ALMOST SINGLE

Author: Advaita Kala ISBN: 9780553386103 3/2009 FICTION Publisher: BANTAM

In a city where old is meeting new, daughters are surprising mothers, and love is breaking all the rules, this heartfelt and wickedly funny cross-cultural debut novel introduces a smart, irreverent young woman searching for independence and matrimony in a culture bound by tradition. Between elegant soirees and the occasional mortifying mishap, Aisha Bhatia’s job as guest relations manager at New Delhi’s five-star Grand Orchid Hotel is intermittently fabulous—she certainly knows her wines and cheeses. But despite a life filled with good friends and first-class travel accommodations, the fact is that not many twenty-nine-year-old women in India are single—as Aisha’s mother never fails to remind her. Somewhere a clock is ticking, though as far as Aisha is concerned, it can be cheerfully drowned out by laughter over a champagne brunch. Yet when the handsomely chiseled Karan Verma arrives from New York, Aisha experiences an unexpected attitude adjustment. Karan is everything she’s ever wanted…that is, if she actually knew what she wanted. Is it possible that she’s about to find out?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

ALMOST SINGLE is a chick lit-ish, light-hearted look at life, love and what it means to be a woman in India. It is a fast, entertaining read that left me feeling like I’d taken a thoroughly enjoyable weekend trip to the exotic country.

Aisha is a modern woman, with a job at a hotel that provides her with means to be independent. However, the family structure she belongs to, as well as the social restraints she confronts, makes her self-sufficient lifestyle less unfettered than one would believe. She is trapped by the expectations put upon women in India, where family members feel no remorse at interfering in her life and the search for a husband is almost the most important part of her world. Still, she bucks the wishes of her friends and family as much as she possibly can, wearing red sneakers and jeans beneath her sari and toilet papering rich men’s rides with a measure of glee usually reserved for teenagers.

Off-beat, but with clever writing and sometimes-serious insights into Indian culture, this story charms from beginning to end. I enjoyed it, and I believe others will, too.

Kay James