bookpiggy.com - book reviews by a book lover

The Groom to have Been - so why wasn’t he?

         One of the hallmarks of urban centers in North America is the presence if immigrants who have left their home countries in search of a better life, hopefully for themselves but more importantly for their children. Saher Almam’s new book The Groom to have Been documents the life of Nasr, a first generation Canadian born to Indian parents and now living in New York who struggles to mix the strong cultural traditions of his background with the more liberal views of himself and his peers.

        Growing up, his family shared close ties with several other families from the same city in India who had all emigrated at the same time. Between social gatherings and frequent visits to the masjid, Nasr considered these people to be more or less part of his own family, for better or worse. Jameela was his age, and unlike most of the other Muslim girls she was a non-comformist who often fiercly argued her opinions and generated much gossip and controversy in the whispers of the community.  Nasr and Jameela grew up together much like brother and sister, and while he was lauded for pursuing his professional career, there were rumours circulated about why Jameela has not yet taken a husband. By the age of thirty, Nasr too was under intense pressure from his mother in particular to choose a spouse so that she might throw a proper Indian wedding for him. As he prepares to enter an arranged marriage, Jameela too abruptly announces plans to wed Nasr’s cousin, who in the wake of 9/11 decides it best that he and Jameela move to Pakistan to escape persecution. As the day of the ceremony approaches, Nasr realizes he has feelings for Jameela and tries to pursue them before it’s too late. 

       This was an enjoyable book to read and both because the story was good and because I learned a few things about another culture that I didn’t know before. The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was that I think the author worked in ‘the events of September eleventh’ quite unnecessarily as it distracted from the rest of the book. Nonetheless a good read. 

3.8 out of 5 piggy snorts.