For the Blessings of Jupiter and Venus

December 16, 2024
When well-traveled and highly educated Meena Mehra opts for an arranged marriage to politician Avinash Sehrawat, her decision comes with a fair share of misgivings, though she comforts herself on the wedding day with a reminder that “arranged marriage wasn’t strange… after all, could any woman say, years later, that on her wedding day she’d really known the man she was marrying?” Though Meena’s mother and sister harbor doubts, Meena and Avi are hopeful: they’ve adjusted their careers for work that will afford a family life in their Ohio town, and they both understand the need to balance tradition with their desire to connect on a deeper level.
Gauri’s vibrant characters steal the spotlight in this thoughtful debut, with the most memorable—Rav Uncle—coming across as both horrendous and, at times, hilarious. He is loud, aggressive, and full of himself, riding roughshod over people’s emotions and sensibilities, even as he desperately tries to hide his vulnerabilities beneath a veneer of authoritarian bluster. Avi and Meena are equally well fleshed out, with entirely relatable confusions and conflicts, but the character readers will find themselves rooting for the most turns out to be Peeku: vulnerable, confused, intimidated by his overbearing father, but standing up for himself and making his own decisions in the end.
Peeku’s position serves as a metaphor for the deeper themes at play here, as each character comes to terms with their reverence for tradition in the midst of a contemporary world that calls for flexibility: Meena, who longs for passionate intimacy with Avi even as she espouses the perks of arranged marriage; Avi, who considers his views more modern but still suffers disappointment when Meena falls outside the “maternal archetype”; and Peeku, who naively believes that love truly conquers all. This is an often funny and thought-provoking tale on the nature of love and long-term relationships in a world that glorifies individualism.
Takeaway: Refreshing take on arranged marriage and small-town American politics.
Comparable Titles: Akhil Sharma’s Family Life, Manju Kapur’s The Immigrant.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A