Found this book way too slow and dry and pedantic in a way that just needed words on the page but this wasn't doing anything for the story except slow it down, sometimes to an actual stop where you wonder how the engine will rev up again... The characters were not interesting at all, sometimes like caricatures rather than fully drawn people. Expected a lot from this, but it reads like a rough first draft that went and ventured everywhere and no editor was brought in to help curb this lack of direction and extra unnecessary prose

Love holds half the weight of the term ‘love marriage’ but is love truly enough to balance the other half of a locution that has been ingrained in South Asian mindsets as an utterance either meant to be annihilated or desperately aspired. The Ghoramis, a British-Indian family, have already met the highest level of ‘modernity’ that a desi immigrant in a suburban London home inevitably hopes to chase—Yasmin’s father, an anglicised and proud doctor, and mother, a kind-hearted home-maker, had bravely left the expected arranged marriage route in their time to unite through a love marriage. Understandably, they’re legends to their second generation children.

Yasmin is a trained doctor spending most of her time in the geriatric wards of a hospital. She is engaged to a fellow doctor, Joe, who is simply perfect: intelligent, kind, charming—the son of a rich feminist author and activist, Harriet Sangster, who is best known for posing nude in the 70s. Clearly, the two families are different. The Ghoramis are poised with Shaokat, the demanding father, being proud of his emergence from poverty and for integrating so well into a new culture, and Anisah, being the quiet Muslim woman and an excellent cook who holds her beliefs close. The Sangsters are delicately clinging on to the newfangled habits they’ve long kept, whether it’s Joe’s mother wandering into his bathroom while he’s showering or Harriet herself being an outlandish comic figure too flamboyant for even her own son.

But why should the families represent the two love birds who are finding themselves again as the self-images they adorned are slowly unravelling? This fifth novel by the author of the bestselling debut, Brick Lane , shortlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize, makes you wonder if the decision to marry can simply be sealed by a meet-the-parents event drenched in hilarity—especially when the laughs come at the expense of an immigrant mother’s wonky grammar—where a subtly domineering mother of Joe corners his fiance into planning a Muslim wedding against the bride’s own will to simply climb a ladder of western liberalism.

So it is a love marriage.

Yasmin and Joe’s relationship doesn’t depend on their families or their clashing cultures. But the growing weight of secrets and a haunted past in the Ghorami family, and the straining unnaturality of the mother-son duo in the Sangster family will upset the essence of the two ‘lovers’. As Yasmin finds herself lost in a chaotic dementia ward and navigates misleading legacies in a home occupied by her increasingly hard-drinking father and a discontented, uncertain brother attempting to define his faith; and as Joe finds himself sitting across a psychiatrist recounting the dysfunctional relationship he shares with his mother and infidelity, it’s impossible to not worry: would this really be a love marriage?

With a storytelling that details the ordinary lives of decent people and a prose that exposes the dark difficulties faced by these ordinary people trying to live decently, Love Marriage doesn’t flaunt the extravagance it holds as an engaging fiction and instead rightfully lets it simply be—for you to mark it with everything it really is, from the stacks of Tupperware to the metropolitan liberal shenanigans. Whether it’s Joe fighting his addiction, Yasmin resenting the intergenerational pain that inevitably gets passed down, Anisah letting her friendship with Harriet blossom, or a patient that asks for a British doctor when attended by Yasmin, everything will comment on gender, race, class, and religion through explorations of passion, family, morality, and heart.

Ordinary yet extravagant; definitely dramatic.

Overall, Love Marriage impresses with how remarkably it sets up a perfect backdrop of the everyday—true to the diaspora— for powerful, ordinary questions around societal expectations, self-discovery, interracial relationships, multiculturalism, and the push and pull between religious and rebellious identities; ultimately lacing this multifaceted tale with humour, sympathy, and plain understanding.

Yasmin seems to have it all - a successful career as a doctor, a handsome doctor fiancee and loving close-knit family - but something is not quite right. Her future mother-in-law is a feminist firebrand, confident in her sexuality and everything Yasmin's mother is not yet when they meet they form a fast friendship. Her fiancee Joe has secrets which he only divulges to his therapist and Yasmin worries about whether she is capable in bed. As Yasmin discovers sex, her mother discovers independence and her world collapses.
Monica Ali is a favourite writer of mine as she manages to straddle a number of genres very successfully. Put this book in a pink cover and it could pass for superior chick-lit but there is too strong a streak of rebellion in the characters to totally convince in that genre. It's a populist and entertaining read and therefore not high literature yet it includes psychology and racial issues as well. Needless to say I loved it!

