The Marriage Bureau for Rich People

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More About This Book

Overview

Bored with retirement, Mr. Ali sets up a desk, puts up a sign, and waits for customers for his new matchmaking business. Some clients are a mystery. Some are a challenge. Mr. Ali's assistant, Aruna, finds it a learning experience. But without a dowry, Aruna has no expectation of a match for herself. Then again, as people go about planning their lives, sometimes fate is making other arrangements.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

A thriving arranged-marriage bureau in contemporary India resides at the heart of Zama's charming debut. The customers who visit Mr. Ali's bureau-a project he began in retirement to pass the time-are mostly pragmatists: they look for mates based on height, complexion, caste, economic status and religion. As business picks up, Mr. Ali, a Muslim, takes on a young assistant, Aruna, a poor Hindu girl, who helps him formulate happy unions. While the bureau prospers, Mr. Ali and his wife contend with their headstrong son, a human rights advocate who worries them constantly, and Aruna faces her dismal home life and a handsome young client who may want more from her than lists of potential matches. Zama's strength is in showing the love that makes the matchmaking system possible, looking at the reciprocity, trust and devotion that underlie marriage. Though the dialogue can tend toward the wooden and some problems work out too tidily, Zama's delightful world of mid-morning tea breaks, afternoon siestas, picnics in mango groves and meddlesome aunties is a pleasant place to hang out. (June)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Library Journal

Mr. Ali, a retiree in a city in southern India, decides he needs something to do and opens a marriage bureau. He is soon so swamped with business that to assist him he hires a young woman named Aruna, whose Brahmin family has fallen on hard times. Zama is an admirer of Jane Austen, and though his debut does not exactly parallel one of her novels, there is a Mr. Darcy figure in the person of a handsome young doctor. The author also touches upon such pertinent topics as the caste system, the perils of political protest in India, and how the ordinary Indian is at the mercy of corrupt officials. But mostly this is a delightfully exotic love story (to Western readers anyway) with engaging characters and a happy ending. Mainly appealing to readers with some interest in Indian culture and customs.
—Leslie Patterson

More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
A deft, warmhearted debut from Indian-born Londoner Zama about a retired civil servant who opens a matchmaking service on the verandah of his South Indian home. Growing bored of a life of leisure and not nearly pious enough to spend his days praying and socializing in the local mosque, Mr. Ali clearly has to do something to get out of Mrs. Ali's hair. Enter Ali's Marriage Bureau, boasting the "widest choice among Hindu, Muslim, Christian Brides/Grooms." That is not true, but with a combination of common sense and clever grassroots marketing, Ali, a born people person, soon has a bustling little business. His clients range from a nerdy salesman who doesn't quite get why a prospective bride and her parents would not be fascinated by valves, to a tiny young woman whose father insists she get a tall groom to give his future grandchildren the chance at normal height. Business is good enough for Ali to hire an assistant, a young woman named Aruna. Sweet-natured and modest, she shows a real aptitude for the job, which she needs to help support her parents and younger sister. Though Aruna secretly longs to be a bride, she has resigned herself to the fact that her proud, penniless family cannot afford the lush Hindu wedding and dowry expected of their aristocratic Brahmin caste. Fate seems cruel, then, when the eminently eligible young doctor Ramanujam walks into the bureau with his family looking for a suitable girl to settle down with. He and Aruna hit it off, but their future looks dicey. Love matches are frowned upon in this community mired in tradition, and it is up to Ali to come up with a solution that will make everyone happy-if such a thing is possible. The novel touches upon thereligious, class and gender inequalities of modern Indian society without getting weighed down by them. A charming, modest cross-cultural confection. Fans of Alexander McCall Smith's intrepid Precious Ramotswe are likely to find an equally engaging protagonist in Mr. Ali. Agent: Cecile Barendsma/Janklow & Nesbit

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780425234242
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 6/1/2010
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 423,126
  • Series: Marriage Bureau for Rich People Series
  • Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.20 (h) x 0.90 (d)

Meet the Author

Award-winning author Farahad Zama was born on the eastern coast of India, in 1966. After graduating from his university, Farahad married. Sixteen years later, he still lives in London with his wife and two sons.

Customer Reviews

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Sort by: Showing 1 – 9 of 10 Customer Reviews

  • Posted July 13, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9780758232021 9781416509431 9780425238714 9780345466129

    A Great Summer Read

    A face paced story that' so descriptive you can nearly taste and smell India. It's a light story of how different people can be happy in different ways whether it's finding a simple companion for life, r falling in love. Not as meaty or as deep as Shobhan Bantwal, but still a happy and funny read that will keep you turning pages until the very end.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 11, 2010

    What a wonderful story!

    I loved all the characters and their intersting lives and personalities. It was great feeling like a fly on the wall and being able to evesdrop on all these charcters' inner workings and ordeals. The setting was wonderfully described and believable without being overwhelmingly sad. I feel that I not only was entertained but learned a lot about India and its people. I cried at the end because I had to say good-bye to my new friends. I look forward to this author's next book!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 6, 2011

    Great book

    A tale of true love

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted July 3, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Good for a hot summer day

    Mr. Ali is retired, and is driving his wife crazy. To keep busy, he opens a marriage bureau. Thus begins this sweet story set in India. This book reminds me of Jan Karon's Mitford stories or The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (without the mystery). The book is mainly a series of vignettes of the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Ali and the others around them. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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    Posted September 16, 2011

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    Posted November 27, 2010

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    Posted May 30, 2011

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