Rafflesia – The Banished Princess is a book, a novel, which focuses on the downhills of a marriage when it becomes a torment rather than the joy of a new life. Not to be mistaken as a usual novel in the contemporary genre, this novel promises to be something else – something which cannot be predicted and something which can be enjoyed only when read with seriousness and attention. We will be bringing our concerns to the fore and tell the readers what our experiences were like with this novel by a debutant Gautam Choudhuri. Let’s get into Rafflesia – The Banished Princess.

This book narrates the story of a guy who seems and later turns out to be as well, a little different than the lots out there in public life. In his childhood, in the college days, in the corporate life and also, unfortunately, in marriage institution, the guy Appu has no luck. He isn’t comfortable while making friends; he isn’t comfortable while with girls; he is unfortunate to have a wife like Jharna who leaves her alone only after two days of their marriage and he is not at rest save the ending of the novel…

The imagery of the banished princess, Rafflesia is only kept in the background. This is something which helps the author establish the narrative. The story of a princess who is kept captive by a giant and later rescued by her dream prince is, in a way, telling that life has its tone and timings. We have to wait for the right time without being frustrated while keeping our all the efforts in the right direction, which we somehow know. Other than Appu, only another character in the novel which attracts the attention of the readers is Rahul, a good and close friend to Appu, the chief protagonist. He is the person who sets up the lawyer for his divorce; he is the guy who constantly peps Appu in his bad days and also in the worst of those.

Rafflesia – The Banished Princess is about setting oneself free of burdens which we let down on us. These burdens, while enjoying the ride on our head, also pin us down and push us in the darker lanes where we see nothing but gloom… towards the end of the novel, a reader can see how Appu comes back to life and enjoys it once again like he would have wanted to. His fortune is rather shown as passive in the novel and this is a good try by the author to write the novel in a completely different perspective where the lead character is not like a typical Baahubali…

Readers, if you want to enjoy this novel, you will have to be patient and also clever enough to decipher the implicit or the subtext which runs through the novel. A 3-4 day read, this novel goes on up to 400 pages and you might skip where you feel like… but read it till the end and then only you will be able to get the entire message which the author has in the store for you!