Title: The Perfect Groom
Grab a copy here: http://www.indireads.com/books/the-perfect-groom/
Author: Sumeetha
Manikandan
Rating: 3/5
About the Author (From the
Novella):
Sumeetha
Manikandan, a freelance content writer is an English literature graduate with
a journalism and mass communication diploma.
Married to film director K. S. Manikandan,
she lives in Mylapore, Chennai. After working as a content manager in Sulekha.com
and Clickjobs.com for over eight years, she took a break from full-time work
when her daughter Rakshah was born.
While
at home, she started writing for various websites and clients. Working on a
wide
variety of content related projects for international clients, she established
herself
as
a freelance writer.
She
wrote her debut novel, ‘The Perfect Groom’ as a script for a serial. Set
against the
backdrop
of Mylapore’s Brahmin community, she sketches many larger-than-life
characters
in this novella that will capture your imagination.
An
avid reader, she is never without a book to read. A temperamental writer, she
needs
a
lot of inspiration to write. She loves to watch movies with happy endings,
listens to
instrumental
music and old melodies. A shopaholic, she loves to splurge on books and
clothes.
Please
visit her authorpage on Facebook to leave a message.
Publisher:
Indireads was started with the aim
to revolutionizing the popular fiction genre in South Asia. With edgy,
contemporary and compelling fiction by new writers and its digital-only
publishing model, Indireads is breaking new ground in terms of the reading
experience and giving voice to new writing talent.
Book Blurb (From Indireads):
Very little has gone right in
Nithya’s young life. So, when a proposal from a young, handsome NRI comes
along, her mother jumps at the opportunity and packs her daughter off to the US
with her perfect groom.
Nithya seems to have settled in
with Ashok, ostensibly happy, if as yet childless, in her new life. When an old
flame comes back into her life, however, the cracks in her perfect marriage
begin to show…
Now for my view:
I can’t stress it enough but I absolutely
love reading the Indireads Novellas. They are so breezy and engaging that with
them I never realize how time passes by. The same thing happened with ‘The
Perfect Groom’ as well. No surprises there I guess.
But before I begin with my review I
must profusely apologize to Indireads for taking so long to put this up. The
last two and a half months have been filled with so many health issues that it
was impossible to find time for reading. And I really regret that. But there’s
a silver lining after all. Against all odds I’ve finally managed to finish this
one and I already feel so much better you know.
So back to the book now. As the
blurb says this is the story of Nithya who is caught in an unloved marriage.
And not only that she is also at the receiving end of outrageously offensive
questions about not bearing a child ‘so many’ years after marriage. Her life
seems to be a compromise, one that she makes for her mother and sister. But just
when she seems to have made peace with this her entire life is changed with the
resurgence of her old flame, or acquaintance rather, in her life. What happens
to her then is a question the novella answers.
What I liked most about this
novella was the subject. You know so many women from India are married off to
grooms who are settled in foreign countries. These are all arranged marriages
with no time sometimes for the two people involved to get to know each other.
At times I feel these alliances are like lucky draws. Parents push you,
lovingly most of the times, into these bonds. But you never know how the partner
would turn out to be. It all depends on what hand destiny lays out for you. For
some reason this charm of a groom settled in America is something that I never
understood. Sadly many women suffer as a result of this. There’s of course
another aspect to this. Sometimes parents push their grown up children into
marriage so relentlessly that it becomes a bane rather than a blessing.
Something like this happened to Nithya of our Novella. And then the incessant
intrusions into her life by her in-laws on her giving them a grandchild. Aren’t
we all very much familiar with this aspect of our society too? So the best
thing about ‘The Perfect Groom’ for me was its closeness to reality.
As all other Indireads novellas this
one didn't disappoint me as well. A simple tale told in crisp style by the
author. I think that is a good thing to have in a book. Don’t you think so?
So I would definitely recommend
this. And if you do pick this up then I would love to hear what you thought of
the novella too.