Review of violet is the colour of my heart by Jinia Mukherjee

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Name                – Violet is the color of my heart 
Author                  – Jinia Mukherjee
Publisher              – Life Publications
Number of Pages – 156
Publishing Year   – 2016
Edition                  – Paperback 
Price                     – 200
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Rating: 3.5


Blurb
In Violet is the color of my heart, Jinia Mukerjee captures complex human emotions emanating from everyday experiences and relationships. Most of the stories are set against the backdrop of France. They articulate strong diasporic voices, particularly of women and children, their longings for love and acceptance, their emotions and sensitivities around issues of multiculturalism, exile, and, ultimately, their resilience. One finds in them impulses that transcend all realms of cultural diversity and at once speak across continents. A keen observer of subtleties in human behavior, Mukerjee’s treatment of her themes is intensely visual, the personality of each of her characters woven in several layers. Her elegant prose infuses humor and emotion into the stories, effortlessly drawing readers into their compelling worlds.


My Review

Violet is the color of my heart and is a collection of heart-melting short stories. The stories are divided into three parts- Canvas, sketches, and fresco. Canvas has four stories, one different from the other. The four stories are gems, forcing the reader to hook to the book forever. Sketches have five stories. The five stories are anecdotes of the life of a mother with two girls with diverse characters. As the name suggests, the stories are a collection of funny sketches, and at the same time thought evoking. They portray how the protagonist manages her children during nerve-racking situations like getting one’s child’s hands between hinges, a bead getting into the child’s ears, the child trying to jump from the terrace in an attempt to fly, etc. Fresco has five highly emotional and tragic stories.


ss possesses great talent in her narrative ability. The similes and metaphors used in the stories give the feel of poetic rendition in the prose. The character build-up is done with finesse. My favorite section is Canvas. The author has painted several emotional realms in the four stories. Love, loss, loneliness, pain, pleasure; several emotions found their way through the reader’s hearts. 


The stories are subjective and especially in the last part, filled to the brim with an overdose of tragedy. Towards the end, the overall feeling of the stories seemed repetitive. The background stories are set mainly in Darjeeling, France, Nice, etc, where presumably the authors hailed, with a collage of culture and lifestyle.


Reviewed for the publisher

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book as a
complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write
a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

About the author


Jinia Mukerjee’s short stories focus on the unobserved, unexpressed, and often unheeded nuances of human emotions and relationships. Born in Kolkata, and trained as a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Kolkata and Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, she was involved in the rehabilitation of mentally disadvantaged women in India, after which she worked as a Research Clinical Psychologist in Australia.

In the south of France, where she lives for the past 14 years, Jinia has worked as a psychotherapist, and a lecturer in organizational behavior in business schools, and is currently pursuing a doctoral fellowship in Management Science. Julia’s short fiction and poetries have been published in Sahitya Academy’s journal Indian Literature, The Statesman’s festival, and weekly editions, while her mental health awareness-raising articles have been published in magazines in France and Australia.

Jinia has also co-authored an award-winning Italian book on the politics, aesthetics, and semiotics of the female body that was critically acclaimed and prominently featured in Elle.


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