The Marriage Bureau for Rich People (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

This book is very charming. Set in modern day India, the Muslim Mr Ali starts up a marriage bureau from home, matching appropriate couples for arranged marriages. Farahad Zama brings in lots of issues from modern day India, with a very light touch: people who cannot afford basic health care; problems with pensions; the ill-treatment of wives and widows - all these serious issues are touched on, without the novel being at all heavy. Zama also explains a lot about marriage tradition, including lots of interesting details about the jewellry the wife must have, the flowers and fruits, the ceremony itself.

The characters are also really charming - I LOVE Aruna in particular, Mr Ali's assistant: but Mr and Mrs Ali and their wayward son are also lovely. You look forward to picking the book up at the end of a hard day and finding out a little bit more about them.

The only thing I didn't like about this book is that I felt the style was too simple, and all the characters seemed to have quite similar ways of talking. I think that probably it's because it's a first book and Farahad Zama hasn't quite developed a strong style yet(?). I couldn't help thinking all the way through that probably his next book would be much better written. So I would definitely be tempted to read another book by this author, despite that one reservation.

I enjoyed this story about a marriage bureau in India, although what the bureau does doesn't seem very different from what I understand happens there anyway, with it being quite normal for families to advertise in the newspaper columns for matches for their sons or daughters. It is the characters in the story who make it, as in all good stories.

My only reservation about the book is the way the writer sometimes intrudes by coming in with an explanation of how something happens in Indian culture. I love reading Indian novels and usually they are a bit more discreet, with the reader having to absorb the culture rather than having it handed to them together with an instruction manual. An example of what I mean -

'"What is this, madam? I've never had this drink before,' asked Aruna. [I also think the 'asked' is out of place here]

'This is rooh afza. I suppose you can call it rose syrup. It is an old cooling rinkused by Muslims. Most young people don't know about it now - they all drink Coke or Pepsi," said Mrs Ali.'

The writing is also sometimes a little stilted, with rather annoying repetitions of names, as in the final paragraph of the novel: 'Mrs Ali looked at him in disbelief for a second. Then tears slowly rolled down Mrs Ali's cheeks . . .' I think 'her' would definitely have flowed better here, but perhaps it is the quirk of an Indian writer.

But the main romantic story of Aruna and Ram, which is threaded through the novel with the story of Mr and Mrs Ali's worries about their son's involvement with a protest group, is interesting and well done, although I felt that Ram's wealthy father was rather too quickly convinced by Mr Ali of the rightness of Ram's choice of Aruna, a poor girl, as his wife.

This isn't a novel I would keep to read again, but it is one I would recommend to others as a single read that is pleasant and interesting and is light enough to take their minds off the minor concerns of their day.

The premise of this novel is an interesting one: an older man (Mr Ali), tiring of retirement, decides to set up a marriage bureau, arranging marriages for members of the local community. This provides the author with a vehicle to shine a light on the many religions, which on the whole co-exist harmoniously in India, and also their customs and traditions relating to marriage.

Unfortunately although the premise was interesting, the actual writing did let the novel down. It's important to point out that this is the author's first novel and so I feel it's not altogether his fault. This is surely something which a good agent and/or editor should have helped correct before it went to print.

The story took quite a while to gain any sort of momentum, not helped by the author simply introducing too many clients. As a reader I kept trying to remember the details of each person thinking that they would be significant in the story only for them to disappear for much of the novel.

Additionally, I got tired of the two main characters simply being referred to as Mr and Mrs Ali and the awkward dialogue did little to bring them alive. I wasn't at all convinced by their relationship or the 'tiffs' of a couple who supposedly have spent most of their lives together. Their son and his principled struggle in the face of India's growing globalisation was an interesting subplot but it was all too little, too late by then. I kept going hoping that the novel would redeem itself but the final happy-ever-after chapter was predictable and clumsy.

Other reviewers have compared this novel with the books of Alexander McCall Smith, and I have to admit I had hoped for something similar. Clearly, similarities can be drawn between this novel and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency: a complete novice sets up an unusual business in a faraway place and helps solves issues big and small for the local community. However, the thread of gentle humour which runs throughout McCall Smith's novels highlighting intriguing aspects of the national psyche and which leaves readers with a wonderful, life-affirming feeling was sadly lacking here. It meant that I finished the novel not caring in the least what happened to the characters. What a shame!