Reviews for A Good Indian Wife: A Novel

The average rating for A Good Indian Wife: A Novel based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-07-14 00:00:00 Robert Pearson If this book is considered a light summer read, then I give it 4 four points for a tale of 1980s immigrants struggling to figure out to which culture they belong, with a bit of a love-ish story thrown in. If a light summer read, then is also succeeded in introducing the average American reader to the ups and downs of immigration for upper class, educated Indians. If the book is meant to be considered a literary novel that examines the immigrant experience and contrasts between India of the 1980s and the US of the 1980s, then I give it a 2.5 to 3 points for missing a few key points that would have taken it from an ok to not-so-good literary novel over the top into a good or great novel. The book read as if the novelist had not decided where she wanted to the book to reside, or maybe she new but her editors thought otherwise to market it, and tried to write both a light romance novel and a literary novel in one, except it didn't really work. Here is where the book fell down: 1) Time placement. I really wish the author had anchored the book firmly in time, but as it was it was mostly pre-1995, but with some ambivalence as to whether the story was taking place in 1981 or 1987 or 1997 or 2007. With a careful reading, there are only 4 places in the whole book that place it occurring sometime between 1981 - 1989: a) A small statement in the first 4 or 5 chapters about it being "the Eighties". The eighties were 10 years long, when in the eighties? b) A small statement midway through the book that Neel was born just after the Independence of India. The author tells us several times that Neel is 35, so if he was born sometime between 1948 and 1960, then the book would have taken place 1983 to 1995. c) A discussion between Leila and her friend Rekha on arranged marriages talking about the wedding of Charles & Diana being an contemporary event or at least within the last few years. d) No internet or mobile phones, but one communicates between the US and India via land line and sending "cables". Why does time placement matter? Well, if the author had managed time a bit more precisely and presented the 1980s India as a world on the edge of big change (as we now in hindsight know it was), the reader could have felt more keenly both the ambivalence of Neel's wanting to escape traditional India and Leila's willingness to straddle both cultures. The time also matters, as if it was the early or mid-eighties, then some of the American cultural references (like rollerblades & recycling) would have been completely off. If it was the late eighties or early nineties, then those references would have been on in a culturally cutting edge town like San Francisco. 2) Neel - From a romance novel perspective, the character of Neel is a bit of a dud, as he does not redeem himself enough in the end. From a literary novel perspective, the character of Neel is almost there and needed a bit more fleshing out. I believed Leila's character fully. I almost believed Neel, but not enough in the end. I would like to have a bit more on the conflict raging inside of Neel that made him in the end choose what he chose, particularly in regards to his wife. 3) Place: While we knew that that Neel and Leila hailed from a town in South India, that they were Iyengars, and went on their honeymoon in Ooty, I wish for the author had told us what town (even if made up) and what state in India they were from. It matters. She told us all about San Francisco, so why not give the reader as much on the town in India, the language they spoke (each state in South India has its own language, cuisine, ways of wearing a saree or the like, etc.). After googling "Ooty" and "Iyengar", it became obvious that Neel and Leila were most likely from Tamil Nadu, with a small chance of Kerala or Karnataka. This matters, as each of these states has a distinct culture, just like it would have bothered the American reader if the author had not listed the town or state that the couple lived in on the West Coast. The story would have been just as odd if we were trying to guess what part of the West Coast the author meant (is it Seattle? is it Portland? is it San Francisco? etc.) The crux of the story resides in the cultural conflict that an immigrant experiences between India and US. I wish South India had not been so generic. It is possible that the author or her editors did not want the story to have to go into the differences between Tamil culture and other parts of India, but the book would have benefited if both were from Tamil Nadu and the added dimension to Neel's internal conflict if we had known a bit about the cultural conflicts between Tamil culture and the North of India. Then Neel would have been more human, his desire to achieve in the US may have been more understandable, why he did not speak Hindi, etc. Sorry to go on so much, but I did like this book and I really wanted it to succeed into the areas that would have made it a great book. I am still thinking of the story in my head, which means that the book is closer to 4 points than 3 points for me.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-10-05 00:00:00 Nick Maggiore Disclaimer: This might be a very emotional review. Oh, and I'm Indian. I'm twenty two years old so I have no idea what it was like in the eighties. I am a nineties kid - my childhood moulded by hours of Mario Bros, cartoons like Tom and Jerry and other things. I don't know if this is why this book seems so alien and relatable to me. Alien because I cannot comprehend why a woman with as much fire and smarts as Leila would stay with someone like Neel. Call me whatever you want but I was full of admiration for her when she was in a frenzy to either kill him or leave him, filled with rage at the mockery he was making out of her, her life and their marriage. But then she realized that she couldn't go back to India for obvious reasons (so many years later, divorce is still a stigma that makes my family shudder.). So, she lingers confused and then she finds out she's pregnant. Neel actually pushes her to get an abortion but she refuses. And then when things do a 360, she's all happy because life is as it should be. She's pregnant and Neel wants the baby and they're happy. A baby does not make things okay. I can't accept it. And I can't believe Neel lied like that. Does he honestly think Oona or Shanti aren't ever going to bring it up with Leila ever? One word, one reference and the whole thing could fall apart. Bring up the argument that Indian women aren't comfortable discussing their marriage and I'll point out that Oona isn't Indian. However, I did like the little snippets into Oona's thoughts, the frustration when she realizes that she will never know Indian tradition like an Indian woman does. That it will always cause a gulf between Sanjay and her. Relatable because I can understand the compulsion to get married, the emotional blackmail that seems so foreign to non-Indians but is a term that every 20-something Indian knows. It's a part and parcel of our country, tucked away alongside the dosa, the colorful chutneys and the coconut. However, no matter how much I sympathized with Neel, I never really liked him. Leila on the other hand, Leila I could really get behind.