just read? A masterpiece? My best read of 2024? Answer is both. 🙌
Well, first of all, consider my slump cured. Any sign of existential crisis also non-existent. All thanks to this book and the wonderful lyrical writing of @mana and @vai . I'm honestly speechless at the moment and grasping for words while penning this review.
This is the first time, in my whole life, that a book has reflected my innermost personal thoughts unexpectedly. Thoughts that I haven't even shared with my closest confidantes or maybe even never properly understood myself. It's too private to share here, but let's just say, at around 4.15pm, I jolted straight up in my bed after reading one sentence. I had been feeling remorse over this for the past 3 years and suddenly reading this exact thought of mine in a book removed 90% of my burden. The moment we know we are not alone in a particular difficult situation, half of the hardship is gone. I'll never be able to forget today and the feeling I experienced reading it. Page 35, line 21.
Honestly, I have never read a book as layered as this one. Halfway through the story, I wasn't even sure what was real and what was not. It was like the 4th wall breaking inside a book where the protagonist is the author. Can you imagine the sensation of reading such a book 😵💫? It's every reader's heaven 💯! And I especially love books where the narration feels like the author's personal diary thoughts. There was so so much happening in this story, coming of age experiences, growing up, growing old, losing friends, being forced to witness loved ones grow old - you get the gist, right?
Since the narrator of this book, Rohit is an author, I got to know about a lot of authors' writing process and their frustrations while forming a story. I had no idea that a writer's life can be this demanding. We readers finish a book within a day and be done with it, but for an author, a story is a part of their soul, literally, just as I learnt from Rohit's experience 🥺. Honestly, I can't thank all the authors of the world enough for doing this for us.
Guys, seriously, if you ever land in a mind numbing existential crisis like me, pick this book. It will heal parts of you that you never knew were wounded. 🤍
This book is yet another example of how the perfect book reaches you at the moment you need them the most. I thank my guardian angels for saving me again and again with these tiny life blessings. Now, I am going to reread my favourite parts in the book again before falling asleep :)
April 14, 2024
“When you love someone, you want to see them swimming in a sea of unfathomable joy. When she woke up, I’d ask her what dream she had. Where was she? What brought this smile to her face? And then I'd try to make that dream come true.”
Under The Night Jasmine is a novel about the extraneous process of writing a novel. You have this book that you are holding in your hands, written by Manav Kaul, who is writing about Rohit, a writer who, in turn, is writing a story. And by the end, you are not quite sure what Under The Night Jasmine is because the lines are blurred to the extent that the real writer, Manav Kaul, enters the narration. Is it a novel? Or is it a book on writing a novel? Whatever it is, it's quite marvelous. Vaibhav Sharma has done an excellent job translating it. The writing is seamless, with beautiful prose and lines that seem like they have been picked directly from a poem. Lines like—“It’s the past that beats like a heart within the present.” or “Compared to our present, our past has more of a hold on us.” or “Every relationship is burdened by its most beautiful moments.” I can go on and on, and I’ll end up quoting the whole book.
I highly recommend it.
Under The Night Jasmine is a novel about the extraneous process of writing a novel. You have this book that you are holding in your hands, written by Manav Kaul, who is writing about Rohit, a writer who, in turn, is writing a story. And by the end, you are not quite sure what Under The Night Jasmine is because the lines are blurred to the extent that the real writer, Manav Kaul, enters the narration. Is it a novel? Or is it a book on writing a novel? Whatever it is, it's quite marvelous. Vaibhav Sharma has done an excellent job translating it. The writing is seamless, with beautiful prose and lines that seem like they have been picked directly from a poem. Lines like—“It’s the past that beats like a heart within the present.” or “Compared to our present, our past has more of a hold on us.” or “Every relationship is burdened by its most beautiful moments.” I can go on and on, and I’ll end up quoting the whole book.
I highly recommend it.
July 6, 2025
Screenwriter Rohit and the one that got away, Antima, meet again in Mumbai during the lockdown and seem to be falling for each other. While this happens, Rohit is writing an autofiction story for a new collection his editor is anxious to print. Rohit is struggling with his existential haze, interpreting titles and stories off his shelves from Camus to Dostoevsky, and blending familiar ones with his own story. The new story is set in his childhood village in Kashmir. It features Rohit himself, one of his school teachers, and her poet boyfriend.
