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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A little bit of India brought home, June 13, 2009
This review is from: The Marriage Bureau for Rich People (Hardcover)
"What does an Indian man with a wealth of common sense do when his retirement becomes too monotonous for him to stand it? Open a marriage bureau, of course!"
Thus starts The Marriage Bureau for Rich People, a fantastic book that tells the story of Mr. Ali and his small, yet extremely popular, marriage bureau. What starts out as a part time endeavor, flourishes quickly. The book showcases a brilliant cast of characters including Mr. Ali, the careful and kind business manager; Mrs. Ali, his strong and maternal wife; Aruna the full-time assistant to the bureau who's working through her own family-and non-existent marriage-problems; and a slew of people looking for the perfect match.
The customers, albeit important, are just the background to the true story. The young Aruna cannot get married due to her family's financial problems. She works to support them and without her salary, they cannot get by. And without money, they can't pay for the elaborate wedding or necessary dowry the husband's family will expect. While that is happening, Mr. and Mrs. Ali deal with their son, Rehman, a freedom fighter who's trying to stop a giant conglomerate from building on farmers' lands. As he fights for the rights of others, he forgets the feelings of his parents. And in India, you never disrespect your elders.
An underlining theme of the book is what makes a marriage work. To this day, the caste system is still going strong in India. One doesn't marry outside of their caste, and one very rarely marries for love. Instead, through family members, an appropriate match is made. But what's better? A marriage that appeases the family, or one that appeases the husband and wife?
What I found most endearing about the book was the role of Mrs. Ali. It's common to think that the man runs the household, that he leads. But, it's the wife's job to decide if she wants to follow or not. And although Mrs. Ali doesn't go against her husband, she's extremely well spoken and does what she sees as best, even if her husband doesn't understand at first. Mrs. Ali ultimately brings two important people together - not through a marriage bureau, but through love.
Farahad Zama tells the story beautifully with rich words and vivid elements. You could almost taste the halwa Mrs. Ali cooks, see the green sari Aruna purchases, or feel the ripe mango plucked from the tree. Zama doesn't leave one description out. I can't be alone in thinking this - Zama recently won the Melissa Nathan award for comedy romance. He is the first male writer to receive it.
The Marriage Bureau for Rich People is a delightful tale that's an extremely fun read. It made me laugh out loud at parts, and tear up with happiness at others. I loved how it concentrated on important elements of India, but presented them in a lighthearted manner. It's an excellent novel for anyone looking for a quick, enjoyable and interesting literary trip to India. I can't wait to read it again. I'll definitely be checking out the other books Zama has in store.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not like Jane Austen, but a delighful romance, July 1, 2009
This review is from: The Marriage Bureau for Rich People (Hardcover)
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Let me get this off my chest: The "like Jane Austen" marketing label attached to _The Marriage Bureau for Rich People_, is merely that: A marketing label. The only similarity is that both Jane Austen and Farahad Zama are among thousands of writers who have written novels about romance that have happy conclusions. A better marketing label might be "chick lit." If you are a Westerner wanting to read a cheerful, light, but moral romance set in a well-explained modern India, this novel is for you.
Mr. Ali has grown bored in his retirement from civil service, and sets up a marriage bureau in his little house in a large city. The bureau differs from a traditional matchmaking service in that it advertises in newspapers for potential mates for its clients, then screens them before turning the rest of the matchmaking process over to relatives and lastly, to the parties most concerned. The bureau deals with Hindu, Muslim, and Christian clients--who always want to marry others of the same religion, socioeconomic status, and in the case of the Hindus, caste and subcaste.
Mr. Ali observes that his clients come to a marriage bureau because they have problems. They (or their relatives) are too particular, they (or their relatives) are difficult to get along with, they are bad at selling themselves, they have small dowries or incomes, they may even be divorced. Mr. Ali behaves like a kindly, responsible uncle towards them all. He negotiates demands between parties and constantly urges compromise in requirements for mates, in family and interfamily interactions, and in the promises all parties make to each other, so that most clients achieve promising marriages.
Several stories about such clients are woven into two main stories. One main story is Mr. and Mrs. Ali's strained relationship with their son Rehman, a passionate political protester who is in trouble with the police and featured in the news. The other is the marriage prospects of Mr. Ali's assistant Aruna, the daughter of a Brahmin family (a high caste) who has recently fallen on such hard times that they cannot afford to marry her off. The wealthy Brahmin family of Ramanujam, a young doctor, comes to the marriage bureau to find the perfect wife for him, but no candidate is perfect enough for his family. In the course of this search Aruna and Ramaujam fall in love; and the plot centers on how Mr. and Mrs. Ali manage to broker an agreement with them and with their families that will enable the marriage to take place. This is complicated not only by economic differences, but by the fact that marrying for romantic love is disgraceful.
Along the way, the author explains many Indian customs without ever being boring or overly expository. He also tactfully imparts moral lessons, upholding religion (whether Hindu, Muslim, or Christian, he implies the basic values are the same), family, community, respect for all elders, and tolerance. He upholds tradition as far as it supports these values, while recognizing that some Indian traditions oppress women, that individual happiness is sometimes overly sacrificed to family goals, and that a changing India requires evaluation of whether the same values should be applied in different ways.
I read _The Marriage Bureau for Rich People_ in under two days. I'm hoping the author presents us with more delightful tales of traditional-but-modern India.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Truly Charming, June 28, 2009
This review is from: The Marriage Bureau for Rich People (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Comparisons to Jane Austen always make me take a second glance (which is deleterious to my reading health, because most of the time, the comparison is beyond bogus). This book deserves a comparison--not because of the writing, which is satirical and clever but occasionally awkward--but because it gives us a glimpse into a society which is as mannered and as far from most Americans' world as Jane Austen's is.
The Marriage Bureau for Rich People is a third-person narrative that focuses on the Ali family. Mr. Ali (think Mr. Bennet) is retired and getting into his wife's hair, so when he starts his marriage bureau, she supports his efforts. Mr. Ali's emotional intelligence and perseverance lead to success and his needing to hire an assistant, and his wife (who is far superior to Mrs. Bennet in just about all ways) finds him a wonderful assistant, Aruna.
Aruna is an educated young woman who has had to put her dreams of marriage on hold because of her family's monetary losses. She has initiative and humor and, in many ways, parallels Elizabeth Bennet--she refuses her Mr. Darcy, but he does ask again.
Read the book to find out how she answers him--and about the other characters who people this very charming book. As I've mentioned, the writing is not always smooth. It is jarring when the characters slip into modern English colloquialism, such as when Mr. Ali is going to join "the guys" for a day, but these annoyances are minor when compared to the pleasures of Mr. Ali's humorous encounter with a Christian missionary, which is both amusing and wise.
As is this book.
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