A Good Indian Wife

This really was a great book. The author writes like it is her own story it is so authentic. Lots of great things about India - makes you feel as though you are there quite often. I LOVE the main charachter. She could have been written entirely different but everything was believable and entertaining. Heart warming, un heavy (though not light) read with a good ending.

I bought this book just prior to a recent trip I made to India. Started reading it on the plane and finished it several days later in Delhi. I am so glad that I bought this when I did. It helped me understand some things in India that I would not have noticed had I not read the book. For example, the cow piles that are dried and used for fuel. I saw a cartload of these in Agra but I would not even have known what I was looking at if not for this book. I think the stereotypes in the book are fairly accurate based on my experience working with people from India for the past 3 years and also having visited there. Especially when it comes to arranged marriages. One only has to look at the Sunday "Matrimonials" section of the newspapers there to see that light skin color is advertised as a highly prized asset. I have recommended this book to everyone I met in India so that they can get an idea of what it would be like to move to the States. I left it in Delhi for a friend to read and he also enjoyed it. I hope she continues to write novels because I cannot wait for the next one.

This is a very compelling, well crafted, and enjoyable book, which wryly examines the difference between what we think we want, and what we truly desire. The story also contrasts the dynamics of arranged marriages versus "love matches" and in the process finds similar potential pit-falls in both. As we are drawn into the manifold relationships stretching out in all directions from one marriage, we are given a generous view of universal human strengths and frailties. Anne Cherian's tale provides a reminder that sometimes our most cherished self-images and long-held dreams can be chimerical when compared to that which truly provides a sense of comfort and ease. And, that it sometimes takes an independent nature and a bit of rebelliousness to find the wisdom in the conventional.

Anne Cherian manages to write successfully in multiple 'tongues' -- from those of her protagonists, Leila and Neel, whose arranged marriage leaves them facing a communication gulf is as wide as the distance between 1980's San Francisco and a village in India. The result is very good, particularly for a first novel. I loved "being" in India and, though some readers might trip over Cherian's use of foreign language, I found it lovely to deduce the meanings (more than once, I found myself salivating over the detailed descriptions of Indian food). And I loved being in 1980's San Francisco (in fact, having lived there then, I found the rendering mightily evocative.) The novel is indeed Jane-Austinish, particularly in the slowly-evolving opening and the "who's marrying whom?" mystery, but it takes off in the middle and is a real nail-biter all the way to the last page. If you like Austin but want a break from 19th-century England, this is quite a treat. The novel cries out for a sequel -- I long to see what happens as Leila becomes ever more self-confident and independent in her new country.

Cherian writes an unlikely modern-day fairy tale about two sympathetic and authentic characters caught up in a series of cultural expectations and compromises. The story is set in the contemporary global context, where the fluid flows of people, knowledge and cultures across borders create seemingly unlikely unions. The premise of the marriage is such that the reader feels like s/he is watching a fatal accident unfold in slow motion. The twists and turns that the novel takes, replete with cultural mis-steps and misunderstandings, make it a fun and compelling read. It's a page turner, and I'd recommend it highly.