Dreams are blending with reality, and the story is writing itself. Its characters are coming to life in his Mumbai apartment, and Rohit feels that engaging with them at length is derailing any plans he had for the story. Surreal things are happening in the story in Kashmir and in his life outside the story in Mumbai. Animals start to appear everywhere, with people turning into deer, or lizards marking people or places. All along, there is a clear sense that something perilous is about to happen, and that sense keeps escalating till the end.
Dreams are blending with reality, and the story is writing itself. Its characters are coming to life in his Mumbai apartment, and Rohit feels that engaging with them at length is derailing any plans he had for the story. Surreal things are happening in the story in Kashmir and in his life outside the story in Mumbai. Animals start to appear everywhere, with people turning into deer, or lizards marking people or places. All along, there is a clear sense that something perilous is about to happen, and that sense keeps escalating till the end.
January 27, 2025
Finally read the book by this most anticipated author! I wanted to read the original Hindi version, however the destiny had some other plans.
I was hooked to Rohit’s character and it was extremely relatable. Love how the layers of every relationship that Rohit has are explored in such delicate details and the complexity of human emotions is handled so poetically.
There is certain melancholy in the story, which touched me deeply. And I read how most of them felt reflections of Murakami in the story, and I couldn’t agree more!
I was hooked to Rohit’s character and it was extremely relatable. Love how the layers of every relationship that Rohit has are explored in such delicate details and the complexity of human emotions is handled so poetically.
There is certain melancholy in the story, which touched me deeply. And I read how most of them felt reflections of Murakami in the story, and I couldn’t agree more!
January 2, 2025
read this one in 3 days. The layers, the process and the main characters and the unknowing of where one begins and where it ends. The book has the quality of water and a spellbinding fragrance of jasmine. I am fan Manav Kaul!
March 26, 2024
Under the Night Jasmine by Manav Kaul is like the dreamy reminiscent of the aroma that lingers long after one has left the vicinity of a jasmine tree in full bloom. There's no better time to read this book apart from spring and I am extremely happy to get to read this book in March. Ah, I can get a whiff of the aroma around me right now!
The book opens in another March, March of 2020, the year of Covid. As the story unfolds in the lockdown period, the protagonist starts to muse over his past relationships with family, friends and infatuations.
It takes a while to get to know the real name of the protagonist and I loved the deliberate attempt of the author to focus more on the thoughts and reverie, which actually reflects the accurate mindset of a person who is alone and has a lot of things to ponder on. The inception of the first ever infatuation and in the later part realisation of another intense emotion made me extremely sentiment.
Oscillating between past and present, dream and reality, poetry and mundane days the prose is anything but ordinary.
The story unfolds like the blooming of the jasmine in a full-moon night and the concluding portion is striking enough to not forget ever. It is said that people might get insane if he stays under the moonlit night for a long period and who has seen a jasmine tree after midnight on a moonlight flooded night might experience a more intense emotion.
This book is not for everyone but for a dreamer it's indispensable. There's no definite plotline but the way it prioritizes mood and atmosphere over the subjects and time is absolutely brilliant. It was my first experience with @manavkaul 's writing and I am sure that I will be reading more of his words.
This is a deeply passionate novel.
I loved this book. The translation by @urf_lehza is effulgent and passionate.
Thank you @PenguinIndia for sending me this book.
The book opens in another March, March of 2020, the year of Covid. As the story unfolds in the lockdown period, the protagonist starts to muse over his past relationships with family, friends and infatuations.
It takes a while to get to know the real name of the protagonist and I loved the deliberate attempt of the author to focus more on the thoughts and reverie, which actually reflects the accurate mindset of a person who is alone and has a lot of things to ponder on. The inception of the first ever infatuation and in the later part realisation of another intense emotion made me extremely sentiment.
Oscillating between past and present, dream and reality, poetry and mundane days the prose is anything but ordinary.
The story unfolds like the blooming of the jasmine in a full-moon night and the concluding portion is striking enough to not forget ever. It is said that people might get insane if he stays under the moonlit night for a long period and who has seen a jasmine tree after midnight on a moonlight flooded night might experience a more intense emotion.
