Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A very light charming read , 2 Nov 2008
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.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read, 26 Oct 2008
A fun but at times heart-breaking character drama, this book provides an interesting perspective into how India's rich cultural fabric is adapting to a changing world. The book is written from the point of view of the people actually learning where they fit in the new world, and by the second half I found the book hard to put down as I was drawn into their lives, hopes and fears.
A very accessible look at the class structure of India, I definitely enjoyed reading The Marriage Bureau for Rich People, and am looking forward to any follow-up books from Farahad Zama.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, but sometimes the writer intrudes upon the story, 22 Jan 2009
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.
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