We have reached the fateful day – it’s time to talk about The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev. Its perhaps an open secret around these parts that we haven’t found too much to love about this book. So, let’s dig in and talk about the whys and how’s with this book, and some larger thematic conversations as well. Let’s start with a few ground rules: Since we’re anticipating lots of conversation, please try your best to reply directly to each other, that way they are […]
Stumbling towards completion
I’ve never read a romance novel. I’ve never even come close to reading one. But, oddly enough, the book that has had the most lasting impact on me was Crime and Punishment, and not for it’s explorations of nihilistic degeneration and the Westernization of Russia, but for the deeply compassionate love between it’s protagonist, Raskolnikov, and Sonya. More than anything, the redemption he receives through their love is what touched my soul, and its gift to me was a feeling that I have long sought […]
A romance with all my least favorite tropes
Oh, CBR BookClub. I’m so excited for you to exist, but this was definitely not my choice to introduce folks to the romance genre. About two thirds of my reading every year is romance. I know what I like within the genre and this one hit upon so many of the things I can’t stand. So as you all know from reading this one yourselves this is the story of Ria and Vikram. They were once young lovers, but haven’t seen each other in 10 […]
Rules for The Bollywood Bride drinking game
Drink every time Ria’s aunties do something charming. Think about how you wish there was more about this lovely group of ladies in the book. Wouldn’t it be nice to find out how their friendships came to be? Drink whenever Jen and Nikhil are front and center in the story. Its their wedding. I’d like to know more about Jen. I know she’s a doctor and she’s uncomfortable in a sari. But what else makes her tick? Drink whenever the book actually alludes to Bollywood and how that […]
Pre-CBR Book Club notes.
A few fellow Cannonballers’ brief reviews have been trickling in with disclaimers about saving the good stuff for our book discussion, and I’ll follow their lead. I want to save my most salient thoughts for the Cannonball Read Book Club, and I’m eager to hear everyone else’s. In other news: hooray for Cannonball Read Book Club and faintingviolet for arranging it!!!! You can find the full list of NOTES on my blog, but here is one that I’ll post, and it was my immediate and […]
I’d rather have read a romance featuring Ria’s cousin and his wife to be
2.5 stars Ria Parkar is a celebrated Bollywood star, frequently playing the innocent ingenue who ends up the bride. Professionally she’s intensely private, revealing very little about herself. When a paparazzi gets an incriminating photo of her looking deranged and as if she’s about to jump off a ledge (she was retrieving her phone), Ria is worried that all her deep dark secrets will be uncovered. Her cousin, who she was raised along-side, is getting married in Chicago, and she’s dreading her return there, she […]