Publishers Weekly
A thriving arranged-marriage bureau in contemporary India resides at the heart of Zama's charming debut. The customers who visit Mr. Ali's bureau-a project he began in retirement to pass the time-are mostly pragmatists: they look for mates based on height, complexion, caste, economic status and religion. As business picks up, Mr. Ali, a Muslim, takes on a young assistant, Aruna, a poor Hindu girl, who helps him formulate happy unions. While the bureau prospers, Mr. Ali and his wife contend with their headstrong son, a human rights advocate who worries them constantly, and Aruna faces her dismal home life and a handsome young client who may want more from her than lists of potential matches. Zama's strength is in showing the love that makes the matchmaking system possible, looking at the reciprocity, trust and devotion that underlie marriage. Though the dialogue can tend toward the wooden and some problems work out too tidily, Zama's delightful world of mid-morning tea breaks, afternoon siestas, picnics in mango groves and meddlesome aunties is a pleasant place to hang out. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Library Journal
Mr. Ali, a retiree in a city in southern India, decides he needs something to do and opens a marriage bureau. He is soon so swamped with business that to assist him he hires a young woman named Aruna, whose Brahmin family has fallen on hard times. Zama is an admirer of Jane Austen, and though his debut does not exactly parallel one of her novels, there is a Mr. Darcy figure in the person of a handsome young doctor. The author also touches upon such pertinent topics as the caste system, the perils of political protest in India, and how the ordinary Indian is at the mercy of corrupt officials. But mostly this is a delightfully exotic love story (to Western readers anyway) with engaging characters and a happy ending. Mainly appealing to readers with some interest in Indian culture and customs.
—Leslie Patterson
Kirkus Reviews
A deft, warmhearted debut from Indian-born Londoner Zama about a retired civil servant who opens a matchmaking service on the verandah of his South Indian home. Growing bored of a life of leisure and not nearly pious enough to spend his days praying and socializing in the local mosque, Mr. Ali clearly has to do something to get out of Mrs. Ali's hair. Enter Ali's Marriage Bureau, boasting the "widest choice among Hindu, Muslim, Christian Brides/Grooms." That is not true, but with a combination of common sense and clever grassroots marketing, Ali, a born people person, soon has a bustling little business. His clients range from a nerdy salesman who doesn't quite get why a prospective bride and her parents would not be fascinated by valves, to a tiny young woman whose father insists she get a tall groom to give his future grandchildren the chance at normal height. Business is good enough for Ali to hire an assistant, a young woman named Aruna. Sweet-natured and modest, she shows a real aptitude for the job, which she needs to help support her parents and younger sister. Though Aruna secretly longs to be a bride, she has resigned herself to the fact that her proud, penniless family cannot afford the lush Hindu wedding and dowry expected of their aristocratic Brahmin caste. Fate seems cruel, then, when the eminently eligible young doctor Ramanujam walks into the bureau with his family looking for a suitable girl to settle down with. He and Aruna hit it off, but their future looks dicey. Love matches are frowned upon in this community mired in tradition, and it is up to Ali to come up with a solution that will make everyone happy-if such a thing is possible. The novel touches upon thereligious, class and gender inequalities of modern Indian society without getting weighed down by them. A charming, modest cross-cultural confection. Fans of Alexander McCall Smith's intrepid Precious Ramotswe are likely to find an equally engaging protagonist in Mr. Ali. Agent: Cecile Barendsma/Janklow & Nesbit
DECEMBER 2009 - AudioFile
In a modern city in India, Mr. Ali hangs a sign, places a classified ad, and launches a marriage bureau. Though not an expert in India's ancient custom of matchmaking, Mr. Ali finds quick success because of his tenacity and charming patience. Narrator Tania Rodrigues's gentle tone does little to enhance the novel’s uneventful opening but serves well when the clever Mrs. Ali recruits a new assistant for Mr. Ali—Aruna. From a poor Hindu family, Aruna must forgo her advanced education to earn an income and is unlikely to marry because her family cannot afford a dowry. Rodrigues infuses Aruna's delicate optimism with intelligence and warmth, and adds graceful Indian pronunciations. With Rodrigues's subtle characterizations, this simple story becomes a soothing escape into a fascinating culture. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
