Tendré cuidado de no destripar demasiado, ya que lo que vale la pena son los giros, sorpresas de la trama y las sensaciones que deja atrás, esta historia debo aceptar en un principio no me cautivaba demasiado (en las primeras páginas) pero rápidamente me sumergí en la India colonial, para ser más precisos, en Calcuta a mitad del siglo XIX, donde los ingleses eran los amos y señores de aquellas tierras bastas y exóticas, donde como grandes conquistadores intentaban imponer su hegemonía sobre el país, donde su “aparente superioridad” obligaba a los nativos a vivir bajo su yugo, su escala de valores y de moral, convirtiéndose ellos en sirvientes y seres indeseados por aquellos que llegaron a invadir su tierra, haciéndolos sentir como parias, en Calcuta los ingleses que la habitaban eran aun de mente más cerrada y menos permisiva que los que vivían en Inglaterra, por supuesto mas mojigatos.A esta Calcuta llego Olivia, una americana que fue criada por su padre, una chica de 23 años acostumbrada a decir lo que piensa, en temas que generalmente las inglesitas “decentes” no dicen ni “pio” y menos las que viven en la India, por consejo de su padre fue a visitar a su tía, Lady Bridget (hermana de su difunta madre), viviría con ella, su tío y su prima Estelle, una chica de 18 años, chismosa y consentida pero que idolatra a Olivia, estaría con ellos durante 12 meses, para descansar del ajetreo de la fiebre del oro de su vida en California y para crear lazos con su familia materna en aquella colonia británica, donde podría desenvolverse entre las más respetadas familias inglesas.Es así que vemos desde los ojos de Olivia la vida colonial, los paisajes, las costumbres, la comida, el clima en esa lejana tierra, desde el principio ella quedo cautivada por todo eso, aunque la rutina de las chicas de su edad la hastiaba al igual que el afán de su tía por casarla y llevarla a reuniones sociales, caminatas, donde ella tenía que plantarse cerrar la boca y sonreír y soportar las cháchara de las damas, cuando lo que ella quería es participar en los debates de los hombres, de temas como comercio, política, ganado y todo lo que había aprendido con su padre, en ocasiones su tío le permitía expresarse en esos temas, ella quería mucho a su tío, ambos tocaban temas que la apasionaban e interesaban y aprendía de todo eso.En una de las reuniones ocasionales a las que acudió, Olivia sintiéndose frustrada y extrañando su vida en América tomo camino hacia un malecón junto al rio, donde desahogándose dio rienda suelta a las lagrimas, en esa intimidad saco todo lo que llevaba dentro, hasta que sintió una extraña presencia que la observaba, en ese instante es cuando conoce a JAI Raventhorne, con el cual mantuvo una conversación, en ese momento no pudo distinguir sus rasgos ya que él se mantenía a la sombra, solo capto un atisbo de su increíble mirada de ojos grises, pero quedo muy intrigada por ese hombre, con sus palabras y con su voz, al parecer el sabia todo sobre ella y su familia, era educado, pero jamás lo había visto en alguna otra reunión. Pero lo que más le impresiono es la reacción de sus tíos al extenderles los saludos que aquel extraño les había mandado, la conmoción fue tal que hasta su tía cae desmayada.A partir de ahí nos iremos sumergiendo en la red de intrigas, venganzas, misterios familiares que rodean a Olivia y Jai, nadie lo quiere en Calcuta, es un mestizo, su nombre es pronunciado con recelo, eso hace crecer aun más la curiosidad hacia Jai, empiezan a encontrarse en secreto y ella cae irremediablemente enamorada de él, se ven a escondidas, pero no puede penetrar su coraza, presiente que él no le conviene, que la lastimaría, hasta el mismo hace lo imposible para alejarla de él, le advierte que el no es bueno, que nunca ha querido a nadie, no le cuenta nada de el mismo, ella lo ama a tal grado que no le importa nada, su amor es puro, me pareció a veces excesivo, el siempre misterioso, jamás sabemos lo que piensa, trata constantemente de alejarse de Olivia, pero ella no lo permite.Un día ocurre un suceso que es donde la trama del libro da un giro brutal, da pie a que aquella Olivia que conocimos cambie por completo, que sus sentimientos hacia Jai cambien de intención pero no de intensidad, el odio, el amor, la traición, el dolor, dan rienda a suelta a una serie de decisiones que Olivia tomara y que cambiaran su vida.Se sufre bastante, todo en esta historia es intenso, el amor, el odio, el rencor, en momentos tenía que dejar de leer para respirar, mi corazón estaba encogido, este libro TRANSMITE, aunque no estuviera contenta con algunas situaciones, me hacía sentir en verdad amor, odio, dolor o cual sentimiento que Olivia experimentara, ambos personajes son vengativos, de los mas que he conocido, así que a las que les gustan este tipo de historias amor-odio la disfrutaran bastante.Los personajes no tienen demasiadas apariciones juntos, ni escenas con alto contenido erótico, pero no hacen falta ambas cosas, para hacer de esta historia de amor tan conmovedora.
