The Village Bride of Beverly Hills

Rating:
Summary: Improbable, yes -- but it could happen! P
Review: Following an arranged marriage to a handsome, likable man, Priya leaves India for Los Angeles. Although she's a college graduate, she's been raised to be a good stay-at-home wife.

Living with her in-laws, Priya finds herself stifled. She spends hours helping with cooking and cieaning, and she's expected to be humble and respectful with her husband's parents. Luckily Priya's mother-in-law encourages her to take a job. She lands a spot as receptionist to a top Hollywood news magazine.

Continuing to be humble and polite beyond Hollywood standards, Priya befriends a coworker who teaches her how to dress. Unfortunately, she has to sneak to her gym to change clothes, because her mother-in-law forbids dressing western-style...except in some old clothes that are beyond vintage and retro.

Because Priya says yes to everything, she gets asked to do all sorts of work for the reporters. Her lucky break comes when she interviews a big star. She does such a great job that she gets promoted fast.

Now her home life gets even more tense. Her husband refuses any kind of counseling. Priya makes her escape and ...well, it's a romance!

Although Priya's rapid rise is hardly typical, it's not impossible. As a career consultant, I've learned that someone who is young, humble and non-threatening can often rise faster than someone who carefully strategizes. And I'm convinced that, as the saying goes, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Village Bride is a light-hearted book. I Don't Know How She Does It and Revenge of the Middle-Aged Housewife meets Bend it like Beckham and Monsoon Wedding. Enjoyable on its own unpretentious terms. .

Priya is delightful as a young woman who's not ready to ditch tradition but who's no longer willing to be subordinate to her husband. I empathized with her fear of merging on the freeway -- I felt the same way when I learned to drive in California!

Curl up with this book on a cold fall day or pack it in your bag for a long airplane flight.



Rating:
Summary: Likable and Interesting
Review: I liked this book. Author Kavita Daswani opens the door, without apologies, to a fascinating part of Indian culture-- arranged marriages. The main character, Priya, was likable. While her in-laws were a pain, they weren't so bad that I hated them, and instead accepted them and their traditional ideas at face value. The book was a fun, easy read, and well written. I find myself re-thinking parts, and realizing the subtleties I mised at first read.

While the Hollywood Insider job may not sound plausible to some, I was willing to see it as simply a good example for illustating the point of work vs. family vs. "good Indian girl" vs. being free to make one's own choices.

I look forward to more from Kavita Daswani.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!!
Review: I loved this book. I read it in one sitting and it was wonderful. Kavita Daswani is a fabulous writer who really takes you there and makes you laugh. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! And to the woman who wrote the previous very "racist" review; America is made up of immigrants, everyone came here from somewhere else.

Rating:
Summary: Slight, but Entertaining
Review: Some aspects of the book are more like a cartoon (e.g., the evil in-laws, the altruistic ex-journalist publisher), but the story is entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Easy, Addictive Reading
Review: When I heard Kavita Daswani, author of "For Matrimonial Purposes" had written a second book entitled The Village Bride of Beverly Hills, I eagerly got ahold of a copy as quickly as I could.

In this book, the main heroine Priya has just gotten married (in an arranged marriage) to Sanjay, a well-to-do Indian man living in Los Angeles. As is the tradition in Indian marriages, Sanjay lives with his parents, and as the wife, Priya is expected to take care of the household and try to have children. However, when it doesn't happen (the children part at least), Sanjay's parents decide Priya is to get a job. Priya is only too happy to comply, as she is tired of catering to their every whim. She can't seem to relate much to Sanjay either, with him either always at work or taking his parents' side against her.

Somehow Priya manages to land a glamourous job at a major Hollywood media company, starting as a receptionist and working her way up. Soon she is leading a double life - interviewing famous movie stars, wearing revealing designer clothing, and making friends at work. Then she goes home at night (after changing into her old drab clothing) and is the perfect wife who cleans and cooks. She can't tell Sanjay because he will disapprove. And his family would be angry. SO what's a girl to do? Can she keep up the double life or will it all crumble around her in disaster?

I enjoyed "The Village Bride of Beverly Hills." Once again Kavita Daswani's easy flowing, addictive and intriguing story-telling drew me in. I was able to sympathize with Priya's situation, as she was a pretty likeable character. However, I found a lot of the story to be very unrealistic and unlikely. The author also could have done a better job of researching her subject matter. However, I must say that the story was well-written enough and enjoyable that those factors didn't matter as much as they normally would. I am definitely looking forward to this author's next novel. She has a particular way with words that will keep you reading until the end.

Don't miss it!