The Sari Shop Widow by Shobhan Bantwal - Paperback

Very Happy Customer!

I really liked this novel. It is very well written and the author has done a great job!I would recommend this to everyone as the story is beautiful, the explanation of every little expression is just amazing!

It's not that there's anything to DISLIKE about this novel. It's a decent plot and refreshing to read a novel about Indian immigrants that isn't depressing or heavy. However, it was entirely too predictable and the two main characters, Anjali Kapadia and Rishi Patel, were cliches. The novel also dragged on a bit longer than it needed to. If you are looking for a quick "masala" read, this isn't a terrible way to spend an afternoon but if you are looking for more than a superficial romance novel, look elsewhere.

I thought I would get a thoughtful insight into the Indian immigrant culture from this book. It falls very short of that. The writing and language is simple, the characters are straight forward and the book is bland. SPOILER ALERT - Girl sad from her dead husband, girl puts her heart into shop; shop is in financial trouble -> parents call the uncle from India to help. Uncle is known to be evil and unscrupulous. Uncle comes and moves into their New Jersey house. Uncle turns out to be not so evil after all. Uncle arrives with hot interesting partner. Hot interesting partner puts the moves on girl and wins her heart. Shop gets out of trouble, girl very happy.

This book was light and crisp as the warm summer air. It was very juicy, and an easy read. There's a cute love story in this book, though predictable and often soap opera-ish you will not want to put this book down until you finish reading! The descriptions of the various Indian fabrics (as the story is set in a Sari Shop Boutique) are quite beautiful and well written. If you want your typical heroine with the happy ending set in the modern day with many complications and life's twists, I would highly suggest you read this book!If you are expecting something from the Bronte sisters (wuthering heights or jane eyre) that is not what this is; think more Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants but with an Indian twist and only 1 main character.