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A review by khuizenga
The Matchmaker's List by Sonya Lalli
2.0
Ok, this book is actually not poorly written, and the author shows a pretty good understanding of human reactions and feelings, so why she made such a terrible error in judgment in the actual premise of this book is beyond me. She clearly wanted to examine the tension between more modern world views and conservative Indian families, in many different ways, but all the characters who would actually be impacted by these conservative views were side characters. I'll get more into it in the spoilers below, but needless to say, I think Sonya Lalli is actually a gifted author who had a bad lapse in judgement here.
I would actually probably read something else written by Lalli, because I quite enjoyed her writing style. However the decisions she made on the perspectives to focus on in this novel were so questionable it's weird she made them, especially since the way her characters reacted in the story mostly displayed a level of awareness of how heinous the whole thing was that I'm surprised she continued.
Spoiler
When Raina feels too much pressure about getting married, she tells her good-hearted Nani that she is gay so that the pressure is off. The most unbelievable part of this is that her gay friend, Zoe, says that this isn't the worst idea possible. Then the book spirals into a whole bunch of gay suffering without actually focusing on a character who is gay! It's all made up. The entire perspective is from someone who is straight, who then gives an actual gay Indian character the courage to come out! Granted, he is rightfully EXTREMELY pissed when he discovers that she is not actually gay, and the book does acknowledge that this was a terrible, hurtful, stupid thing to do, but that doesn't change the fact that the whole thing is a critique of marriage culture and homophobia within Indian society while still centering straight cis voices. My guess is Lalli is straight, and really wanted to write about this dynamic, but didn't feel like she could honestly write a gay perspective, and she was most likely right, but this was just not the way to do it. Nani for life, but honestly I was never able to forgive Raina, who mostly infuriated me throughout the novel and since the whole thing is told from her perspective, that's a problem.I would actually probably read something else written by Lalli, because I quite enjoyed her writing style. However the decisions she made on the perspectives to focus on in this novel were so questionable it's weird she made them, especially since the way her characters reacted in the story mostly displayed a level of awareness of how heinous the whole thing was that I'm surprised she continued.