In this globe-scattered Sri Lankan family, we speak of only two kinds of marriage. The first is the Arranged Marriage. The second is the Love Marri...
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Jan 29, 2012
Writerlibrarian
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The story of a family of the Tamoul diaspora through the eyes of a daughter trying to make sense of her life, her parents and her origins. This is a classic for a first novel, the quest for where we came from and trying to figure out where we are and where we are going. I didn't know much about Sri Lanka history, the Tamoul, the social upheavals, etc.
It's also about someone not fitting into the country where she is born and not really connected to the place people assume she is fro More...
It's also about someone not fitting into the country where she is born and not really connected to the place people assume she is fro More...
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Sep 24, 2008
Christa
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This was an interesting novel written from the perspective of a young girl who was born in America of Sri Lankan parents. The main character, Yalini, is the only child of parents who met after they each left Sri Lanka and settled in the United States. The book is written in very short chapters that make it easy and quick to read. The title of the book refers to the marriages of most people of Sri Lanka - the Arranged Marriage and its opposite, The Love Marriage, and all of the variations and
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Dec 13, 2009
Ashley
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(3 1/2 stars)
Love Marriage was certainly a solid first novel. Ganeshananthan explores not only the life of a young Sri Lankan woman living in America, but also the lives of several generations of her family and the history of her country.
One thing I enjoyed about this novel was the structure. Ganeshananthan focuses each section on a certain character and their ancestors, so that the reader discovers much more about them. All of this background (which is detailed, but More...
Love Marriage was certainly a solid first novel. Ganeshananthan explores not only the life of a young Sri Lankan woman living in America, but also the lives of several generations of her family and the history of her country.
One thing I enjoyed about this novel was the structure. Ganeshananthan focuses each section on a certain character and their ancestors, so that the reader discovers much more about them. All of this background (which is detailed, but More...
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Apr 06, 2011
Reema
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subtle, moving, sharply perceptive debut novel about a sri lankan/american family's coming to terms with the cost of sri lanka's war. loved the clean, unfussy language, the complex weaving of various family narratives, the hard-eyed look at the unending reach of war, and the funny/compassionate/complex take on the blurry line between love marriage and arranged marriage. while this was a political novel in that it engaged very seriously with the presence of explosive political events in very priv
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Sep 02, 2009
Beth
rated it:
A novel and a meditation on the role of marriage in Sri Lankan culture, especially in the diaspora. The author uses an unusual structure in her book--not typical chapters, but sections of a few pages or less with the beginnings indicated by type treatment only. As a book designer I appreciated the simplicity and elegance of the design. As a reader I at first wasn't sure I liked it--old habits die hard, even for someone who reads a lot of contemporary fiction and doesn't mind the occasional postm
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Dec 07, 2010
Heina
rated it: 
This book is not only poetically written, it is quite informative on the situation occurring with the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. However, ultimately, as a novel, Love Marriage fails. Its vignette style is very difficult to follow in places, especially where the names and identities of the characters begin to blur together. The narrator, Yalini, is a rather flat excuse for a character, and the fact that she exists at all confuses me, as the style seems more first person omniscient than anything e
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Mar 20, 2011
Ming
rated it: 
This is a brilliant and amazing read. The author crafts an engaging story; others have described it here. I, however, will speak to the writing. V.V. has taken seemingly ordinary English words and placed them in a blend that is musical and poetic. Her sentences and paragraphs had me in awe and delight. There are no tricks or contortions. Simple words have been masterfully put together. They conveyed perspective, emotionally tugging and creating a mental surprise. There was dynamic ten
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Apr 08, 2010
Josee
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J'ai lu ce livre en français. Excellente traduction mais il faut dire que le style est simple. Livre fort intéressant pour qui ne connait rien sur les Tamouls et le conflit au Sri Lanka. La famille et les effets de la famille sur la vie des autres surtout lorsque sa vie se déroule à l'extérieur du pays d'origine. Les coutumes, le mariage comme fil qui relie les habitudes et coutumes et permet d'introduire les différents personnages. Une approche originale..... Ce livre donne le goût de lire autr
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Jul 30, 2011
its the familiar south asian immigrant story to usa,abit like the namesake by jhumpa lahiri.
it just adds the tamil conflict angle on it, its a decent novel, nothing great about it, the narrator is hard to realte to, the style maybe too confusing and theres complete lack of dialogue, unusual for a western novel. it gets interesting towards the end but then i think the attempt to try a marquez style anecdotal stories about family members lack the great writers eloqunce and skill. still its interes More...
it just adds the tamil conflict angle on it, its a decent novel, nothing great about it, the narrator is hard to realte to, the style maybe too confusing and theres complete lack of dialogue, unusual for a western novel. it gets interesting towards the end but then i think the attempt to try a marquez style anecdotal stories about family members lack the great writers eloqunce and skill. still its interes More...
