Marry Go Round by Sadiqa Peerbhoy

Foreword:

The new addition to our list of stackers is the Leadstart Publishers. This is one of the four books sent by them for us in the first shipment.

The reason I chose this book out the four because I liked the cover of this book. The main reason being its slender size. This books is too slender for its 223 pages. And then, the book is narrated with backdrop of Hyderabad. What else? I knew this is going to be the first book I was going to read.

The reviews of other books are going to follow suit pretty soon...

Plot (from the jacket):

A determined mother using blatant emotional blackmail to inveigle her NRI son into a marriage with the right sort of desi girl; a reluctant groom with a live-in girlfriend following him all the way to India; a bride on the rebound from a disastrous liaison with a married man; skeletons rattling in old family cupboards; an aunt on the vengeance trail ? and we have a heady cocktail of an arranged wedding that morphs into a love marriage with quite the wrongest possible girl?with a little tactical help from long-dead ancestors.

Written in a refreshingly original style, Marry Go Round is one quaint combine of today?s merrily irreverent humour and a staid Hyderabadi milieu with its Nawabi hangover from grandiose times long past.

Sadiqa Peerbhoy has published sever hundred short stories in leading magazines and Sunday papers. She has been a columnist for Deccan herald, Newstime, Midday, The Brief , and the Times of India, Bangalore. So no 'About the author' this time!

Our review:

There is nothing striking about the cover design of the book. It is simple. The very simplicity is appealing to look at. The story is exactly apt for the cover design. The story is simple too.

This book is published under the imprint Jufic Books, of Leadstart Publishers. Though Leadstart is the most leading publishers of the nation and I have read a couple of their books - like Arjuna by Anuja Chandramouli. So I don't actually know various imprints of the publishers. Of course, and then there is Frog Books, which all this while, I was thinking was a imprint of Leadstart. Well, it is. But it turned out to be something else. Frog Books is a self-publishing policy powered Leadstart Publishers. So the crap published in Frog Books has nothing to do with the quality of the Leadstart Publishers. They are just the medium and the content has no connection with them.

Like I have said earlier, there is nothing different about the story. It is the story one comes across in every household in India. Particularly, Punjabi households. The mother wants her son, who well-settled in foreign, to get married to a khandaani desi girl. Going by that no one even throws a second glance at this book, but it is the quality of the narration that makes this book worth reading. After reading a few paragraphs of this book will turn anyone into Peerbhoy's narration's fan. It is witticism to the core.

Apart from that, the prose was pretty high-leveled. There were many words even I am unaware of their existence in English literature. While use of complicated words sends the readers scurrying for dictionary, very few authors make it worthwhile and Peerbhoy is one of the few.

Frankly, I hated the first 50 pages of the book. It took me actually 3 days to complete the initial 50 pages. It was a sheer monologic torture. A monotonous monologue. There was not a hint of dialogue in those initial 50 pages. I dozed off reading every 3 paragraphs. It was such a torture that I thought of giving the book up. If I hadn't received this book for reviewing, I would have without any doubt given up this book. But I carried on like a warrior. Every part of his skin was smeared in blood, and yet was not ready to give up. After the 50 pages, there were few exchanges and to top that, the witticism kept me entertained to deliver me to the end of the book effortlessly. The fact that it took me 3 days to complete the initial 50 pages of the book and just 1 day to complete reading the remaining part must not be forgotten!

Though the story is simple and the witticism entertaining, it is the backdrop of the Hyderabad city that added spice to the story. Peerbhoy had made good use of the Hyderabaadi nawaabi history.

Final Verdict:
It is ones own will and wish to pick or not to pick the book. People who are checking this book online are recommended to try the sample chapters first, because I guess it is the lighthearted narration of the book that stands out to the best.

                              

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: Marry Go Round

Author: Sadiqa Peerbhoy

Tagline: N/A

ISBN (edition I've read): 9789382473268

Rating: 

Read between: 24-10-2013 to 27-10-2013

Received from: Parag Mayekar

Publishers: Jufic Books

Pages: 223

MRP: ₹ 145   |   $ 6

The best deal for this book can be found here: