I hesitated when I saw this book at Costco. In-fact, I picked it up once and quickly set it down when I saw that it was the winner of the “Romantic Novel of the Year Award.” I like a good romance, of course, but it’s nice when such guilty pleasures aren’t advertised right on the cover. In the academic world, having the phrase “romance novel” stamped on your book cover is like walking around with a sign on your forehead that says, “I am not a serious reader; I have no taste and mush for brains.” I’m glad I decided to throw caution to the wind. I’m also glad I was able to stuff it into my mom’s Costco cart. :)I recognize that there are more serious books out there concerning issues of colonialism, the political tumult of the late 1920’s, poverty, and India. If you’re looking for a hardcore look at this time period, this book is not for you. Gregson does include these elements in her novel, but they are not the focus. The focus is on the inner lives of her characters; which I found to be insightful and realistic. Gregson’s writing overflows with the scents, tastes, sounds, and all the exotic vibrancy that I imagine India to be. After reading this book I wanted to wrap myself in saris, bury my hands in mounds of spices at a street bazar, and find a way to help Britain reclaim the empire (just kidding). In some ways this is similar to "Bride Flight" --- that book focuses on three women who leave Holland after World War II is over and fly to New Zealand in search of husbands and new lives there. In this book the focus is on three women who leave England and travel to India by ship at the end of the 1920s to find husbands and create new lives for themselves there (one of them is actually already engaged to a British officer serving in India before she leaves England). The first book is better written, but still, the one has a lot going for it. It's quite engaging, the character development is well done, the descriptions of the settings are rich, and there's a lot of emotional involvement and interplay as the women deal with their situations and the difficulties they face and discover inner hidden resources they didn't know they had. One of the characters finds herself in a harrowing, life-threatening situation and somehow gets out of it without a good explanation of how that actually happened, and the way it was glossed over bothered me a bit. This is billed as historical fiction, and I guess to a certain extent it is, but the social and political unrest that was going on in India at the time is in the background and not a major part of the story of the three women's lives. Near the end of the book is a splendid, meaningful Sanskrit poem: "Look well to this day,/ For it is life./ In its brief course lies all the realities of existence./ For yesterday is but a memory and tomorrow only a vision."
What do You think about Matrimonio A Bombay (2009)?
This was very good. Full of history, as well as attitudes pertaining towards women for this period.
—megy
I wanted to love it. Didn't hate it. It was just 'eh'...
—Anna
Quick, easy read, not memorable but worth reading.
—tarac7585
