Starlight Book Review – Mansi Choksi’s The Newlyweds… 🇮🇳

Cover of The Newlyweds: Rearranging Marriage in Modern India by Mansi Choksi on a “Tangerine” background | Image Source: Goodreads

World Tour Stellar Reading Challenge – India

3.85/5 While India remains on my leap list of places to visit, I have read many books at least partially set there. In fact, Jhumpa Lahiri holds a prominent spot on my list of favorite authors. Yet, I challenged myself to read “new to me” writers in 2023. When I saw The Book Girls’ Guide’s recommendation of The Newlyweds: Rearranging Marriage in Modern India by Mansi Choksi, I felt this work of nonfiction met much of my 2023 reading criteria. Check out this and more suggestions from The Book Girls’ Guide by clicking here.

Learn more about this 2023 SRC by clicking here.

Click here to discover more about 2024 SRC.

“A literary investigation into India as a society in transition through the lens of forbidden love, as three young couples reject arranged marriages and risk everything for true love in the midst of social and political upheaval… In India, two out of every three people are under the age of thirty-five. These are men and women who grew up with the internet and the advent of smartphones and social media. But when it comes to love and marriage, they’re expected to adhere to thousands of years of tradition. It’s that conflict between obeying tradition and embracing modernity that drives journalist Mansi Choksi’s The Newlyweds… Through vivid, lyrical prose, Choksi shines a light on three young couples who buck against arranged marriages in the pursuit of true love, illustrating the challenges, shame, anger, triumph, and loss their actions and choices set in play… Against the backdrop of India’s beautiful villages and cities, Choksi introduces our newlyweds. First, there’s the lesbian couple forced to flee for a chance at a life together. Then there’s the Hindu woman and Muslim man who escaped their families under the cover of night after being harassed by a violent militia group. Finally, there’s the inter-caste couple who are doing everything to avoid the same fate as a similar couple who were burned alive… Engaging and moving, The Newlyweds raises universal questions, such What are we really willing to risk for love? If we’re lucky enough to find it, does it change us? If so, for the better? Or for the worse?”

The Newlyweds… made for a quick read. Choksi’s book read like many novels with the narrative alternating among these three different couples. I felt I came away with a considerable amount of knowledge about the state of Indian marriages. In particular, I rooted for Neetu and Rani, the inter-caste couple. Sometimes, I found myself bogged down with some of the statistics and I might have preferred less “couple hopping” but I don’t begrudge Choksi that too much. At the end of the day, I encourage anyone seeking more information about marriage in India to read The Newlyweds…

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Karin Slaughter’s Triptych – 🇺🇸

Cover of Triptych (Will Trent #1) by Karin Slaughter on a light green background |
Image Source: Goodreads

RUSA SRC – Region #4 Southeast – Georgia

4/5 I admit that I watched ABC’s Will Trent before I cracked the spine on an any of the books by Karin Slaughter which inspired the show. I enjoyed becoming acquainted with Will, Angie, Amanda, and, of course, Betty the Chihuahua. Still and all, I thought Triptych might be just the ticket for literary travel to Atlanta, Georgia in the Regional U.S.A. (RUSA) Tour Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC).

Click here to learn about the RUSA Tour SRC.

Trigger Warnings (TW): Triptych contains the following which may require TW for readers — Trigger warnings: murder, rape, mutilation, kidnapping, sexual relationships between teenagers and adult men, drug abuse, child abuse, mentions of self harm, death of a parent, slut shaming, misogyny, wrongful conviction, wrongful imprisonment.

“In the city of Atlanta, women are dying—at the hands of a killer who signs his work with a single, chilling act of mutilation. Leaving behind enough evidence to fuel a frenzied police hunt, this cunning madman is bringing together dozens of lives, crossing the boundaries of wealth and race. And the people who are chasing him must cross those boundaries too. Among them is Michael Ormewood, a veteran detective whose marriage is hanging by a thread—and whose arrogance and explosive temper are threatening his career. And Angie Polaski, a beautiful vice cop who was once Michael’s lover before she became his enemy… But another player has entered the game: a loser ex-con who has stumbled upon the killer’s trail in the most coincidental of ways—someone who may be the key to breaking the case wide open…”

Slaughter surprised me from the beginning of Triptych with her first point of view – third person omniscient for Michael Ormewood. Maybe the fault of this falls to watching the show before reading any of the books. Yet, as I considered the title of this very book — Triptych — I realized the need for three separate points of view. While definitely gritty, rough, and even brutal (much of John Shelley’s experience made me squint, poor guy!), I liked the sweet gems offered throughout Triptych. Will’s interactions with Betty stand out the most in this regard. Also, I enjoyed reading a little about Georgia – Agnes Scott College, Stone Mountain, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I might read another in this series when I’m in the mood for something darker because I found Will Trent in particular rather intriguing.

Check out an article about Will Trent the TV Show and its adaptation to screen by clicking here.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.