Ratings4
Average rating3.3
I wish this had been better-written, because cross-cultural windows are so fascinating, and I'm not a south-Asian-descended Muslim living in LA. IF you want a fluffy, light-weight “Oh no! I can't end up a spinster!” rom com (complete with feel-good self-actualization denouement), then this book works fine. If you prefer your explorations of identity, family, culture, and growing up to have depth in their characterizations and a plot that pulls you along, then look farther. I especially found the one-dimensional clownish mother with her OTT fears and demands about marriage to be hard to put up with, but the immature heroine who persisted in being self-blind and pretty immature made this book a disappointment, ultimately. She allegedly arrives at great self-knowledge after this quest to find a husband...but I was left valuing the list of Bollywood films in the appendix more than any sense that I'd spent time with a character I liked and would remember.