Review: Sonali Mishra – The Arrangement

The Arrangement
Sonali Mishra

Arjun is 30, single and feeling the pressure to get married, buy a house and have 2.5 kids. He’s resisted an arranged marriage so far, but with his best friends getting hitched soon he’s feeling pretty lonely. Even a spark with a green-eyed local Indian girl isn’t enough to get him engaged. Arjun finally agrees for his mother to arrange a marriage – but will any of them be the one?

This book could have done with some ruthless editing. It takes FOREVER for anything to happen, and there’s a fair few things that don’t add anything to the plot line. I don’t find Arjun’s business trip to be relevant, nor is his boss’ somewhat insensitive behaviour. Did I honestly care about how many choc chip scones he bought? No.

Is being beautiful a criteria when finding a new partner? Sure, if it’s an arranged marriage you hope they’re attractive, but it’s not a given! Arjun is also described in multiple places as being handsome. What about the rest of us? Considering that the theme of the book is that an arranged marriage can still work and possibly build a more solid love story than a spontaneous spark, the ending is quite disappointing.

Was going to a divorce party at a gay bar necessary? A secondary character can be useful, but honestly the poor guy seemed like just a way for Arjun to show some character growth. Don’t judge people based on what they look like…

Dude! What’s with wanting to be married? Isn’t a committed relationship sufficient? This isn’t 20 years ago where you couldn’t cohabitate and you couldn’t have kids. Yes, I get that culturally it might be a bit of a problem, but it doesn’t seem like Arjun has a problem with it personally (given we understand he’s had sex before, and otherwise he’s a hypocrite). Marriage isn’t forever anymore.

So, after all those complaints, I did finish the book. I vaguely hoped that Arjun would realise that it was super rude of him either way he chose and maybe spend some more time thinking about what he wanted. He needed to use his words a bit more! ASK her, don’t assume things. 3 stars from me.