The Wedding Tamasha

I know Sudha for more than a year. She was a fellow participant in the Amazon Pen to Publish Contest 2017, we were selected as finalists of the contest, and she eventually went on to win the competition. I had been thinking of reading her book ever since the past year, but I finally got a chance only recently.I had read the sample (the first couple of chapters, I guess) of the book long back, and from that itself I knew that she was a talented author. The admiration only increased as I progressed through the book. Her prose is marvelous. She has employed the third person limited POV approach throughout the book, and she has implemented it almost perfectly, which is commendable for a debut author. The characterization is also done beautifully—using dialogues and actions to gradually “show” their development rather than “telling” it to the readers. I could feel for Shweta, the protagonist, throughout, identify with her fears and inhibitions, and also admire her strength during tough times. The other characters have also been weaved beautifully, each complementing the other and their complex relationships adding a rich flavor to the narrative.The plot is intriguing, and you can’t help but admire its intricacies and the beautiful way in which the interactions between the characters help move the story forward. However, the one flaw that I noticed was that even for a casual reader like me, it was quite easy to predict what would happen at the end. That is something that Sudha does need to work on. One or two scenes in the second half of the book were a bit too dramatic for my liking, but on the positive side, I did get emotional towards the end, which always feels satisfying in a book. Actually, this book would be absolutely perfect for a Bollywood movie; it has all the elements of a blockbuster.The language is classy, and the editing is nearly flawless. I could not find any grammatical errors, and considering how observant I am about this aspect of writing, Sudha deserves accolades for producing such a neat book. I did observe a couple of missing punctuation marks, but that is totally forgivable in a 280-page book. I loved how she has used short, clean paragraphs instead of long ones that make reading cumbersome. Her vocabulary is excellent, and she possesses a huge repertoire of phrases, both of which she uses expertly in her narrative. Another wonderful thing I noticed was how, despite her lucid, easily-understandable language, she plays with metaphors occasionally and weaves lyrical prose that would delight even those readers who like wordplay. Similarly, she has managed to maintain a perfect balance between over and insufficient description, which is the hallmark of a proficient author. I also loved the vivid descriptions of the food, the culture, and the traditions, especially the food which made my mouth water many times. Not many authors can achieve all this in their very first novel.The only other—minor—issue I found was one particular aspect of the relationship between Max and Shweta. It felt a bit unnatural for a married Indian woman who is quite new to the US to get so comfortable and even end up living together with a man, despite him being gay. But that is just my personal opinion, and other readers might feel otherwise.Overall, I think this is a fantastic effort by a debut author, and her future looks very bright in the Indian literary industry. 4.3 stars from my side.

I chose to give a 5 on 5 for this book. Reason being, it is such a beauty that the author made sure to take us to the imaginary world and she made sure that we are too succumbed to kno how Shwetha's life has been destined to.What I like the most in the book is considering the current generation, there are millions of girls who goes thru a divorce in life.. reading such books would give a ray of hope to have a happy ending just like Shwetha's.. this book gives us a hope that there is light despite of all the darkness in life.

The Wedding Tamasha isn't a bad book. It starts off interestingly, with an American cop coming face to face with the protagonist, Shwetha. The scenes set in the USA are actually the best part about the book. (The passport bit, though, left me scratching my head in confusion.) It's only when the story shifts to India that the pace slows down and the book becomes one long TV serial. I didn't really admire Niru as a character--he had nothing likeable about him, and he was just not needed. Shwetha's father was another a*****e. Raj was a great character with untapped potential. The end and epilogue were too mushy for my taste. Maybe turning it into an out-and-out food-porn novel would have helped, considering culinary descriptions are another strong point about the book. A good developmental edit and a better title would have turned it into a pièce de résistance. Still, read it for the sadya and great, glorious food.

"Whatever I do next will be for the right reasons, not for the sake of convenience, And only for love."The Wedding TamashaSudha NairWeddings are always fun to attend. And its an unwritten ritual for South Indian families to plant the seed for another wedding(s) in one wedding. The Wedding Tamasha is one such story, a light read in my opinion which I needed most right now as all my last reads are either serious or self help.The protagonist Shweta trying to escape the clutches of an abusive arranged marriage and her father trying to mend it at all costs for the sake of family's respect, the "respect to elder" card easily pulled out the moment kids speak their mind, the gossiping aunties are all too familiar .With the marriage of her brother Simbu fast approaching, her husband Raj makes to it from US with the intent of getting back with her. Things get complicated when her teenage crush Niru pops up in her life again. Marriage plans for Niru with Trisha whom he meets in the wedding gets seeded in both their family members mind during Simbu's marriage,while Niru harbors unprofessed love for Shweta too and lost his chance earlier.Did Shweta get out of her abusive marriage past her father's conservative mind set? Did Niru find the courage to express his love for Shweta or failed again and ended up with Trisha ? Did the untold love story of Niru and Shweta had a happily ever after or did they gave up on love for the sake of family's honour? is the storyline.I loved the description of the wedding and the related functions. And was more in love with the part where food preparation for the wedding comes up in detail, which reminded me of my friend's wedding I attended in Kerala.The characters are all lively and well described and even though the plot was bit predictable like a familiar neighbourhood family drama still its a good, fun read in my opinion.

It's a very good story, I loved everything about the story from Start to finish. Definitely deserves the 5 stars

Was a cute and romantic read. Fast paced and kept you hooked till the very end. Enjoyed reading this book 😁.

Brilliant story line. Very life like. Sudha has managed to capture the essence of a Malayali father who is overprotective of his daughters and paint a living picture of each character very thoroughly. Could not put the book down. Look forward to more books from Ms. Nair!

I have read many books by Indian writers but I found this book very dull. The plot was boring and the storyline was suitable for a young teenager except for a few silly scenes.I am sorry Nair must think carefully before writing.Some of the characters eg Max needed more explanation about his character.

Simple love story that has been Narrated very well. I loved the way the protagonist has been portrayed so strong yet so simple!