The blurb reads..."What does somebody do with a wealth of common sense if retirement palls?" Hhhhmmm? Open a marriage bureau? Not my personal first choice as a retirement option, but...
The Vet and the Horseflufloozies gave me this for Mother's day in May because he/they thought that a combination of Indian literature and a Jane Austenesque Pride and Prejudice theme, would be especially pleasing to my reading palate. He had read a review of it in the newspaper. I love how the people closest to you can just know things like that. 40 years of association will do that. And it's largely true.
The narrative follows the establishment of a new small business by a retired Muslim man who offers a marriage brokering service to busy or desperate Indians of all castes and religious persuasions. The characterisation of his wife, Mrs Ali, is particularly strong. It is her wisdom, compassion and insight that achieves success in the background.
The Indian setting is rich in its descriptions of domesticity...instead of Sweden, this time I'm plunged into the noises, smells and living arrangements of India. And Zama is very detailed in these descriptions.
If the historical institution of marriage throughout human society is for the legal redistribution of property through procreation of offspring, then this novel gives a very clear insight into the many varieties of subcultural complexities of historical choice in Indian 'culture', given the multilayered aspects of religion and caste and language group. It also makes a very clear statement of social change in contemporary Indian approaches to the selection of marriage partners. And it does so with wry wit, compassion and an ultimate valuing of the romance of mutual attraction over parental calculations of wider family advantage. Just as Jane did really. Except in both cases the marriages seem ideal in that they combine the social class choice of the parents with the romantic choice of the girl and boy. Best of all possible worlds really. And perhaps that is what all this social manipulating is all about.
Within the mire of marriage machinations, questions of social justice arise even more as we follow the attempts of the Alis' son to achieve justice for rural villagers about to be ousted by commercial interests on a national scale.
No wonder Farahad Zama is on to his third novel in the series. This is a rich seam from which to extract many a narrative gem.
I married a boy from the local area, which automatically meant that we were from the same social class and thus shared many similar experiences of life. Zama's novel has forced me to consider why the marriage has worked so well and if it is due largely to the same issues that the Indian parents raise.I'll let you know when I have some answers. But don't hold your breath!
I love Farahad Zama's website. You can feel the excitement of following dreams, publishing success and the motivation to move on into it. Extracts from Mrs Ali's essays at the end of this novel give you an inkling of that sheer engagement.
Already having the book in my possession I read an interesting review of it on Kate's Chronicles of a Country Girl blog. Kate made a comment about Zama's style being "a tad unsophisticated' and I know what she means as it had me thinking about it as well. Perhaps it is that thing of 'voice' again and in this case the voice is that of Mr Ali who sees things largely in black and white. The sentence structures are certainly simple, resonating with a conversational tone. On re-examining the novel I see that the plot is largely driven by the dialogue. That one conversation leads to the unfolding of more sub-plots. Like most ordinary conversations within families and between old acquaintances, the language is plain and the semantic choices largely simple. The object is exchange of daily transactions and the language level seems to match this. The people are basically uncomplicated and linguistically this reveals itself in a certain naivety. However, behind this literary lack of sophistication lies integrity, sincerity and a celebration of a changing India.
Comments