For Matrimonial Purposes FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Anju has grown up in upper-middle-class Bombay, where even in the twenty-first century, arranged marriage is the norm. Her parents have been trying to find a suitable man for her since her late teens, but they keep turning up types who - shudder - wear shiny disco-era shirts, or want to carry her away to their family compound in Ghana, or are otherwise equally hopeless. The ones she likes, well, they just don't seem to fall for her." "In her mid-twenties, Anju is quickly becoming a spinster by the standards of her culture. Her parents, ever more anxious, bring in the big guns: an army of fortune-tellers, matchmakers, holy men, and a vast extended family eager to help. Yet despite their best efforts, Anju remains single." Only then is she able to persuade her parents to let her move to New York, where, she hopes, she will not be viewed as a failure. Making a new life, alone, in the dangerous "Umrica" is a great risk, but Anju also longs for independence and a career. And if the stars align, perhaps she might even find love - on her own terms.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Matchmaking Indian-style collides with love "Umrican"-style in Daswani's giddy debut featuring a privileged but rebellious young woman who moves to New York after her family fails to secure a marriage for her by the time she turns an elderly 26. While pursuing a graduate degree and career, Anju embraces the idea of "falling in love," a phrase that doesn't exist in the Indian language-("we say pyar hogaya-love has happened")-but the Prada-loving fashion publicist still finds herself "oddly drawn to the age-old system of arranged marriage" and stubbornly believes "observing the tradition" will elevate her "to the highest ranking on the scale of social conduct." She's also eager to please a mother who won't address her husband by his first name and tells her daughter, "I don't want you to be happy. I want you to be married," after Anju announces her desire for true love. Torn between the freedom of her American life and the responsibility of being a dutiful daughter, Anju travels to Bombay, "the matrimonial melting-pot," where she endures a ceaseless and often hilarious parade of potential suitors, flamboyant family weddings, consultations with assorted astrologers, professional matchmakers and family priests, all in the hopes of achieving marital nirvana. Daswani's effervescent handling of a classic plot is perfect for the hectic summer wedding season. The only flaw in this heady, cardamom-flavored confection is the rushed happy ending, which leaves readers hankering for more details. 10-city author tour; foreign rights sold in France, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Spain, U.K. (July) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Writer and fashion correspondent/editor for CNN, CNBC Asia, and publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Daswani has written a charming debut novel that could be seen as a milder version of Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary with a distinct Indian flavor. As the novel opens, readers are introduced to 33-year-old Anju, who is attending a family wedding in Bombay while on a two-week vacation from her job as a fashion publicist in New York. As narrator, Anju relays all the trials and tribulations she is subjected to by her well-meaning parents and relatives as they attempt to find her a suitable husband for her and marry her off according to Indian customs. Writing with dry wit and liberal doses of humor, Daswani goes back in time to follow Anju's search for matrimonial bliss from age 21, in the process offering insight into Indian culture and traditions as well as a behind-the-scenes peek at the fashion industry. While the conclusion could have been a little more fleshed out, readers will find it hard to stop themselves from cheering for Anju as she gradually transforms from a na ve young woman into a savvy, independent Indian American living in "Umrica." Recommended for all fiction collections and essential for libraries serving Indian populations.-Shirley N. Quan, Orange Cty. P.L., Santa Ana, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Anju, 26, is the only daughter of an upper-middle-class Indian couple in Bombay. Friends and relations are pairing off in arranged marriages, but her mother and others cannot find anyone with any "chemistry" for her. She talks her parents into letting her move in with an aunt and uncle in New Jersey, so that she can attend graduate school in New York City. Anju remains the dutiful daughter, keeping to herself while the search for a proper husband continues on two continents. Through the years, the search gets ever more desperate. Meanwhile, she finds a fashion-publicist job she loves, and becomes successful. There is much about Indian dating/marriage customs here, including descriptions of lavish celebrations that can last a week. The tone is light, the look at the culture a little offhand, and the story races along. Anju loves her family and wants to please them, but she has a mind of her own. Her narrative includes current fads and names in the news, which are nicely contrasted with life in Bombay. Not until the end do readers know if she finds Mr. Right, and teens will empathize with this anxious protagonist as she waits.-Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
My big fat Bombay wedding. Anju's parents expect her to have a traditional arranged marriage, like her just-wed younger sister, but Anju has other ideas. Besides, she's already (at 28) past the most desirable age, and the astrologer her nervous mother consults sees no bridegroom soon. Kindly relatives counsel patience. An Internet search of eligible Indian bachelors turns up a few prospects, but none interesting to Anju, so she persuades her doting parents to let her try her luck in America, under the watchful eyes of an amiable uncle in New Jersey and his scolding wife. Watching TV and landing a job in New York fashion merchandising immerse her in Western culture, but in matters of the heart, she's deeply conservative. Dating an all-American guy is a tricky business, she finds, especially when he refuses to sneak away from the nosy relatives she spots at the restaurant, who are sure to tell all to her faraway family. What to do? Traditional Indian men will regard her as too independent and experienced (though she remains a virgin), but she can't revert to the innocent girl she was in Bombay. A trip home for her cousin's wedding only confirms this fear-and her mother's unsubtle efforts to introduce her to as many men as possible drive her nutty. She talks her parents into letting her return to New York, explaining that many Indian stockbrokers and accountants live there, too. But her ceaseless efforts to find a suitable mate often border on the absurd, as in this communication from a cyberchap: I am blameless innocent divorced man. I before have married to crazy-demented white woman, only for purposes of green card. Am seeking wife number two. I am honest, good person. Please be good ande-mail me by return. Appealing story, with a fine ear for dialogue and a tender wit: an auspicious debut for Los Angeles-based fashion correspondent Daswani. Agent: Jodie Rhodes
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