The Reluctant Matchmaker
By: Shobhan Bantwal
Published: June 26, 2012
Format: Paperback, 352 pages
ISBN-10: 0758258852
ISBN-13: 978-0758258854
Publisher: Kensington Publishing
Petite Meena Shenoy is hired by the very tall Prajay Nayak, to write an advertisement for him to find a bride. His desired spouse would be tall, to complement his own great height. Meena finds herself attracted to Prajay, and attempts to get past the height requirement, to become the bride herself, in the fascinating and culturally intriguing novel The Reluctant Matchmaker, by best selling author Shobhan Bantwal.
Shobhan Bantwal weaves a story that combines the fundamental, underlying currents of tension, within modern Indian-American culture and society. The author provides key insights into understanding the most challenging issues facing second generation Indian-Americans, as they attempt to bridge the chasm between traditional and Western culture. As with all of her books, Shobhan Bantwal handles that divide with tenderness, and with sympathy for her characters, as they grow to accept their lives exist in both worlds. The author doesn't hesitate to challenge the traditions and mores that hold back women, whether in India, or in America.
Shobhan Bantwal (photo left) presents a window on the concept of traditional arranged marriages, and how that concept needs a complete reassessment in today's secular and individualistic world. The author challenges the role that religions play in the lives of Indian-Americans. Shobhan Bantwal addresses the issues of Hinduism and Islam, and their continued and often divisive factors in Desi culture. Placed within a new, and very different and seemingly alien culture, the immigrants feel trapped between two often clashing worlds. The concepts of marriage, the finding of a spouse, and the role of women, are treated very differently within the two societies.
The author creates a symbolic duality, that is at the heart of the conflict within the hearts of members of the Indian-American community. The petite and worldly successful Meena is contrasted with the large, and more traditional Prajay. The two characters differences in physical size is a metaphor for their different levels of integration into the Western society. Differences in caste, and different world views, are made less important, as the concerns about physical size and stature become less of a barrier to romance as well.
Shobhan Bantwal creates a remarkable tableau of the constant friction, disorientation, and often puzzling cultural challenges faced by her characters. Placing her characters within the modern, Westernized social world, the author presents thought provoking commentary through her memorable and strong characters. In the end, the power of love, understanding and acceptance triumph over the formerly considered impossible obstacles. The author offers the insight that tradition has a place in the modern world, but must be flexible and adaptable to societal change. In a sense, that need to accept that change is inevitable is a universal human need and characteristic.
I highly recommend the engaging and entertaining novel The Reluctant Matchmaker, by Shobhan Bantwal, to anyone seeking a very human and life affirming novel that addresses real social and cultural issues facing immigrants in general, and the Indian-American community in particular. Not only does this book provide a wonderful love story, but offers key insights into the very universality of that very human emotion for all people.
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For more information: about The Reluctant Matchmaker and Shobhan Bantwal’s other books, visit http://www.shobhanbantwal.com or The Reluctant Matchmaker on Amazon.com to get your copy today.
The full virtual tour schedule is available at: http://bookpromotionservices.com/2012/06/03/reluctant-matchmaker-tour
Book Trailer URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki0O3nefkuk
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