From Library Journal
As soon as one reads the first few pages of South African novelist Coovadi's premier novel, the cadences of Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy immediately come to mind. Here, a grandson relates the story of his grandparents' tumultuous and unlikely coupling in a fast-paced, cleverly worded narrative that is at turns extremely funny and exasperating as well. Gentle, unassuming Bombay Registered Clerk Ismet Nassin's fate is sealed the day an angel smacks him on the head not once, but a few times, alerting him to the surprising fact that the quickly glimpsed Kateja is the woman of his dreams. All too eager to get rid of his tempestuous and obstinate daughter, Yusuf Haveri makes Kateja sound like a real deal. A marriage ensues, and Ismet's dreams turn quickly to nightmares as Kateja turns out to be more than he bargained for. This sharp but poignant tale highlights the universal difficulties of compatibility and making one's way in the world. A nice addition to public library fiction collections and to academic libraries devoted to collecting emerging world voices. Michelle Reale, Elkins Park Free Lib., PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Both hilarious and heartbreaking, this is a story of love and loathing at first sight. Ismet Nassin, a clerk from Bombay, is smitten with a village girl, Khateja, whom he meets when his train stops at a country siding. He bribes her parents, who are only too glad to be rid of her, but then he finds himself saddled with a lazy shrew who refuses to perform any wifely duties. So he immigrates with her to Durban (a new world in "history-free Africa"), but she still goes her own ferocious way. First-novelist Coovadia, who was born in Durban, bases the story on the marriage of his own grandparents. He captures the cadence of their language in all its nervy, feverish melodrama. The quarrels are the best part of the book, and Ismet's mother's complaining monologues, chatty and vituperative, demand to be read aloud. But even as you're laughing and sympathizing with loyal Ismet's frustration, you suddenly realize why the bride is so impossible. He bought her. You glimpse her suffering and her spirit. Yet he loves her.
Hazel RochmanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