While I enjoyed this to begin with, I didn't like it at all by the end. I found Yasmin's mother's behaviour later in the novel to be completely implausible - there was no way she would have moved in with Harriet - who was also a ridiculous and unbelievable character. I think the book got bogged down in too many issues, and the different points of view really added nothing at all. If the book had been pared down and a bit shorter it would have worked a lot better, as I really enjoyed Yasmin and her family's dynamic at the start, but it went downhill for me sadly.

I am the exception I think , but overall I was disappointed with this book. I loved Brick Lane when it came out and was so looking forward to this that I wrongly expected more of the same plus I am older and maybe more prudish but I found some sections of the book really hard to read. I don’t like extreme foul language, especially when it doesn’t seem that necessary and the depiction of some scenes were not pleasant reading. . However, this is a fascinating depiction of cultures and clashes and there are bound to be some of those when there is a wedding in the mix.There are no perfect characters in here, they all have their flaws or secrets and as such is an accurate depiction of life, but a bit too much angst in here for me. It does make you think how much can you ever know another person, even when you think you do - what secrets do they hide ? Even how much do you know yourself and what you might do? I am conflicted because I wanted to love this but I just didn’t. Sorry!

I enjoyed this contemporary novel more than anything similar lately.

We meet Yasmin , a trainee doctor who has just got engaged to her fellow trainee doctor, Joe. Yasmin is very nervous of the meeting between the two families. She is embarrassed by her GP father Baba and mother, Anisah (with her carrier bags of food) going to meet radical, middle class feminist Harriet in her "posh" house near Primrose Hill.

Not attending is her brother Arif who her father sees as feckless and lazy.

Harriet soon "takes over" Anisah and appropriates her culturally. When there is a family argument about Arif, Anisah moves in with Harriet , much to Yasmin's dismay.

Other sections of the story follow Yasmin professionally as she works on the geriatric ward, breaking rules in order to show compassion to Mrs Antonova (some satire on NHS cuts/regulations here)
We get introduced to a psychotherapist, Sandor, who is working with a client with a sex addiction and again sexuality is a recurring theme.
There are themes of love, sex, class, race, relationships with parents/children as well as politics. This sounds like the book is "worthy" but the luminosity of the characters make it a fantastic read.

There is psychological truth and nuanced writing about many of the characters who are unaware of their own motivations. There was a particular complexity in the portrayal of Baba who has worked hard to escape the streets of Kolkata , but at what cost?

His "redemption" might seem somewhat contrived in terms of the plot but Ali shows us there are no gains without losses on the way.

A book about the range of human connections which I loved.

A brilliant, moving novel that caught my attention from the first page. Monica Ali depicts her characters with depth and empathy - you can’t help but relate to them and feel their ups and downs as your own.

Yasmin and Joe are in love... right? Monica Ali's culture-clash love story goes places I didn't expect – and introduces us to Harriet Sangster, a noted feminist whose books I'd love to read (if only she were real).

Love Marriage — a London-based culture clash soap — has to be one of the most lacklustre reading experiences I’ve had in a while. It’s about junior doctor Yasmin, daughter of Muslim Indian immigrants, her white fiancé and their respective families. Between Yasmin’s indecision about the wedding, more than one sexual awakening, and some long-buried family secrets, there should be more than enough fodder here for a solid domestic drama, or even (if you want to go a different way) a fizzy chick lit. And yet…
Rania sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of semai. ‘This is so delicious, Mrs Ghorami, how do you make it?’

‘You have to boil milk for long-long time,’ said Ma. ‘Some people are using condensed milk but then all flavour is gone. You will not taste the ghee or cardamom or even raisins or cashew nuts. I will write this recipe for you.’

All the interesting, flavoursome bits of this novel are smothered by a condensed milk of blandness. The prose is drab, the plotting is flat, and we spend all our time with the dullest characters — whingy Yasmin; insipid fiancé Joe, who can’t even make a sex addiction interesting; his overbearing, self-obsessed mother; even, for some reason, Joe’s therapist who I actually thought was an unfunny parody but, nope! Turns out we’re supposed to take him seriously.

Ali’s prose is workmanlike, but still manages occasional clunkers like this:
Dusk came. Above the steaming rooftops, above the city jotted faintly in mauve the moon hung pale and patient. Soon it would be its turn to shine.

While the writing isn’t at the level required for literary fiction, the story is also not entertaining enough for commercial fiction. It plods. It doesn’t know where to focus. And it leaves several story threads, like Joe’s childhood trauma, and Yasmin’s career woes, hanging in a most infuriating way. A character named Flame just sort of disappears.