Olivia & Jai is one of those books with a slight old fashioned feeling that left a wonderful impression the first time I read it a couple years ago. I wanted to reread it and see if the magic still worked.We first meet Olivia O’Rourke, a 23 years old American with an unusual education and lots of character, during her stay in India where she spends a year with her maternal aunt, Lady Bridget Templewood, and her family. The young woman is completely in love for this new land and its culture. Every opportunity she gets, to great despair of her snobbish aunt, she’s out exploring Calcutta and doing the best she can to get to meet the locals.One evening, during a ball, she meets a mysterious man, Jai Raventhorne. They are both curious about each other, but when Olivia mentions his name to her family, they are all shocked and immediately warn her to keep her distances from him. Clearly there’s something going on between Raventhorne and the Templewoods and nobody seems interested to talk about it or explain the reasons of the quarrel to the young American. This situation only provokes Olivia’s curiosity about Jai…Not long after, Olivia and Jai start to meet in secret, both unable to stop the growing attraction between them. If the young woman accepts her feelings more easily, Jai tries to keep his distances at first and warns her often that despite his love, he cannot give her what she wants. Olivia is in love and she never imagined Jai’s revenge towards her family or the unbearable pain caused by his treason…Olivia is a charming mix of wisdom and innocence. Raised by her free thinking father in the States, she was always encouraged to give her opinion and be an independent woman. Her English aunt is completely appealed by this upbringing! She is decided to transform the young woman into a lady and find her an English husband. If I couldn’t sometimes suspend my disbelief when I read about Olivia leaving the house all alone and spend hours in the local markets or riding, I did enjoy her curiosity about the Indian culture and the fact that she tried to break free from the quite strict British society rules and seek for something else.Her love for Jai might seem sometimes a bit naïve and suddenly excessive, but it’s her first love and she was completely swept away by the dark and mysterious young man. His happiness is her happiness. She gave herself completely to Jai without any constraints.Jai is Eurasian and his illegitimacy is often the center of all gossip among the local British society. He is arrogant, conceited, obnoxious and sometimes, a real pain. He is also a self made man. Nobody knows who his parents were, but he made his way into the world and built an empire. He does some terrible things, but here remains the talent of Rebecca Ryman, even during the worst moments I could never really hate Jai. He never became an unsympathetic character and I would imagine it was a hard task for the author to keep him going as a real person with its faults and qualities. There are some small aspects that kept me from giving this book 5 stars. The language was a little too modernized sometimes, but it won’t spoil any enjoyment. This is a story of love and revenge with some twists and turns but everything works almost perfectly for me. The character development, especially Olivia who changes so much all along the story, is quite remarkable. Also the descriptions of 19th century India are enthralling. I remember especially Olivia’s visit to the market and it was so vivid I could almost taste the pastry she was eating.Rebecca Ryman is the pen name of an Indian writer, Asha Bhanjdeo, who only wrote three books under this name: Olivia & Jai, The Veil of Illusions (the sequel of Olivia & Jai) and Shalimar. Unfortunately, she died in 2003.
Do You like book Olivia And Jai (1993)?
Ich war mal der festen Überzeugung, dass historische Romane nichts für mich sind. Aber scheinbar hatte ich immer nur die falschen Romane in der Hand. Zahlreiche Bücher, die in den vergangenen 200 Jahren in Asien spielen, konnten mich vom Gegenteil überzeugen. Zuletzt war das eben "Wer Liebe verspricht" von Rebecca Ryman.Wer Liebesgeschichten oder dicke Bücher nicht besonders mag, dem würde ich von diesem Buch abraten. Aber allen anderen kann ich es nur empfehlen! Rebecca Ryman versteht es, den Leser in das Indien des 18. Jahrhunderts unter britischer Besetzung zu ziehen und sich in diese Gegend zu verlieben. Ich weiß, Landschaften und Länder sind fast nie so, wie sie in Büchern beschrieben werden, dennoch hatte ich hierbei die Schauplätze sehr ausgearbeitet vor Augen - ebenso die Charaktere, die, meiner Meinung nach sehr echt und gut ausgearbeitet sind. Auf den 800 Seiten des Romans entwickeln sie sich natürlich weiter, aber das nicht unbedingt auf unrealistische Art und Weise. Sie bleiben sich selbst soweit treu, dass man noch immer mit ihnen mitfühlen kann und von ihnen gefesselt ist. Auch haben sie alle ihre Stärken und Schwächen, sodass man sie nicht in "Gut" und "Böse" einordnen kann.Den Schreibstil bei der Geschichte würde ich jetzt nicht unbedingt hervorheben. Er war nicht ganz simpel, aber auch nicht zu kompliziert - der Geschichte angemessen, und auf Sinneseindrücke ebenso achtend, wie auf Gefühle.Ich war absolut fasziniert von diesem Buch, auch wenn es zwischendurch mal ganz leicht kitschige Anwandlungen hatte. Kitsch in Maßen macht mir nichts aus, vor allem nicht, wenn er vor so einer schönen Kulisse stattfindet.
