Rashmi
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Srishti Publishers
ISBN: 9789382665298
Pages: 200
Price: INR 150

All Indians unite over two things: food and marriages. While this book doesn’t delve in the former, it talks largely about the latter. This book talks about the difficulty of the arranged marriage system, and more largely, the pressure that is put on girls to find a boy and “settle down”.

HookedLinedSingleCoverHooked, Lined and Single‘ by Rashmi Kumar is about Alafia Singh, a 31 year old divorcee writer. She was married at the early age of 21, and the marriage lasted 11 months. Since then, she has tried long and hard to find a groom through a matrimonial website. But she finds it hard to connect with all the men she meets. Either they are too rich, or too boring or too one-dimensional or too intimidated by her or… The list goes on. IT comes to a point where her 24-year old sister is getting married and Alafia still remains unmarried. She ends up asking herself why she needs a man in her life and the eventually makes peace with herself.

The book is engaging and is filled with humor. There are fun characters sprinkled all around the book that seem quite life-like. There is always a certain person from real-life you imagine filling up this role. The characters are also fleshed out well, not too meaty to bore yet not too insubstantial to dismissive. Each character has a certain purpose and there would definitely be a void without. The instances with Tara, the spiritual healer and Myra, her best friend are interesting. The book flows simply and the writing seems to come naturally to the author.

The only problem is that often the book may seem repetitive. You begin to wonder what all this is tying up to. The end is great, as it leave you with a clear headedness and a sense of purpose, but the journey to the end is a little tumultuous. The end too could have been elaborated a bit, as opposed to so much emphasis on the failures of her endeavors at finding a man.

This is a light and simple book, perfect accompaniment to your evening coffee. Special mention to the cover that has simple, mellow colors and doesn’t look overtly jazzy and clichéd.

Rating: 7/10

If you find the book interesting, buy from Amazon or Flipkart here: