For Matrimonial Purposes

Rating:
Summary: Charming!
Review: This book, about a culture I know little about, was fascinating. I know that there are still "arranged marriages" in some countries. "For Matrimonial Purposes" is funny, sad, educating, and ultimately happy. I recommend this book as a good summer read.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: This is a lovely, breezy, incredibly funny novel. Daswani's descriptions of the Indian middle-class milieu are spot-on and guaranteed to make you giggle out loud. Anju is an unlikely heroin that you end up rooting for, throughout the battles with her family, the mono-browed, poorly-dressed men, and her jaunts to fashion shows in Europe.
Finally, an Indian female author that speaks to all of us who think that forging your own ground, and making some room for tradition at the same time, isn't such a bad thing. A *must read*!

Rating:
Summary: Not what it's cracked up to be
Review: To sum it up, this book is another example of a lost opportunity to realize the potential of an interesting theme, namely the juxtaposition of two cultures and its effect on one individual. The writing is simplistic and cliche-ridden, and the number of references to pop culture will give the book the shelf life of a BenLo movie. Superficial and manufactured, this one will take little time to read and even less time to forget.

Rating:
Summary: Lame
Review: What a terribly bad novel. I love fiction from India, but this was pathetic. The main character was such a spinless, witless woman that I had no respect for her. Her main goal in life was to find a husband and keep her parents happy by finding a husband. Nice goals if this was hundred years ago. If you want to read a good about contemporary India, arranged marriage and Indians, read "The Mango Season" by Amulya Malladi. Now that was a good book!

Rating:
Summary: Marvelous entertainment
Review: What a wonderful book. The author takes the reader on a hilariously picaresque journey through the marriage travails of a modern, 30-something woman, navigating the tricky shoals of dutiful daughter, independent woman and a thousand years of tradition! Throughout, she wraps the story in the fabric and rhythms of India. What a delight!