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A review by boggremlin
The Matchmaker's List by Sonya Lalli
2.0
This was an interesting novel. I don't agree with its categorization as a romantic comedy (or as a romance novel in general); it's much more a coming of age novel, albeit one where the protagonist, despite a too-neat ending, doesn't know what she wants.
Raina is a half-Indian Canadian woman who was raised by her grandparents. Nearing 30, she feels deeply unmoored. Two years prior to the start of the novel, deep in the throes of a breakup, she agreed to start dating people her grandmother suggested with the goal of getting married--an arranged marriage. Many of the dates are duds, but it's hard to tell if that's because the guys she meets are jerks or because Raina is still hung up on a very charming, pretty terrible ex-boyfriend (who may not be entirely out of the picture). To cap it all off, her best friend is getting married, and the enormity of a formal Hindi wedding is causing tension.
Overcome by the pressures of finding a husband (and making up for her mother's wild youth), Raina gets caught in a lie: she allows her grandmother to think that Raina is gay. Raina is not, in fact, gay, or even remotely queer; but this revelation causes an enormous rift in her community, and causes problems for a close friend, who is gay, and who fears coming out in their close-knit South Asian immigrant community. ON TOP OF THAT, Raina may be finally falling out of love with her ex, and falling in love with Asher, who doesn't appear in the novel enough for me to get much of a read on other than "generic charming white guy."
There's a lot going on in here.
The writing is very good and very compelling; I finished the novel in one sitting, and I was honestly curious to see how things turned out ("I'm at 87 percent and I still have no idea where the romantic comedy part of this book is," I said to myself.) I didn't find many of Raina's choices very comprehensible; I cannot fathom thinking that it's easier to claim a queer identity than it is to just say, "I am really overwhelmed and I do not want to go on any more dates right now." Even if the novel is set in the tolerant, mythical land of Canada, that plot choice did a disservice to the queer stories that were already present.
I think it will make an excellent book club title; there's a lot to unpack here. I've rated it as 2 stars, but I think it's closer to 2.5; I didn't dislike the novel, but there are a number of sections that are a little unwieldy, and it's hard to take the happy ending very seriously. It's just too easy, and it doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the book, which has Raina striving to figure out what she really wants.
Netgalley review.
Raina is a half-Indian Canadian woman who was raised by her grandparents. Nearing 30, she feels deeply unmoored. Two years prior to the start of the novel, deep in the throes of a breakup, she agreed to start dating people her grandmother suggested with the goal of getting married--an arranged marriage. Many of the dates are duds, but it's hard to tell if that's because the guys she meets are jerks or because Raina is still hung up on a very charming, pretty terrible ex-boyfriend (who may not be entirely out of the picture). To cap it all off, her best friend is getting married, and the enormity of a formal Hindi wedding is causing tension.
Overcome by the pressures of finding a husband (and making up for her mother's wild youth), Raina gets caught in a lie: she allows her grandmother to think that Raina is gay. Raina is not, in fact, gay, or even remotely queer; but this revelation causes an enormous rift in her community, and causes problems for a close friend, who is gay, and who fears coming out in their close-knit South Asian immigrant community. ON TOP OF THAT, Raina may be finally falling out of love with her ex, and falling in love with Asher, who doesn't appear in the novel enough for me to get much of a read on other than "generic charming white guy."
There's a lot going on in here.
The writing is very good and very compelling; I finished the novel in one sitting, and I was honestly curious to see how things turned out ("I'm at 87 percent and I still have no idea where the romantic comedy part of this book is," I said to myself.) I didn't find many of Raina's choices very comprehensible; I cannot fathom thinking that it's easier to claim a queer identity than it is to just say, "I am really overwhelmed and I do not want to go on any more dates right now." Even if the novel is set in the tolerant, mythical land of Canada, that plot choice did a disservice to the queer stories that were already present.
I think it will make an excellent book club title; there's a lot to unpack here. I've rated it as 2 stars, but I think it's closer to 2.5; I didn't dislike the novel, but there are a number of sections that are a little unwieldy, and it's hard to take the happy ending very seriously. It's just too easy, and it doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the book, which has Raina striving to figure out what she really wants.
Netgalley review.