Jul 12, 2011
Alison
rated it:
V.V. Ganeshananthan wrote this in a very unique style that took me a while to get used to. Once I got used to the writing, though, I enjoyed the way it flowed, and the way she wove the different stories together. For me, the most interesting part was reading about the Sri Lankan history. I have very little knowledge about any of the events she discussed in her book, and after (and while) reading the book, I spent a lot of time learning about them on the internet. Overall, it was an enjoyable
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Nov 20, 2010
Kate
rated it:
A story of many generations of a Sri Lankan (predominantly Tamil) family, told by a girl in the youngest generation currently living in Canada. It's fiction, but read like a documentation of her family history. The titled is misleading insofar as any romance of parents, aunt and uncles, etc. is told from a distance, as handed down by generations. That being said, I smiled many times throughout the book, and shuddered as well, for the novel doesn't shy away from the horrific violence in Sri Lanka
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Jun 12, 2011
Hafsa
rated it:
You know that queasy feeling you get when you somehow manage to make too many claims and too many assumptions about a subject that you know all too well. Well for anyone who does make those claims and assumptions, this novel should give enough substance for a nauseatic experience. If this isn’t cryptic enough for an introduction, stay and read on.
The story revolves around Yalini, a first generation American young woman born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents. She is forced to grapple with h More...
The story revolves around Yalini, a first generation American young woman born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents. She is forced to grapple with h More...
Mar 22, 2009
Elissa
rated it: 
I wrote a longer review on this, then facebook lost my goodreads acct... can't recreate it... but simply put, this was a fabulous opportunity for a writer to give insight inside the Tamil Tigers, and is horribly disappointing for being so poorly written. The writer tries to do that "I'm being artistic, so not going to connect the dots" -- but it really comes across that she is not competent or knowledgeable enough with her material to actually give any insider insight. I wanted to li
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May 02, 2009
Claire
rated it:
Love and Marriage: Review
This review may contain spoilers, I didn’t check that box because it isn’t really that kind of book. However if you’re a reader who likes to know things only via the author, and beforehand to know only what’s on the book covers, you probably don’t want to read this.
This novel of a family tapestry woven with many threads including those of terrorism will impact you not due to the intensely sensational nature but instead due to it’s quiet inte More...
This review may contain spoilers, I didn’t check that box because it isn’t really that kind of book. However if you’re a reader who likes to know things only via the author, and beforehand to know only what’s on the book covers, you probably don’t want to read this.
This novel of a family tapestry woven with many threads including those of terrorism will impact you not due to the intensely sensational nature but instead due to it’s quiet inte More...
Nov 07, 2008
Jlelliott
rated it:
I almost immediately fell in love with the staccato rhythm of the blunt sentences and short chapters in V. V. Ganeshananthan’s first novel, Love Marriage. Love Marriage is the aggregate love story of narrator Yalini’s Sri Lankan ancestors, a compare and contrast of the many different forms the social contract of marriage can take. The stories of each pair of relations form a series of lovely vignettes, many of which have a beautiful internal symmetry: in one story Yalini’s father grows up thinki
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Apr 07, 2009
TIGER BURNING BRIGHT
Gail Tsukiyama
A Review of Love Marriage
By V.V. Ganeshananthan
Random House
IN SPARE, LYRICAL PROSE, V.V. Ganeshananthan’s debut novel tells the story of two Sri Lankan Tamil families over four generations who, despite civil war and displacement, are irrevocably joined by marriage and tradition. At the heart of the story is American-born Yalini, 22, the only child of Tamil immigrants. Her father eventually becomes a doctor, her mother a More...
Gail Tsukiyama
A Review of Love Marriage
By V.V. Ganeshananthan
Random House
IN SPARE, LYRICAL PROSE, V.V. Ganeshananthan’s debut novel tells the story of two Sri Lankan Tamil families over four generations who, despite civil war and displacement, are irrevocably joined by marriage and tradition. At the heart of the story is American-born Yalini, 22, the only child of Tamil immigrants. Her father eventually becomes a doctor, her mother a More...
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Jun 06, 2008
Sarah
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An Ameircan-born daughter of Sri Lankan Tamil immigrants, Yalini has always been caught between cultures. Now off at college, she is asked to rejoin her family and help to care for her estranged uncle, Kumaran, who has come to spend his final dying days with his family. As Yalini looks after her uncle, she begins to record the history of her family and the relationships and conflicts that have shaped it. Yalini struggles to identify with the traditions and history of her family and find her plac
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Jul 21, 2008
Camille
rated it:
I would not have finished this book if I hadn't been reading it for a review. Here is the LibraryThing Early Reviewer Review I wrote:
This book explores the story of a family across time, geography, and culture. It is told from the perspective of the daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants, Yalini, who struggles with what it means to exist in two cultural worlds.
