Rating: 
Summary: "Deranged Marriage" is More Apt
Review: With the recent popularity of Indian authors in the market, there has been a virtual deluge of books about the "Indian experience". Some of them delightful and others not so. Sadly, this books, "Arranged Love" falls into the latter category. The narrative reads very much like a seventh grade story exchange -"Like he said, she said, then my friend said, then her friend said..." The prose was tiresome and immature without offering any insight to the characters. The protagonist, Vijay's approach to arranged marriage (or "love" as was bandied about almost as an afterthought of worthiness) seems to be nothing more than a particularly cruel form of natural selection with the less attractive (described as being "overweight" or "dark" or just plain "ugly) being eliminated as he hurtles towards the type of mate that he claims not to abhor - A true stunningly beautiful "Rules" girl. Being an avid reader, I have always felt that the success of any protagonist lies in his/her ability to transcend the written word. The one-dimensional, "Vijay" fails to do that at all levels.There is a weak attempt to increase Vijay's likeability by surrounding him with equally superficial male and female friends serving as character foils who justify the obsession with looks as the same as other personality traits such as kindness, empathy and intelligence. "What's the difference?" the characters ask. Without dignifying that question with a reply, I felt that these sorts of moral dilemmas made the entire clan unlikeable. Overall, this was one of the worst books I have ever read about the Indian search for the the "one". If you want to read an interesting, witty and well written book on the same topic, don't miss "For Matrimonial Purposes" by Kavita Daswani.
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