Make Sure You Get to the Wedding on time or You’re Grounded!
Book review: My Sister’s Big Fat Indian Wedding
A Wedding. Love is in the air. People are happy—well not everyone. What if the biggest opportunity of your life was also the same week as your sister’s wedding? If you skip out on any of the weeklong celebration events, people will notice—especially your parents. You’ve been warned not to ruin your sister’s wedding. Zurika “Zuri” Damani has a lot on her plate. Oh, and her mom is trying to set her up with the groom’s cousin.
Zuri’s dreams of being a violinist and attending Juilliard are at odds with her parents’ plans for her life. Every Damani girl, including older sisters Urvi and Maitri, goes to college, then law school, then a high-paying law firm, and then gets married so they can produce more Damani children. Zuri and younger sister, Neha, will have their turn, too. Deviating from the path, and disobeying her parents would be unthinkable. Chasing creative dreams goes against her parents and against cultural expectations. She must follow the rules and become a success. Her family just sees music as hobby, not a career—not a passion.
Zuri is the rebel of the family, pushing boundaries almost to the point of annoyance, challenging her elders even after getting her point across. Now she will be put to the ultimate test, a music competition, where the prize is a full scholarship to college, is happening the same week as Maitri’s wedding celebration. There are a ton of wedding festivities to attend, including lots of food, dancing, and music. Special moments that Zuri is in charge of documenting for social media. Taking time for herself seems selfish, but the competition is Zuri’s last shot. She didn’t get accepted to Juilliard on her own, but if she wins the competition there’s still hope.
If anyone can understand what Zuri is going through it’s Naveen—the charming cousin of the groom and whom Zuri’s mother wants to set her up with. Naveen has dreams of becoming a singer, which goes against his parents’ ambitions for his career. He’s also competing in the same music contest—a little competition for Zuri. She doesn’t want to like Naveen, putting up a wall, blocking off any budding feelings she might have for him. But as is the case in most romance novels, that doesn’t last. Naveen chips away at the armor Zuri worked so hard to build. He’s cocky, but he knows how to make Zuri laugh. He wants to win the competition but is in awe when she plays the violin. And Naveen is supportive of Zuri pursuing her dreams.
“I knew having my dreams dashed, being forced into something as tedious as law, would make my creative soul wither. People like us? We needed our creative outlet more than air. It wasn’t a hobby; it was life. Putting it behind us was a death sentence.” –pg. 176
I don’t always like the enemies-to-lovers trope, but I think it works here. The banter between the two is often funny and endearing. The book takes place over the course of a week, but the romance doesn’t feel rushed. Weighing family/cultural expectations vs pursuing your dreams also plays out realistically. Chasing a musical future is great, but even Zuri realized it occasionally made her a little selfish. Maitri is only getting married once, is the competition worth missing out on special moments and potentially damaging their relationship? Maybe there are other ways to pursue her passion without defying her family. Not everything gets wrapped up in a neat little bow by the end, but it’s pretty close. Characters I came to route for, Naveen, Zuri, and her parents, experience some growth and there’s hope for the future. That’s all I want from a romance—hope!
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