Muristek
An entertaining exploration of multicultural British modernity - love, sex, class, politics, faith and family – from the author of Brick Lane
In the decade following her bestselling 2003 debut, Brick Lane, which was shortlisted for the Booker prize then turned into a film, Monica Ali produced three more novels. First came Alentejo Blue, loosely linked vignettes set in a Portuguese village that bore almost no relation in style, conviction or tone to Brick Lane. In the Kitchen followed, a meandering tale of a London chef in crisis, and then Untold Story, an odd novel in which Princess Diana fakes her death and moves to small-town America. Critical responses to all three were mixed (the New York Times called Untold Story “preposterously gimmicky”). There was a 10-year gap. And now Ali is back with Love Marriage, a novel about the rocky engagement of Yasmin Ghorami, a 26-year-old trainee doctor whose parents are originally from Kolkata, and fellow medic Joe Sangster, the upper middle-class son of an outspoken feminist author.
As the book opens, Yasmin is nervously anticipating an introductory family dinner at her future mother-in-law’s huge Primrose Hill home. Although Harriet always uses caterers, Yasmin’s mother, Anisah, an eccentrically dressed homemaker with “a talent for being herself”, has spent 10 hours cooking (“shukto, alu dom, dal pakori, kachori …”). Yasmin knows her parents will insist on driving from south London unfashionably early, clutching carrier bags stuffed with Tupperware. The elegant Harriet, who spends her life writing essays on liberal guilt while throwing lavish parties for the literati, will graciously “hide her amusement”.
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