The Marriage Clock

A Novel

By: Zara Raheem

Narrated by: Ariana Delawari

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Perfect for fans of Sonali Dev and Soniah Kamal. A young woman must find herself a husband in three months...otherwise, her parents will matchmake one for her!

To Leila Abid’s traditional Indian parents, finding a husband is as easy as match, meet, marry. Yes, she wants to marry, but after 26 years of singledom, even Leila is starting to get nervous. And to make matters worse, her parents are panicking, the neighbors are talking, and she’s wondering, are her expectations just too high?

But for Leila, a marriage of arrangement clashes with her lifelong dreams of a Bollywood romance, where real love happens before marriage, not the other way around. So she decides it’s time to stop dreaming and start dating.

It’s an impossible mission of satisfying her parents’ expectations, while also fulfilling her own western ideals of love. But after a series of speed dates, blind dates, online dates and even ambush dates, the sparks just don’t fly! Now, with the marriage clock ticking, and her 3-month deadline looming in the horizon, Leila must face the consequences of what might happen if she doesn’t find “the one…”

©2019 Zara Raheem (P)2019 HarperAudio

Great Listen Fun and Fast Paced

Really enjoyed listening to this fun and fast paced book. I felt like I was watching the story unfold before me. I learned a lot about the culture and about all the facets and moving parts of where tradition meets modern. The real struggle of pleasing family and being true to yourself. Everyone can learn and get a take-away from this well written story.

Audio Version Not good

Although the book was good and the storyline good, the narrators voice and tone did not match up at all to the seriousness/emotions involved or to the characters. Also every Hindi word and statement was completely butchered making the book feel unrelatable even though it's a very relatable topic.

Wrong choice for narrator.

I really wanted to like this book. I think the story is good but this particular narrator was the absolute wrong choice for this book. The character is a Indian Muslim, the narrator is of Afghani descent. She couldn't properly pronounce the Urdu/Hindi words properly, the voice of the mom is very Arabic inspired and not the consistent Indian American accent It's extremely distracting and a big let down.

Update: she read Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge like she was Siri. She read "ladoo" a delectable sugar desi sweet in a way that made it bland.

I swear to God im thinking about buying the book because i can't understand the Hindi words she is saying. Who the heck that this was a good idea??!!