—Captaincow
Olivia and Jai is a lavish and beautifully written story about a strong, willful and intelligent young American woman and her passionate love for the equally powerful and sensitive so called half-caste Indian Jai Raventhorne. She has definitely met her match in him although the story line is mostly about the detailed workings of Olivia's mind and emotions, her feelings for him and her calculating motives for the actions and interactions with the people in her life. There are more references to Jai than actual meetings with him. It is a compelling look into the history of the British occupation of 19th century India and the havoc it played on the lives of the native people. This is a driving tale that pulls the reader along in an unrelenting quest for more. It is unstoppable in its fascinating descriptions of the landscape, beauty and people of India as well as the universal characteristics of suffering and love.
—Claudia Michelli
I have a big problem with novels set in colonial India: they all have to measure up, whether I will it or no, to the arch-famous “The Far Pavilions,” that by virtue of reading it first as much as its author’s craftiness, is the golden standard for me personally. That has resulted in my experience reading all the other books with the same setting less enjoyable in some way. Novel X is inferior even if by the same author, Novel Y is too much of a wannabe and a poorer copy at that, Novel Z has a character that smells of rip-off…I have two other smaller problems as well: they all seem to focus way too much on the buildup towards the Sepoy Rebellion, often devoting dozens of pages to dialogue in which the enlightened and pro-native character lays out his wise political advice that contrasts with the narrow-minded stupidity of the rest of his caste. And then, often the heroine is pretty unlikable because… because, that’s why. They start sympathetic enough, and at some point, they just lose it. None of which really informed my picking of this book; zero expectations and an “Oh, en fin” probably have to do with the fact that, in the end, I liked this novel.The first half is simply engrossing; we have young and naïve Olivia O’Rourke navigating the local social circles with her snobbish aunt and her reckless cousin, attracting the eye of two men that will be meaningful in her future and in her erring. And we have Jai Raventhorne, not as mysterious as the author tried to present him since it’s easy to guess his hot buttons from the first appearance. In my case, it’s not the mystery that had me interested, because there was none: I knew who his parents were and from that I had a surprisingly accurate guess of what his life story was like, down to how he was born and his mother’s demise. The hints were pretty obvious, to me, and I’d have appreciated a bit more careful handling of them to keep me in the dark and make the impact of the revelations later real “revelations,” not “confirmations” as it turned out. The interest lay in his mind’s workings, because everything in him is excessive, because despite all, he’s not completely messed-up in the head; he is resilient. It’s always fascinated me to see, and read about, people coming out of dire pasts with so different outcomes.The love story follows a straightforward angsty romance arc till the middle; they can’t be together but they can’t be separate either, so they carry on with a back-and-forth furtive liaison with more anger and sexual tension than political and social critique on India—thank the old gods!—and finally they both snap in a scene that is bound to be questioned by many a reader, and that to me brought forth another of my favourite love scenes in literature, so that may account for my reaction. Politically incorrect love scenes are, if well-written, ranked highly in the Hotness Scale, and this one was. Hot and full of those life-changing moves that will push the plot till the end.But then, the second half isn’t quite the same. Jai is mostly absent, having proceeded with that plan that would affect his and Olivia’s lives so negatively; and Olivia foolishly and in a panic takes two, no, three decisions in a row that will condemn her to a longish period of living with lies, regrets, hypocrisy, a sourness in the heart that will turn her over-the-top love for Jai into over-the-top hate, kicking off a business and personal war with him at his return with innocent victims on both sides. One is hard pushed to sympathise with her, her pride, her self-castigation, her blind spots, her resentment and the weakness in tolerating abject abuse, her thoughts that she (view spoiler)[owes her husband a son in exchange for a name for her and Jai's bastard (hide spoiler)]
—Marquise
