Name: Amanda's review of Love Marriage by Mónica Ali
Item: Love Marriage
Rating: 4
Author: Amanda

Mónica Ali

Yasmin Ghorami in twenty-six, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose formidable mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. The gulf between families is vast. So, too, is the gulf in sexual experience between Yasmin and Joe.

As the wedding day draws near, misunderstandings, infidelities, and long-held secrets upend both Yasmin’s relationship and that of her parents, a “love marriage,” according to the family lore that Yasmin has believed all her life.

A gloriously acute observer of class, sexual mores, and the mysteries of the human heart, Monica Ali has written a captivating social comedy and a profoundly moving, revelatory story of two cultures, two families, and two people trying to understand one another.

Monica Ali’s Brick Lane was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was named a best book of the year by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.

Love Marriage

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Monica Ali

Set in London, a fresh and wickedly incisive novel about the daughter of Indian immigrants navigating love, family, and culture—by the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestselling Brick Lane, shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Yasmin Ghorami is twenty-six, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose domineering mother, Harriet, is a famous feminist. Though both Yasmin’s parents and Joe’s mother approve of the marriage, the cultural gulf between Yasmin and Joe is vast. The novel opens as Yasmin and her family pile into their car, packed with Indian food prepared by Yasmin’s mother, to go to dinner to meet Joe’s mother in her elegant townhouse in one of London’s poshest neighborhoods. Contrary to all of Yasmin’s fears, her unsophisticated mother is embraced and celebrated by Harriet and her friends. But before long, complications ensue when Yasmin discovers Joe’s promiscuous nature, her brother is banished from the house by her father, and Yasmin’s mother moves to Harriet’s house in protest. ​ Bold, intimate, and entertaining, Love Marriage is a multi-layered story that explores how the secrets people keep hidden affect their most intimate relationships—and how sometimes, it takes extreme upheaval, to find ourselves and our lives, truly transformed.

A Novel

Amanda

TWO CULTURES. TWO FAMILIES. TWO PEOPLE. The new novel from the bestselling, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of BRICK LANE _____________________________________ 'Funny, warm, powerful' DIANA EVANS 'Exquisitely written with big-heartedness, intelligence and passion' RUTH JONES 'Big-hearted, pitch-perfectly written, and utterly unputdownable' NEEL MUKHERJEE Yasmin Ghorami has a lot to be grateful for: a loving family, a fledgling career in medicine, and a charming, handsome fiancée, fellow doctor Joe Sangster. But as the wedding day draws closer and Yasmin's parents get to know Joe's firebrand feminist mother, both families must confront the unravelling of long-held secrets, lies and betrayals. As Yasmin dismantles her own assumptions about the people she holds most dear, she's also forced to ask herself what she really wants in a relationship and what a 'love marriage' actually means. Love Marriage is a story about who we are and how we love in today's Britain - with all the complications and contradictions of life, desire, marriage and family. What starts as a captivating social comedy develops into a heart-breaking and gripping story of two cultures, two families and two people trying to understand one another. 'Lit from end to end with storytelling brilliance' ANDREW O'HAGAN 'No one captures the modern family like Monica Ali. Love Marriage is full of surprises and unexpected twists, with an ending that will take your breath away' TAHMIMA ANAM 'A truly astonishing piece of writing - exquisite storytelling, featuring the most human portrayal of doctors I've ever read. I defy you to put this book down' ADAM KAY 'Every bit as compelling, as charming as Brick Lane. A joyous novelist at the peak of her formidable powers writing fresh lives into our literary tradition' DALJIT NAGRA A gloriously vibrant and tender novel packed with wit, intelligence and wisdom. Her two junior doctor protagonists are superbly drawn - flawed, courageous, flailing, human. Just brilliant' RACHEL CLARKE

'Exquisitely written with big heartedness, intelligence and passion' Ruth Jones

Sara Holman

Set in London, a fresh and wickedly incisive novel about the daughter of Indian immigrants navigating love, family, and culture—by the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestselling Brick Lane, shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Yasmin Ghorami is twenty-six, in training to be a doctor (like her Indian-born father), and engaged to the charismatic, upper-class Joe Sangster, whose domineering mother, Helen, is a famous feminist. Though both Yasmin’s parents and Joe’s mother approve of the marriage, the cultural gulf between Yasmin and Joe is vast. The novel opens as Yasmin and her family pile into their car, packed with Indian food prepared by Yasmin’s mother, to go to dinner to meet Joe’s mother in her elegant townhouse in one of London’s poshest neighborhoods. Contrary to all of Yasmin’s fears, her unsophisticated mother is embraced and celebrated by Helen and her friends. But before long, complications ensue when Yasmin discovers Joe’s promiscuous nature, her brother is banished from the house by her father, and Yasmin’s mother moves to Helen’s house in protest. ​ Bold, intimate, and entertaining, Love Marriage is a multi-layered story that explores how the secrets people keep hidden affect their most intimate relationships—and how sometimes, it takes extreme upheaval, to find ourselves and our lives, truly transformed.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Love Marriage by Mónica Ali

Reviews

Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Love Marriage by Mónica Ali

Reviews

Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Love Marriage by Mónica Ali