There are a few cashews and raisins underneath. Ali manages social commentary on prejudice, faith, authenticity, performative culture and performative wokeness with a deft touch. It’s just a shame this novel doesn’t seem to be playing to her strengths.

We were not a love marriage, this book and I. We stayed together far too long and now — blessedly — it is time to go our separate ways.

Didn’t get a chance to return to the book due to illness. Thank you for the opportunity to read it anyway.

Monica Ali has come a long way since Brick Lane with its raw 'slap you in the face with its message' style of writing. She's more polished. She's more considered. She paces her story. But.......and it's a but I offer with some regret...... the gaining of polish goes alongside the loss of urgency, realism and raw pain.

I loved Brick Lane but Love Marriage left me a bit cold. It's undoubtedly well written and there's nothing wrong with a book whose protagonists are hard to love or admire. The problem is, it just feels like a REALLY long story in which not much happens.

Perhaps that's unfair. Actually, quite a lot does happen. But it happens so slowly and gently and (sorry, ouch!) boringly that it took me nearly two weeks to drag my regretful butt through the book. It's all just so...................searching for the right word................."polite" which seems deeply inappropriate to the themes being explored.

We have sex addiction, affairs, racism and its partner crime of 'accusing people of racism' (or letting people interpret what you've NOT said as an accusation of racism). We have a father disowning his son, an Asian medical professor undermining his Asian junior doctor. We have a counsellor smacking his client with some fairly objectionable opinions about his maternal relationship. We even throw in a sweet and delightful cross-cultural lesbian affair and polish it off with a delicious 'reveal' that challenges all of the protagonist's beliefs about her parents and their relationship. In short, we have all the ingredients for a stunning recipe but all that comes out of this mix of top-class plot ingredients is a bland Victoria Sponge with a soggy bottom and not much flavour.

I really wanted to love this book but when I got the end, I just felt a bit sad and disappointed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy.

Ali writes well about relationships, people’s inner conflicts and how we are shaped and influenced by those around us. The characters are, on the whole, not particularly likeable though which I find troublesome in a novel. The breadth of themes and experiences which come together in such a small core of characters made for unrealistic reading, and, at the end of the novel after myriad traumas and upheavals we are presented with a series of little happy, or soon-to-be happy, endings. Simultaneously contrived and sweet and not really for me.

I was really looking forward to reading this book but must admit I was left feeling slightly disappointed. It was an interesting story of bridging cultural divides, and refreshing to have so many flawed characters. Working in the NHS I also enjoyed the hospital settings and patient stories although I did think at times they were maybe part of a different book.
Overall however I didn't feel I learnt anything new or developed a different perspective on love, relationships, cultures or the NHS

Thank you to netgalley and little brown books for an advance copy of this book

Love Marriage tells the story of two young doctors, Yasmin and Joe, who are soon to be married.
The tale is a clash of cultures - it examines their relationship, love, work, families, and friends. It’s an enjoyable, easy read but isn’t afraid to delve deeper to examine themes of religion, racism, sex, therapy and guilt.
The characters are well-written: complex individuals, about whom you want to know more.
All this and Monica Ali’s fantastic writing style make this a thoroughly enjoyable read!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.

Monica Ali's fifth novel centres on the forthcoming marriage of Joe and Yasmin, the union of two cultures, their eccentric families and the idea of having a love marriage. I really enjoyed this novel and warmed to the characters. Brilliant.

Monica Ali has written a lovely novel here about family life, love and relationships in contemporary London. The central character is Yasmin, a young doctor, currently doing a stint in geriatric care. Yasmin's professional life is hard right now and her personal life is causing her some concerns. She is questioning every aspect of her identity; should she continue to be a doctor? should she marry Joe? (another young doctor to whom she is engaged)? what is her relationship to her mother, father and brother and where do her loyalties lie? what aspects of Islam does she wish to reject and embrace? (Her father identifies himself as a 'secular Muslim; her mother is devoutly religious). All the characters in this novel are really well crafted and shown to be multi-faceted and complex individuals about whom no assumptions can be made. There are many beautifully written vignettes in the novel which give further insight into the characters' lives, for example, Yasmin's conversations with some of the patients in her care and her relationship with her best friend Raina. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book which I felt offered a realistic take on the lives of young professionals in multicultural Britain today.
My thanks to the publisher for a complimentary ARC of this book via Net Galley in return for an honest review.

