Monica Ali has the most remarkable talent for creating nuance and drawing out the heart and depth in any situation. Love Marriage is a wonderfully beautiful exploration of relationships across and between families, it's about the things that happen that cannot always be said out loud but the ramifications are clear to see and it makes you look not just at the beauty of love, but the damage it can do as well. It's quiet and peaceful, but makes a big, intense impact. I enjoyed and devoured every word.

Having first read "Brick Lane" by Monica Ali at the peak of its frenzy and hype, I was keen to read another book by Ali. In some ways, "Love Marriage" is a more accessible book. It portrays the modern family - different faces, backgrounds and problems. It shows us that we should not judge others or take people for granted. Everyone has a story to tell, some more dark than others. The variety of characters are a joy, from the serious Baba to the eccentric Flame. Definitely worth a read.

In 'Love Marriage' Monica Ali tells the story of Yasmin and Joe, two young doctors who have recently got engaged. Yasmin is from a fairly traditional Muslim family where nothing is spoken of. Joe is from an a liberal elite family, where his mother, Harriet, is a renowned feminist and has published an article including a picture of her private parts, easily located on the internet. On the way to a dinner party with Harriet, Yasmin feels shame in response to her mother having packed a large bag full of curry filled tupperware. Things unravel spectacularly and unpredictably from there.

For me, this fantastic novel explores identity, and the way in which being forced into certain roles by others perceptions of us, can be limiting and toxic. All of the characters struggle with this and to a certain extent rebel against the constraints. Yasmin is a deeply likeable and humanly flawed protagonist and whilst she is the main character, other people also have their say. Whilst race and people's constructions of it are a strong theme in the book, other aspects of people's identity are also explored.

I am looking forward to this novel coming out, so I can share it with people. I suspect it will win Ali a lot of plaudits and prizes.

What a stunning return for Monica Ali! This book is so layered and beautifully told - I can't wait to buy my copy and re-read it.

I was so excited to receive the new book by the author of Brick Lane, a book I love. This did not disappoint. Telling the story of Yasmin and her family and colleagues, this book is totally absorbing and really rather beautiful. The reader really comes to care about the characters who are living realistic and messy lives, and the novel is sympathetically written. Highly recommended - I loved it.

I was really pleased to be given the chance to read Love Marriage and it didn't disappoint. It follows the story of Yasmin, a junior doctor who has been raised in by her Muslim parents with her younger brother Arif. Yasmin is engaged to Joe, also a doctor after a short romance. Yasmin's parents are on board with the wedding and Yasmin has grown up proud of her parents 'Love Marriage'. In the process of planning their wedding Joe, Yasmin, her brother and her parents go through some challenges which make them question what they know about themselves and each other.
Loved this book which I expected I would. All the characters are flawed in their own unique ways. The story is really well researched although at points its a bit medical heavy. I would definitely recommend.

An expert exploration on the struggle of modern Muslims born in the UK struggling to marry tradition and culture while remaining connected to the many other facets of their country. An excellent and heart rending read that compounds the fact that the many communities making up the UK aren't so different and face the same problems wherever their families originate from. Highly recommended.

Yasmin is set to have a love marriage to fiancé Joe, as opposed to an arranged marriage, and the families are in full swing planning their wedding.

This cross cultural novel made me think about where we came from, the influences that make us who we are, and the beauty of that richness that comes from diversity.

I think this will be a bestseller for 2022.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

I thought this book was very well written. Monica Ali is so descriptive in her writing that it is easy to engage with her books. Love marriage does seem to reflect modern Britain, with all its complexities and that is something I liked. There is a humour to the work, alongside a serious story.
Rarely are our lives are without some complications, these book seems to be very realistic, even if only in our complicated minds.
In many ways this is a busy book telling a slow story. It was good to see it written without all the usual stereotypes you might expect. Thank you Monica Ali

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to preview this book.
This book covers too many issues in the book. It starts off as a possible Love Marriage, but reading between the lines I knew early on, it wasn't going to go the way some books go. It is a heart rendering story and takes the reader into the story of two cultures, two families in Britain today. The story grips the reader with the introduction of Joe's mother, Harriet,who is on a mission to shock and does. Then Yasmin's family issues throw up new dimensions and together with Joe, a handsome doctor, confronting issues within his family broken by separation of mother and father and Yasmin and her over bearing father and brother who is broken and her mother together with Harriet, Joe's mother, and her entourage encouraged by Harriet, throw up even more taxing challenges. Certainly this is a book for our times, who we are and how we respond to love in our times in Britain, with every complication of life, desire, marriage and family within and without a Muslim marriage.
I enjoyed the book, but it was 200 pages too long and yes I would recommend it to a class of students but they too would say, it is too long.

I had high hopes for this novel after the terrific Brick Lane by this author but unfortunately it was not for me. I found the main character, Yasmin, unsympathetic and, at times, unlikeable, the plot slow and laboring at parts, and the story unnecessarily long. While I can appreciate that the writing was well done, I did find it hard to become involved with the story.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting story about two people ready to get married, but before marriage they need to solve some of their problems. Where will this takes them?
I loved this book and I loved the story and the characters. The ending was a bit predictable to me, but it was good.

Sometimes I feel like I have readers' block and I just can't get into a new book, no matter how good the book. This book was about the sixth one I picked up and tried to read. Unlike the first five, I kept reading. It had me captivated from the start. I haven't read any of Monica Ali's work before but I am going to seek out her other books now - I just loved the characters, found the writing easy to read without it being trite, and the plot kept me turning pages. Thank you so much for the ARC.