The book is full of historical information about the Tamil Tigers and the political history of Sri Lanka. Unfortunately thi More...
This book explores the story of a family across time, geography, and culture. It is told from the perspective of the daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants, Yalini, who struggles with what it means to exist in two cultural worlds.
The book is full of historical information about the Tamil Tigers and the political history of Sri Lanka. Unfortunately thi More...
Dec 13, 2008
Alea
rated it:
Love Marriage is the story of Yalini, an American born daughter of a Sri Lankan family. She and her family care for her dying uncle she had never met and through this she learns and keeps a record of the past generations of her family and the turmoil in Sri Lanka.
I really enjoyed the writing style of this book, little vignettes about her different relatives, usually related to if they got married/how/to who. I especially liked the story of Yalini's, father's mother, Tharshi. At firs More...
I really enjoyed the writing style of this book, little vignettes about her different relatives, usually related to if they got married/how/to who. I especially liked the story of Yalini's, father's mother, Tharshi. At firs More...
Jan 19, 2012
Kevin
rated it:
A look at the life of a Sri Lankan-American girl torn between her comfy life in the United States and the war-torn Sri Lanka that her family is still very much tied to. The author has an unorthodox style of painting a portrait of a certain event pivotal to each character's life in a single chapter, however lengthy or brief it needs to be, and left unnumbered. Sounds like the story may be tricky to follow, but it is so easy to follow.
May 27, 2010
Claire
rated it:
A nice quick and somewhat interesting novel about two-sides of a family divided by time and distance - one stayed in Sri Lanka and spent decades in the Tamil Tigers movement and one moved to the US and followed the war through news reports...interesting when the two young cousins meet and have difficulty bridging the gaps in their experience and the lens through which they understand their Sri Lankan heritage.
Dec 06, 2010
Jessamyn
rated it:
Good read with a strong story-line. However, I felt as though there were several characters at different points in time, and it was difficult to follow. Also, I felt as though we'd get more of a character "wrap up" of the heroine at the end which we did not.
But the portrayl of the Tamil community was fantastic. Really strong young auther and impressive showing for a first novel.
But the portrayl of the Tamil community was fantastic. Really strong young auther and impressive showing for a first novel.
Nov 19, 2009
Geetly
rated it:
The novel explores the ways in which war(in this case the civil war of Sri Lanka) affects not only the ones directly involved but the families and even the forthcoming generations. And not just war. Its all about how the characteristics, attitudes and even philosophies run down generations in a family. That's what makes a family tree in the real sense. An interesting insight into war affected families, trying extremely hard to detach themselves of all traces of the dark past, but in vain afteral
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Jan 09, 2012
Autumn
rated it:
This novel started out strong but I never connected to the narrator enough to get well-invested. The story was about others more than her so we don't really get to connect with her until close to the end. The character of the father could have kept me going as well but the story turned toward the uncle who just I just didn't care for. Lovely writing though.
Mar 10, 2011
Heidi
rated it:
This is one of those books where the narrator in the present is kind of dreary and unlikeable, but the flashbacks are intriguing and you think, "I want to know more about those characters and those situations!" There is a lot of interesting history regarding Sri Lanka, and for that I was glad to have read the book.
Jan 24, 2011
Jenifer
rated it:
This could have been a great book. The plot was very intriguing but the writing style severely hampered it. I had trouble with the shifting story lines and sorting out who was who. Also, the first person narrator was not a very strong character and she could have used more fleshing out.
Dec 04, 2008
Emily
rated it:
this book was lovely. i came to it knowing sugi (now v.v.), having gone to school with her, and left feeling very enriched. i also realized how little i knew about why the tamil tigers became a militant movement. she really weaves it in gracefully.
Dec 02, 2008
Elizabeth
rated it:
It's been awhile since I've read this book but I recall that I enjoyed seeing how relationships for Sri Lankan women are formed and how culture influences it in turn. Mostly this book made me hungry for a curry.
Kidding.
Kidding.
Aug 01, 2011
Heidi
rated it:
Tämä jäi kesken. Teksti oli kaunista, mutta kun kirjailijan tarkoitus oli vain ja ainoastaan sivistää meitä sri lankan tamilien kärsimyksistä, mielenkiinto otti ja lopahti. Tästä ei löytynyt sen enempää kiinnostavaa tarinaa kuin henkilöitäkään.
Dec 18, 2009
Dominique
rated it:
This is surprisingly not as cheesy as the title implies. The author is one of the few Sri Lankan Tamil author's who has a better grip on the reality of the LTTE -- their purpose, funding, and future.