This book is not for everyone but for a dreamer it's indispensable. There's no definite plotline but the way it prioritizes mood and atmosphere over the subjects and time is absolutely brilliant. It was my first experience with @manavkaul 's writing and I am sure that I will be reading more of his words.
This is a deeply passionate novel.
I loved this book. The translation by @urf_lehza is effulgent and passionate.
Thank you @PenguinIndia for sending me this book.
September 11, 2024
I read the blurb of this book at one of the bookstores, hit me a bit hard. Kept thinking about this book.
Then, once I had the book, I read a few chapters, felt a bit heavy, kept questioning myself why is this book discussing the things which are less discussed. Scrolled a bit of quotes from Manav and found them touching my soul too. Happens rarely, right?
"The people who get attracted to you are like you and not like the person you want."
This book is a story of Rohit whose a poet and a script consultant. Set against the backdrop of COVID, isolation triggers Rohit's past traumas and insecurities to merge in unsettling ways. The novel explores topics such as sexual awakening, guilt and pain of lost love and loved ones. Rohit's past experiences with his lovers, teachers and family are woven beautifully in present. Rohit slowly struggles to differentiate between reality and fiction he writes. His interactions with his neighbor and his ex-lover also give a disturbing layer to the story.
What makes the book even more beautiful is it's emotional depth which author explores through Rohit's self-doubt and memories. Under the Night Jasmine is a thought provoking and complex book and each person will perceive it as their state of mind. I have loved Manav's writing and would love to recommend this to audience who are looking for a book to last with them!
QOTD: Have you read Manav Kaul? If not, which is the most soul touching book or movie for you?
If you can, please read Manav's books also in Hindi and once you read them, you will know why!
Then, once I had the book, I read a few chapters, felt a bit heavy, kept questioning myself why is this book discussing the things which are less discussed. Scrolled a bit of quotes from Manav and found them touching my soul too. Happens rarely, right?
"The people who get attracted to you are like you and not like the person you want."
This book is a story of Rohit whose a poet and a script consultant. Set against the backdrop of COVID, isolation triggers Rohit's past traumas and insecurities to merge in unsettling ways. The novel explores topics such as sexual awakening, guilt and pain of lost love and loved ones. Rohit's past experiences with his lovers, teachers and family are woven beautifully in present. Rohit slowly struggles to differentiate between reality and fiction he writes. His interactions with his neighbor and his ex-lover also give a disturbing layer to the story.
What makes the book even more beautiful is it's emotional depth which author explores through Rohit's self-doubt and memories. Under the Night Jasmine is a thought provoking and complex book and each person will perceive it as their state of mind. I have loved Manav's writing and would love to recommend this to audience who are looking for a book to last with them!
QOTD: Have you read Manav Kaul? If not, which is the most soul touching book or movie for you?
If you can, please read Manav's books also in Hindi and once you read them, you will know why!
May 22, 2024
I picked this book up on a random afternoon from the Bahrisons bookstore. I had heard about Manav Kaul’s books here and there but I didn’t know what to expect.
I started with the expectation of beautiful literature and heartfelt poems and the book is so much more than that. It’s deep, unruly, emotional, strange at times, and above all, it’s something you never knew you needed!
I didn’t know I was craving something like this but after finishing this book, I know I needed this book. I don’t want to write anything about the story at all. I want you to go into it without knowing anything much, just as I did.
I must also acknowledge that this book might not be for everyone. But here are a few things the book explores: the chaos and complexity of human mind and emotions, youth, sexuality, fear, loss, and a lot more. The ending was unpredictable, yes. And I have to give credit to the translator, I think it was a brilliant job done.
I started with the expectation of beautiful literature and heartfelt poems and the book is so much more than that. It’s deep, unruly, emotional, strange at times, and above all, it’s something you never knew you needed!
I didn’t know I was craving something like this but after finishing this book, I know I needed this book. I don’t want to write anything about the story at all. I want you to go into it without knowing anything much, just as I did.
I must also acknowledge that this book might not be for everyone. But here are a few things the book explores: the chaos and complexity of human mind and emotions, youth, sexuality, fear, loss, and a lot more. The ending was unpredictable, yes. And I have to give credit to the translator, I think it was a brilliant job done.
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