Wow, this book is simply stunning. Set in London it follows two young doctors, Yasmin and Joe, who are newly engaged, and their families are about to meet for the first time.

From different backgrounds and cultures as we follow their stories we not only see their differences, but also their commonalities.

Yasmin and Joe both delve deeper into who they are, how their experiences have shaped them, and an exploration of what they really want. At the same time we see their family members do the same, blowing apart preconceived ideas about who they are.

I honestly can’t praise this book enough. It’s beautifully written (and I loved the bite sized chunks), the characters are so well developed with so much depth, micro aggressions and social commentary is subtlety and cleverly weaved through. I also adored the medical insights and particularly the view on elderly care (seen through Yasmin’s eyes as a doctor).

I urge you to rush out and buy this book - you won’t regret it!

This is such a well-written book. It starts off with the two families meeting to start the wedding plans for Joe and Yasmin, and then goes off in surprising directions.
The characters are distinctive and likeable, almost stereotypical. However, as the book progresses, lots of secrets are revealed, and nobody is as expected. The story itself is engrossing, you really want to find out about the family histories, and what will happen about the wedding. Very enjoyable.

I am very conflicted about this book. There is no doubt that ‘Love Marriage’ is an excellent read. All the characters are vivid, real, flawed, believable. For the first half of this novel, it seems like a superficial exploration of topics such as romantic love, family, culture, and tradition, but then as everything unravels for our characters the layers and layers of their complex lives and feelings are revealed to us with skill and nuance. Having said that, the overarching feeling I had whilst reading this book was frustration.

Strangely, I found most of the main characters very unlikeable. Yasmin, our protagonist, can be naïve, childish and she definitely has, as one character calls it, ‘a mean streak’. One of the consequences of Ali’s ability to draw real and flawed characters is that her characters make mistakes – and they do make many, many terrible mistakes. It was very fristrating reading the characters self-sabotage or be selfish to make a point and purposefully try to hurt others. The only the character I felt I could truly root for was Baba. He was by no means perfect and he certainly made mistakes, but I felt he was treated quite unfairly by his family to be honest.

The scenes with Sandor, the therapist, were a frustrating read – but perhaps that was the intention? Like Joe, it felt to me that Sandor was creating a narrative around his relationship with Harry that simply didn’t exist and by the time he arrived at his diagnosis, I was convinced he was utterly deluded.

There is a small section of maybe 50-ish pages about a third of the way in where the writing suddenly seems to veers into ‘chick lit’. There’s nothing wrong with chick lit of course (I read Jill Mansell myself), but it was jarring and completely not what I had expected from Ali.

Overall, this was an utterly compelling read with vivid characters and a well-conceived plot that I couldn’t put down, but I cannot in all honesty tell whether I actually enjoyed the book as I felt overwhelmingly frustrated throughout.

Having read and enjoyed Brick Lane I was looking forward to reading this new novel from Monica Ali.
It begins in an amusing, although occasionally stereotypical, way with the Ghorami family planning their trip to Primrose Hill to meet & discuss wedding plans with ultra feminist Harriet whose son Joe has become engaged to Yasmin Ghorami. These two young doctors appear to have a settled relationship, but as events prove nothing is quite what it seems, and as we get to know an assortment of complex characters with hidden secrets, through them the book covers a number of contemporary issues including racism, feminism, class, multiculturalism and the nature of addiction.
This makes it a much more serious book than first appears and shows what a good observer of human nature Monica Ali is.
At times it does feel she has tried to cram too many topics into the book,
even so it’s an enjoyable, informative read that no doubt will prove very popular.


Thanks to Virago & NetGalley for an ARC

I was so excited to receive an early copy of Monica Ali's latest novel ahead of publication and, from the first few pages, I knew I was not going to be disappointed. There is a whole cast of varied and interesting characters who are all beautifully drawn. The stories interweave convincingly and all the emotions are challenged. It is quite a long book, one which I would normally think hard about embarking on because it is quite an investment in time, but in this case, this was a real Christmas holiday treat.

A long book . I was not blown away by it to start off with. It was too slow moving and I was not really taken with the characters. The story is mainly told by Yasmin , a Doctor living at home with her parents and brother. She is engaged to Joe, who has had a completely different upbringing. Yasmin seems at times hellbent on damaging all areas of her life .
As the book progressed, it held my interest more and the last third of the book, I could not put it down. Not everything is as it seems and as I came to understand the characters more, I liked them better.
Now that I have finished, my opinion is that it was a good read, with plenty of food for thought
Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4408617674?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

This is a book that will get people talking.
It deals with a whole host of issues that face us today in our supposedly modern and forward thinking world and presents some difficulties that we perhaps wish we could leave behind in the past. It is a novel about accepting who you are but also not being afraid to be yourself and move on from the restraints that you allow to direct your route through life. It is about love, ambition, control, betrayal, hope, acceptance, culture, family, tradition, change, and, very importantly about healing.
It is a book that is both incredibly tender and heartrending but also shows humankind with all its strength and weaknesses; its most beautiful and its most ugly. It reminds you that we all have a history and we can never assume anything about anyone, no matter how closely we think we know them. I found Love Marriage to be a moving read and, whilst I didn't warm to every character, I did feel for each and every one.