Points of view are a big deal when determining who is going to narrate a book. Deciding on multiple points of view gives the author the freedom to explore multiple characters on a personal level and helps the story to unfold to the reader in an engaging way. Author Rajat Narula must have recognized the power of multiple points of view when crafting his novel, Azalea Heights. Below is my interview with Narula where he discusses the themes, inspiration, and intentions behind his book.
About the author and book
Author name/pen name: Rajat Narula
Author links
Book Title: Azalea Heights
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Links to buy
Azalea Heights book summary
Azalea Heights is the story of a diverse cast of characters trying to make a fresh start. Naina is a recently divorced woman learning to live alone, Rohan is a small-time restaurant owner with big dreams, Altaf, a proud American citizen, is struggling with the radicalization of his teenaged son and Gerard is a retired two-time Iraq veteran fighting with his inner demons.
Their paths inevitably cross and result in a chain of events that upend their lives. The book offers an engaging account of a clash of cultures and perspectives. It also recognizes the American spirit, when people with disparate ideologies, beliefs, and politics come together in a moment of crisis.
Book excerpts
- “Ayesha had been religious even when they got married in Pakistan, but the extremity began when they moved to the US. A reaction to the liberalism she encountered in the alien country. Since she couldn’t compete with the Americans in being open, modern and liberal, she galloped in the opposite direction. The more you show, the more I hide.”
- “Gerard had left the army to get away from the war in the distant lands. But the distant lands had come home to him.”
- “Altaf had embraced this country for over thirty years. He voted in every election, paid his taxes, and celebrated July 4th on the mall watching fireworks. Just because his skin color was different, would he have to prove his American-ness every time something went wrong? Was Zain right when he said they didn’t belong here, that they never would?”
Review excerpts
“A telling commentary on multi-dimensional racism in American society. It brings diverse characters together and explores their truth through situations where conflict is inevitable.”
“AZALEA HEIGHTS is the mirror that reflects where we have come as a nation and the dangers tomorrow poses. A must-read for anyone who cares about the battle lines being drawn in the society today.
“A multi-layered story of an ensemble cast of characters that is immensely engaging and thought provoking.”
Talking Shop
What famous books can you compare to your own?
Some of the books that are comparable to Azalea Heights are: Little Fires Everywhere, There There, Exit West, Sing Unburied Sing, Pachinko, and Everything I Never Told You. Some of them (Exit West, Little Fires Everywhere) capture the cultural conflicts that are central to Azalea Heights. Some others (There There, Sing Unburied Sing) capture the inherent racism in American society – a key theme in the book. The rest (Pachinko, Everything I Never Told You) present own voices stories of specific ethnic groups as does Azalea Heights.
What do you want readers to take away from your book?
If there is one message, I would like readers to take away from this book, it would be that we are more alike than different. That beneath our different skin colors, religious beliefs, cultures, our values, aspirations, dreams and desires are not that different.
What’s the best review/compliment that you’ve received about your book?
That it is a story that needed to be told. That in the current world where biases, prejudices and racial discriminations are almost accepted as normal, a story that goes beneath the surface and identifies the humanism in the world needed to be told.
How long did it take to write your book from the day you got the idea to write it to the day you published it?
A really long time 😊. It took me 4.5 years to complete writing Azalea Heights, another one year to find a publisher and then another year to see the book in print.
Who is on your Mt. Rushmore of great writers?
Oh, it is a crowded Mt. Rushmore! I consider Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his One Hundred Years of Solitude the ultimate in storytelling. Other writers who would make my Mt. Rushmore would be Salman Rushdie, Khaled Hosseini, Kazuo Ishiguru, Jeffrey Eugenides, Emma Donoghue, George Orwell Laura Hillenbrand, J.K.Rowling and many many others. One writer I wish I could write like is Jhumpa Lahiri. She can evoke deep emotions in her readers without resorting to melodrama.
“What if” Scenarios
If you could have one person that you admire, living or dead, read your book, who would it be?
I’d love to have Barack Obama read the book! A child of an inter-racial marriage, who seemed to have a healthy respect for the diverse cultures of the world, he would be my dream reader.
Your book becomes a best seller. What do you do next?
Negotiate the movie deal and move on to write the next one!
You have final say over who reads the audio book version of your story. Who do you choose?
Morgan Freeman.
Your story gets picked up by a streaming service to make into a series. What service would you want it to be, and would you want them to follow your story closely, or would you rather see what directions they take it in?
I would love to have the book serialized on Netflix. I would like them to follow the story as written without taking too many liberties with it. I don’t want the message diluted.
If your book ever becomes a movie and you get final say over the cast, which actors would you hire to play your characters?
There is not a single day when I don’t play that movie in my head. 😊 The book has American and South Asian characters. I see Bradley Cooper play Gerard and Amy Adams as Kate. I would have liked Irfan Khan to play Altaf. Unfortunately, he passed away last year. Now, I would like to see Aamir Khan play that role and I would like to have Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor play Naina and Rohan.
Just for Fun
Favorite place you’ve visited/place you want to visit.
I have travelled to many countries (58 countries at the last count), but I think the most beautiful place I have ever been to was New Zealand. From glaciers to lakes to hot springs to a breathtaking coastline, there is beauty all around. I would love to go again.
Food you’d like to win a lifetime supply of.
Chocolates.
The topic you can’t shut up about and the topic you wish everyone would shut up about.
I can’t stop talking about the populist leaders across the globe who play majoritarian politics and have dictatorial tendencies: Trump, Modi, Erdogan and the like.
I would like people to stop talking about impeaching Trump. He is gone. He was ousted by the most legitimate of ways to oust bad leaders: elections. By keeping talking about him, we are keeping him politically alive.
Your most unrealistic dream job.
For someone who was terrible at sports, I always dreamt of being an international cricketer.
One year of your life you’d like to relive or do over.
I think the best time of my life was when my daughters (24 and 20 now) were very young. I would like to relive that part of my life again when they were 6 and 2.
Buy it!
Buy a copy of Rajat Narula’s first book, The Jasmine Bloom, here, and help support local bookstores! This is an affiliate link, and I will earn a commission on any sales.
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