The Matchmaker's List

De: Sonya Lalli

Narrado por: Soneela Nankani

Duración: 10 h y 40 m

Resumen del Editor

One devoted modern girl plus a meddlesome, traditional grandmother equals 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.

©2019 Sonya Lalli (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Sonya Lalli offers up a tale of familial pressures, cultural traditions, and self-discovery, that is equal turns heartbreaking and hilarious.... Lalli tears down stereotypes with humor and warmth.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Lalli’s sharp-eyed tale of cross-cultural dating, family heartbreak, the strictures of culture, and the exuberance of love is both universal and timeless.”(Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“Lalli's debut is a delightful, multicultural romantic comedy full of humorous banter and loads of life lessons about family, happiness, love, honesty, and acceptance.” (Booklist, starred review)

It had potential

**SPOILERS** this book had so much potential. In fact, it was very good in the beginning and I could not wait to get back in my car to keep listening. However, the storyline became very exaggerated and not believable. There were parts of the story that I felt were not necessary and never came to light. For example, Raina's relationship with her mother - there was a section in the book that really touched on her mother wanting to be involved with her when she was a baby, however, Nani would not allow it. This never came to light for the mother & Raina never knew she had tried to begin with. There were lots of conflict that were not only not interesting, they made the story seem very petty and made the lead character unlikable. I wish the story would have stayed consistent with the premise "the matchmakers list" and not turned into a very unnecessary tale of a girl trying to discover who she is by lying about being a lesbian.

Good Writing, Bad Premise

*Possible spoilers but I feel it is something someone should know happens going in, I wish I had known*

Do you know what is a better story than a desi woman who avoids dates by PRETENDING to be a lesbian? A story about a desi woman who avoids dates BECAUSE she is a lesbian. That is the story I would have rather read. Look, I will read Sonya Lalli again because I feel like she is a good writer, I just really did not approve of this plot. I loved how Lalli wrote the relationship between Raina and her Nani, but Raina was horrifically blind to how wrong and awful it was to pretend to be a lesbian. I really wish someone in this book would have had a flat out two pages of monologue telling her off and going into depth on why this was so wrong of her to do. This book started out so promising, but then it took a hard left turn and never recovered, stringing the readers along on a bad premise that goes on for far too long.

There was a lot of good in this book, but the bad parts leave you uncomfortably shifting in your seat knowing that this is problematic. If someone did this irl I would block them from all social media and stop talking to them completely bc no one has time for that kind of twisted, self deprecating, and incognizant mindset.

Loved it!

I laughed, I cried(a lot) and I learnt a bit about Indian culture, traditions , why change though inevitable can sometimes be hard and how important family is, highly recommend. (You might fall in love with her Nani )

Main Character is not very likable

The story offers a lot of richness and depth because of the Indian culture. But it becomes irritating early on because the main character is so very hard to like. She makes stupid choices even though she’s a smart person. Her choices are just too much of a stretch. The story also gets repetitive, it drags on as the main character flounders in life. It’s hard to root for her in this story, you just kind of want her to fade away.

Very cute

I really enjoyed this romantic comedy novel. Sonia Lalli has made a gem of a novel that focuses on family, culture, friendship and yes, romance. LGBTQ friendly it features a similar “wedding chaos screaming scene” that Bend It Like Beckham the movie had- only everyone is okay and accepting of LGBTQ people rather than disgusted and it just made me so happy when I came to that scene! I just really loved this book & if you enjoy Bollywood family relationships, romantic comedies that aren’t just about romance & comedy of errors, you will love this book! Soneela Nankani is always a brilliant choice for narrator & this is no exception. 5/5 all around from me; I’m glad I purchased this with one of my credits! Well worth my “money” & time!

Predictable

Felt like a formula. Just so predictable in everything that happened. Characters not deep. Great narration.

Imperialism galore.

The white man savior complex in this book is real.

Whenever there is an issue it was a white man that came to the rescue. Furthermore her portrayal of white men to brown people is disheartening.

Hostility

I struggled sooo hard to finish this. The characters pissed me off to the nth degree. So incredibly weak. She's a complete doormat for everyone in her life. I only finished it to find out if she could toughen up. 4 chapters from the end and she was just apologizing for basically existing

YA Level of Maturity

Another disappointing female lead. *sigh*

I tried to be empathetic toward the main character, but her selfishness masked first as self-sacrifice, then as self-preservation, and finally as cowardice grated on my nerves. I found it extremely difficult to suffer through the entire narrative. By the time everything was resolved, I didn’t care anymore.

The cultural and scenic details were more interesting than the story.