<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: A sparkling book about upper class Indian lifestyle. I identified completely with the light hearted style. It is meant to be a superficial look at the duties between Indian parents and daughters. You have to be Indian to understand that the character is not spineless or gutless as considered by western standards. An Indian parents duty is to get their daughter married, hence the arranged marriage and it is the duty of the daughter not to hurt her parents emotionally or socially. This book is about the attempts of both of them to achieve that goal through an arranged marriage. A simple story line, well written, never boring. Good job, Kavita!
Rating: 
Summary: Starts well but fails to build momentum
Review: Anju is an upper-middle-class Indian girl, who has grown up in Bombay. In her world arranged marriages are the norm, and girls are commonly married in their early to mid 20s. When we meet Anju she is aged 33, living in New York and still single - much to her and her family's shame, and definitely not from lack of trying. The book then goes back in time to tell the story of her family's efforts to marry her off. At times amusing, at others more serious, the book gives great insight into an aspect of Indian culture that many find intriguing or hard to understand. Anju is a likeable character and you find yourself rooting for her and hoping that a suitable partner will be found. Unfortunately the flashback technique removes most of the suspense from the story, as it is only in the final 15 pages that we finally pick up where the book began. For this reason, I found that my interest began to pall as I read the book. You can only read about so many potential suitors who don't work out for whatever reason, and you tire of Anju's ongoing cycle of hope/disappointment/despair. When it finally comes, the ending feels too rushed after the lengthy build-up. While Kavita Daswani writes with insight about Indian culture, her portrayal of the New York fashion world where Anju ends up working feels superficial and unconvincing, and most of the characters in the book are stereo-typical. Overall, I found this book just okay. I enjoyed learning more about India and for this reason I liked the first half a lot more than the second. But I felt it lost momentum as it went on and in the end, I was relieved to let it go.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad- fast read
Review: I thought this book was a fast read, and would be a pretty good beach book. The plot is straightforward- upper middle class Indian girl wants to be married. Her parents want her married. Her town wants her married. It was interesting to hear about a woman's perspective of doing what is right and expected in India, even at the present time, as it is vastly different from what we Americans know. Unfortunetly, I don't have much knowledge as to how representational this book really is, and though I enjoyed hearing this side of the story, I still had difficulty beleiving that this is how things are. I was conflicted about the heroine Anju. On one hand she is a rising star on the PR front, but she is also a devout Hindi who has set up a prayer shrine in her studio apartment. I could not get the two halves of this character to mesh in my mind as far as a work of literature goes. Her New York friends are too sterotypical for me, and I wasn't moved by her Indian relations. I think the story would work better if it was done as a journal- the amount of interior monologue is oppressive. But, the book is easy to read, and you do wonder if Anju will ever find love, so I think there is a definate audience for this book.
Rating: 
Summary: all dressed up and goes no where.
Review: maggie Z saidit all. Just when you thik the heroine has come into her own. BAM there comes the (boring) happily ever after. This book is nothing but fluff. But if you want an easy read go for it!
<< 1 >>
| 
