Rating: 
Summary: fragmented
Review: A group of short stories that are supposed to fit together but just seem fragmented. Could have had potential but does not live up. Disappointing. Kind of dull.
Rating:
Summary: fragmented
Review: A group of short stories that are supposed to fit together but just seem fragmented. Could have had potential but does not live up. Disappointing. Kind of dull.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful and entertaining
Review: As an Anglo woman engaged to a Punjabi Sikh, I really appreciated Sethi's insight into some of the cultural psychology of a mixed Indian and American family. Her stories do not represent all dimensions of a cross-cultural Punjabi family, as another reader's review suggests. However, I see her characters as charicatures representing a number of the cultural clashes and adaptations that occur. I found this book funny, sad, and insightful. I especially enjoyed the chapter in which two characters with androgynous names switched genders throughout the story.By the way, as far as I know this is the only book out there, fictional or non-fictional which addresses Indian-American mixed marriages.
Rating: 
Summary: Not too bad...but not too good either
Review: Because I'm an American woman interested in dating Indian men, I decided to check this book out. After all, I had read a breif biographical story she had published in a magazine and I was impressed. When I finally found this book, I thought I was in for a real treat-here was an American lady who was going to tell the real story of her marriage to her Sikh husband! Finally! A book about Indian/American intermarriage! Well, things didn't turn out as I had planned... First of all, the book turned out to be fiction, not a biography-and I was disappointed at not being able to read more about the author's own marriage. In addition, I found the short-story format disconcerting-you never had adequate time to become thoroughly acquainted with the characters, and by the time you started to figure one out, the story would change on you. Not to mention, the characters seem to lack any emotional personality-it is as if they are two-dimensional figures-you can describe them but one never gets a real "feeling" from them. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. Mrs. Sethi is a very talented writer...the article she wrote about her own marriage in India Today was far more interesting than this book-and I think she would do much better if she wrote a complete novel instead of jumping from story to story. I didn't feel that I learned very much from this book-and if you're looking for a book that seriously discusses the issues within an East-West marriage, this is not the book you need to buy. However, if you want a light summer read without the emotional content and want several short stories with an ethnic twist, this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad...but not too good either
Review: Because I'm an American woman interested in dating Indian men, I decided to check this book out. After all, I had read a breif biographical story she had published in a magazine and I was impressed. When I finally found this book, I thought I was in for a real treat-here was an American lady who was going to tell the real story of her marriage to her Sikh husband! Finally! A book about Indian/American intermarriage! Well, things didn't turn out as I had planned... First of all, the book turned out to be fiction, not a biography-and I was disappointed at not being able to read more about the author's own marriage. In addition, I found the short-story format disconcerting-you never had adequate time to become thoroughly acquainted with the characters, and by the time you started to figure one out, the story would change on you. Not to mention, the characters seem to lack any emotional personality-it is as if they are two-dimensional figures-you can describe them but one never gets a real "feeling" from them. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. Mrs. Sethi is a very talented writer...the article she wrote about her own marriage in India Today was far more interesting than this book-and I think she would do much better if she wrote a complete novel instead of jumping from story to story. I didn't feel that I learned very much from this book-and if you're looking for a book that seriously discusses the issues within an East-West marriage, this is not the book you need to buy. However, if you want a light summer read without the emotional content and want several short stories with an ethnic twist, this is the book for you.
Rating:
Summary: Kind of disappointing
Review: Finally a book that discusses interracial marriages. Rarely do you find a book that discusses modern times in indian american culture. I would like to see more detailed stories. The author kept the stories interesting. For the most part, the stories are true. I look forward to more books on this subject.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful
Review: Finally a book that discusses interracial marriages. Rarely do you find a book that discusses modern times in indian american culture. I would like to see more detailed stories. The author kept the stories interesting. For the most part, the stories are true. I look forward to more books on this subject.
Rating: 
Summary: Racism and Bad Insight at its paroxysm
Review: I have just read the excerpt from the amazon page about this book and I feel this writer thinks she is doing the world a favor by trying to sound funny and interesting by making a caricature of Indian society and to ridicule the very rich Indian tradition and culture is not the way to achieve fame. I wont even waste my time and money buying this book which is only the kind of book that You can buy only if you want to have a collection of books on your Library shelf to fill in spaces. I am very surprised at the way she criticized at each point since the very beginning of this pseudo-informative book the emotions and even the appearance of Indians, this is so totally uncalled for, Ms want-to-be writer here needs to check herself and make sure that she gets a proper insight at Indian society before spewing venom in this deragatory manner. Well in the end I think she obviously is in the wrong profession. I am Indian in case you are wondering.
Rating:
Summary: Well written but makes non indians look like horrible people
Review: I read this book in hopes of understanding what an american writer who is married to an indian thinks about my culture. It was sad. A lot of the descriptions of the indian culture were true but the non indians seemed that they lacked understanding. It made me feel that I have a lucky situation in that my significant other respects my culture. No wonder there are so many inter-racial(meaning indian and american) marriages that end in divorce. It is disheartening.
Rating:
Summary: painfully honest but short on compassion
Review: Robbie Clipper Sethi writes well. Her images are powerful and vivid. Her brutal honesty is refreshing to someone like me (an Indian who grew up in the U.S. and married an American man. I escaped the suffocating presence and expectations of Indian in-laws). However, most of her stories lack compassion for the Indian paradigm of family. I may have avoided the "down-side" of the extended family network but I am also missing out on the love, support and togetherness of an extended Indian family. Also, not all families are so difficult, ethnocentric, egocentric and--basically crazy. This book is a great starting point but clearly there are many more stories to tell.
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