Arranged Marriage: Stories (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)

Being a woman of average American roots (meaning that I’m a mixed-breed, European mutt), I really enjoy sneak peaks into the lives and thoughts of other cultures. That experience of the sneak peak is the definition of this book. Divakaruna chronicles the stories of various women of Indian descent and their experiences within or regarding arranged marriage. Light, easy and very plot-driven, it is a fun little read.

That said, let’s get to the criticism. Sure, I would love to find our more about what it is really like to be in an arranged marriage. Most of these short stories, however, only relayed stereotypical events and attitudes that I could have pulled out of my own American head. Things like chauvinism, the preference for male children over female, the difficulty of obeying your (or your husband’s) elders, the disparity between the old country and the new life in America, the debate over educating women… I like some of the small sensory details like the feel and delicate pattern of a sari and the smells of India that make a native nostalgic. These details, however, were few and often repeated—in different stories, from supposedly different women’s lips. Both of these facts made the book, sure, interesting but flat. Predictable.

I believe a lot of these feeling come stem from the fact that the book was published in 1996. Much of the content would probably have felt newer then. As it stands, Arranged Marriage is simply a readable but not laudable collection of tales geared toward a female audience.