Love Marriage by Monica Ali
Monica Ali’s Love Marriage centers on Yasmin and Joe, two doctors who are engaged to be married. Their families are quite different. Yasmin is part of an Indian family and is a second-generation doctor while Joe was raised by his mum, Harriet, a world-famous feminist. However, both Yasmin and Joe are harboring secrets. Will their love survive?
This book was incredibly boring. I am reading an advance copy so keep in mind that some things might be changed subsequent publication. So with that disclaimer….let’s jump in!
At the beginning of the book, it took 16 pages just for the family to get out the door and meet Harriet. 16 jumbo pages on the world’s largest eReader. The beginning should be completely rewritten because it failed to grab my attention.
Additionally, the paragraphs were far too long. For example, when the characters engaged in dialogue, it felt stilted. The conversation was more like a monologue with each character going on and on. Usually, most people have a ping-pong, back and forth of words. In this case, the book did not flow naturally, and it did not have a conversational tone.
There were several characters and sections that I would have cut from this book. Melissa, David Cavendish, and Mrs. Antonova should all be removed from the book. Melissa is the therapist’s wife, and she was mentioned 16 times. We never actually meet her. David Cavendish is another character who was really boring and did not add much value to the book, but he was mentioned at least ten times. And then we come to Mrs. Antonova. She is a patient from the dementia ward who was mentioned a whopping 64 times (Thanks for the search feature, eReader!).
Most of the sections pertaining to the hospital were boring. It felt like the author was trying to capture the vibe from the hit TV series, House, but the effort fell flat. This last year, I spent about three weeks in the hospital. Maybe in the UK they do things different, but the doctors did not hang out with me, telling me all about their personal life. Not even once.
If you read Love Marriage because Harriet is a feminist, you will be very disappointed. She is a caricature of feminism and is pretty much the embodiment of all of the stereotypes that feminists have been fighting against. Harriet does very little of real consequence in the book and has boring conversations about liberal guilt.
It is difficult for me to even classify this book, because it seemed to be trying to accomplish many things and did not have a strong identity. Is it a romance? Is it about racism? Is it about hospitals being underfunded? Is it about not judging a book by its cover? Is it about the benefits of therapy?
While some of the characters should have been cut, there were some sections that I think should have been expanded. There is a character named Flame. She is mentioned about 100 times. However, she doesn’t have much of a backstory. In the beginning of the book, we learn how Joe and Yasmin fell in love. It took literally one paragraph! One paragraph! He asked her questions, and they talked.
With one paragraph, I was not invested in the relationship of Joe and Yasmin. Honestly, I was rooting for them to go their separate ways. There is a saying that an author needs to show, not tell. This is a perfect example of telling. The characters need to share with each other their deepest fears and insecurities. They need to weather some storms together. I want to hear some Level 5 communication between them! Where are the sweet nothings?
After reading through this book (and desperately wanting to rewrite it), I finally arrived at the ending. It was weak and forgettable. I think the author wanted to end the book ambiguously, but it just did not work.
Overall, the beginning, middle, and ending need to be rewritten and heavily revised.
*Thank you, NetGalley, for a free copy of this book in exchange for my fair and unbiased opinion.