Monica Ali's 'Love Marriage': A tale of love across two cultures
-
Loading... - Tobias Collin
- 07 Jul 2022
- 115 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Love Marriage (Simon & Schuster, 2022), Monica Ali's latest novel, the city, along with its concurrent glory, glides in the background as a couple endeavours to bring their families together for their wedding.
Joe, a young doctor, has fallen head over heels for Yasmin, a fellow doctor. As they attempt to unite their families, Yasmin begins to fret over the first meeting. Her mother has been preparing food for the last two days for their visit to Primrose Hill and Yasmin cannot help but wonder how the rendezvous is going to turn out. Harriet Sangster, Joe's mother, is a woman of prominence, known for her undisguised approaches on feminism and women empowerment. She is an outspoken author known for her "self-indulgent" memoirs, a perceptible contrast to the Ghoramis, who have lived a typical life of order and silence ever since Shaokat Ghorami moved with his wife Anisah. Yet their greatest difference is, as Monica Ali writes, "Whatever Harriet really thought about Shaokat and Anisah would be cloaked by English manners and didn't even matter anyway. The English middle classes did not meddle in their children's matrimonial affairs."
As Ali strikingly presents the contrasts between how families function across cultures, the novel slithers over issues such as race, gender bias, identity, modern relationships, trust and infidelity. In contrast to Yasmin's distress, the meeting between the Sangsters and the Ghoramis turns out quite well. Problems materialise when wedding preparations begin and Harriet, Joe's overpowering mother, takes charge of everything. Despite this, an unusual bond is seen to form between the two women, the flamboyant Harriet Sangster and the modest Anisah Ghorami, which not only takes Yasmin by surprise but also threatens the normalcy of her life and filial relationships. Yasmin discovers an unexpected side of her homemaker mother, who not only shows a sudden interest in plays, but actively promotes many of Harriet's pursuits. A mutual understanding evolves between the two and as the moth turns into a butterfly, Yasmin confronts a more independent Anisah Ghorami. Read More...
