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A delightfully modern look at what happens for a young woman when tradition, dating, and independence collide, from acclaimed author Sonya Lalli.
Adulting shouldn’t be this hard. Especially in your thirties. Having been pressured by her tight-knit community to get married at a young age to her first serious boyfriend, Anu Desai is now on her own again and feels like she is starting from the beginning.
But Anu doesn’t have time to start over. Telling her parents that she was separating from her husband was the hardest thing she’s ever done—and she’s still dealing with the fallout. She has her young daughter to support and when she invests all of her savings into running her own yoga studio, the feelings of irresponsibility send Anu reeling. She’ll be forced to look inside herself to learn what she truly wants.
Source: advance e-galley provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review
Anu questioning her life and what has become of it is nothing out of the ordinary. I think many of us do that at some point when we finally have a moment to look around and take stock of things. For Anu it was realizing that everything she had built thus far was because it was expected of her, simply doing things to make her parents happy. She felt stifled in her marriage and got to a point where she didn't know who she was. Separating from her husband and making space for herself was the first step in whatever journey she was about to embark on. Except now months later she's still drifting because she hasn't yet found the answers.
A chance meeting outside of a yoga studio initiates a change. Making a new friend and then stumbling upon the opportunity to run her own yoga studio might come from left field but it also makes some sense as she's always loved yoga and this could be a way for her to create something of her own. She makes an impulsive decision which immediately sets her anxiety loose. Being that she's still kind of a mess emotionally, it takes a few starts and stops before she finds her footing.
I think Sonya Lalli has a knack for writing characters who are at difficult crossroads in their lives. Grown-Up Pose has echoes of her first novel, The Matchmaker's List. In both cases, she’s not afraid for her protagonists to be flawed, flounder or fail because after much soul-searching they’ll eventually pick themselves up. Grown-Up Pose spoke to me on so many levels and I enjoyed going along on Anu’s journey. Anu got so lost in the routines and going through the motions that she lost sight of the good things she had. She needed to sort of lose all that before she could fully appreciate the choices she'd made.
Grown-Up Pose is a very grown up book about the difficulty of adulting and responsibility. It's not all dower, though because it's also about making space to create good things in your life. We're always growing and evolving, and as Anu discovers for herself, having the right people beside you make all the difference in the world.
~ Bel
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One devoted modern girl + a meddlesome, traditional grandmother = a heartwarming multicultural romantic comedy about finding love where you least expect it
Raina Anand may have finally given in to family pressure and agreed to let her grandmother play matchmaker, but that doesn't mean she has to like it--or that she has to play by the rules. Nani always took Raina's side when she tried to push past the traditional expectations of their tight-knit Indian-immigrant community, but now she's ambushing Raina with a list of suitable bachelors. Is it too much to ask for a little space? Besides, what Nani doesn't know won't hurt her...
As Raina's life spirals into a parade of Nani-approved bachelors and disastrous blind dates, she must find a way out of this modern-day arranged-marriage trap without shattering her beloved grandmother's dreams.
Source: advance e-galley provided by publisher in exchange for a honest review
Just the first line of the blurb sold me on reading The Matchmaker's List. Being set up by one's grandmother in hopes that one of those dates sticks, thereby leading to a happily ever after? There's so much that could happen here.
Raina is loyal to the grandmother (aka Nani) who has raised her and will do anything to make her happy including get married to a suitable Indian boy. The problem is that Raina's heart is not exactly in it. She was so close to being with "the one" but life and career demands took them both in different directions. It still doesn't stop her from holding out hope that there could be a second chance for them, slim as that may be. In the meantime, it couldn't hurt to go those dates with the various men her Nani keeps pulling out of the woodwork. It gets to be too much eventually and Raina takes advantage of a minor misunderstanding and uses it to to throw her grandmother off course. This solution, as temporary and harmless as it may be initially, has far-reaching repercussions that Raina must ultimately own up to. Basically, she's a hot mess and isn't ready to face herself or her actions.
The Matchmaker's List starts out humorously enough. I dug Raina's deadpan humour and quick quips at first. I wanted to hang out with her. But then the story plateaus slightly before taking a nosedive when Raina hits her rock bottom. The comedy was missing during the middle of the story. By midway she relinquishes control of her life, of herself, to appease her Nani. She was completely stuck and had given up. As much as I liked Raina, she was also kind of dull by this point, and it came across distinctly that even she was just as bored and fed up with herself.
Kudos to Sonya Lalli here for writing Raina and her emotions in such a way that I felt her joy at the best parts but also that I was sinking along with her when things were at their lowest. The Matchmaker's List brings the laughs and struggles of family and friends, and the excruciating heartache of letting go of one idea of love before falling in love for real.
~ Bel