I haven’t read Monica Ali for 18 years since her outstanding debut “Brick Lane” which was my runner up Book Of The Year back in 2004.
This is her fifth novel which shows once again her great skill at creating characters who will really resonate with the reader. In this book this is particularly the case away from the two main protagonists as she gives us an extremely memorable supporting cast.
Doctors Yasmin and Joe are planning their wedding. Yasmin’s father is a straight-laced Indian GP, who keeps himself to himself and likes nothing better than diagnosing case studies with his daughter. Her mother wears mis-matched charity shop clothes and handles each situation through cooking. Joe’s mother is a feminist writer and intellectual, infamous because of a naked photo which Yasmin’s brother Arif takes great delight in.
Ongoing preparations for the wedding causes both families to implode, Joe to seek therapy and Yasmin to act completely out of character. There is a delicious lightness of touch which makes it an enjoyable read and yet there is darkness in each of the lives which gradually become revealed to Yasmin who is a self-declared maker of “all sorts of misjudgements and assumptions” which is only too common when dealing with all of our responses to family.
I enjoyed the obviously well-researched medical setting; the lives in the hospital compared to the lives in the two very different family settings.
It doesn’t feel as essential a book as “Brick Lane” which felt so right at its time of publication and has since become a modern day classic but this is a strong, highly satisfactory read.
Love Marriage is published in the UK by Virago on February 3rd 2022. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

Just when you come to think that the jane austen-esque novel of manners may be dead, enter Monica Ali with Love Marriage, a twenty-first century expansive social novel of modern relations in contemporary Britain. All the key ingredients are there: a young couple of Bangladeshi origins about to get married and live the dream of a love marriage on their terms, offset against the parents of the bride meddling with their life and surrounded by a rich and vivid cast of characters. A fresh, always surprising take on modern relations, interegernational relations and social expectations, multifaceted multiculturalism and hidden racism. Narrated with gusto, propulsive, rich in irony, with an intriguing plot, and often surprising as aptly the protagonists set out to re-examine their expectations. Excellent read.
4.5
My thanks to the publisher for an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The first novel for 10 years by the Booker shortlisted author of "Brick Lane" as well as three other (at least superficially) very different novels.

This is a multicharacter and multicultural tale of London life, featuring at its centre a number of different relationships: in particular one between two Junior doctors (Yasmin – who is working in Geriatrics and Joe – working in Gynae) on the verge of marriage; the other the eponymous relationship of the title between Yasmin’s Indian born parents (her housemaker mother Anisah and her GP Father and family Patriarch Shaokat).

It is a tale though which expands much wider than that group: Yasmin’s brother Arif – whose academic career was tarnished when he was reported to the authorities for what he intended as a research project on Islamic activism; Joe’s mother Harriet - a famous and provocative feminist writer albeit one whose star is staring to fade; two senior Doctors in the Geriatric practice (one white, and his Asian senior focused on winning a major contract); a well-known American psychologist with an expertise in addiction; Yasmin’s lifelong friend – an Employment Rights lawyer and nascent social media Muslim right activist – all of these play a major part with various patients and staff at the hospital in cameo roles.

At its heart are perhaps three themes: relationships, love and marriage – and more specifically sex; intergenerational relationships – pressures and expectations placed on children by their parents and often lazy assumptions made by children about the past lives of their parents; intercultural and race/religious relationships including what is acceptable behaviour in the face of microaggressions or even outright discrimination, as well as whether these even count as racism when compared to religious violence in other societies; class in British society and in particular its intersectionality with race.

And as these play out we find that none of the characters are fully who we, those closest to them and sometimes the characters themselves really think they are.

The novel – with its multi-cast, series of revelations, set piece scenes and character “journeys” openly reads like something of a TV mini series – and is already being adapted as such but is elevated by a double strand of observational satire: firstly in the societal observations in the novel but secondly and most cleverly on the world of novels (with a number of clever references to the author's own work and the reception it received)

"Life is not simple."
Yasmin is the daughter of Indian Muslim immigrants. She is a junior doctor and is engaged to be married to Joe, who is also a doctor. The book opens to when Yasmin's parents and Joe's Mum Harriet are about to meet for the first time to discuss wedding arrangements. Yasmin's dad is a GP and her mum Anisah is a housewife who likes to buy things from charity shops. Joe's mum Harriet is a renowned outspoken feminist.
Yasmin's parents are absolutely fine with her "love marriage". However, cracks soon begin to appear and nothing is what it seems to be. Yasmin and Joe's relationship is not the main focus of this book.
There are lots of characters and every one of them carries emotional baggage. Love Marriage is about dysfunctional families, fractured relationships, race, infidelity and guilt. It is also about expectations and the failure to rise up to them.
I did enjoy this book but I thought that there were too many characters and too many unnecessary stories being told. It was also a very long read.