Bitter Sweets

This novel starts off in Bangladesh, when Rashid (aka Ricky) Karim, a 17 year old youth with a promising future, is tricked into marrying Henna Rub, a manipulative and deceitful 13 year old, who sees marriage and subsequent motherhood as a way to escape school.

Years later, their daughter Shona elopes with a Pakistani who her family do not approve of. Shona and her husband Parvez run away to London, where money is short, but they are convinced that their love will keep them together. They have twin sons, Omar and Sharif.

As all three generations of the family negotiate their way through life, love and lies, they find themselves seemingly headed on a course to disaster. Will they ever find a way out of their tangled lives?

This book was a show more very pleasant surprise. When I started it, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it, but I found myself hooked on the story and eager to find out what would happen next. The tale takes place in London and Bangladesh, and I enjoyed the descriptions of both places.

If there is a main character, it is probably Shona; she is a beautifully drawn character, and so believable. She is intelligent and compassionate, but also has very human flaws, lying to herself as often as she tries to hide the truth from others. I liked her very much. The other characters are also well developed and easy to believe in.

The storyline had some twists and turns, and kept me hooked. The family soon became ensnared in the tangled web of lies of which they had become part. I had no idea how things would turn out, and thought that the ending when it came was very satisfying. There were themes of humour, sadness, anger and love running throughout the story; the title of this book is very apt, as it was certainly bittersweet.

This is the first book I’ve read by Roopa Farooki, but I am certainly going to seek out her other novels. show less

Roopa Farooki’s delightful confection of a book tells the story of three generations of a family of deceivers. Despite their many peccadilloes – sloth, dishonesty, infidelity and bigamy chief among them – Farooki has created a colourful and loveable bunch of characters that are a complete joy to get to know.

The novel starts with the marriage, under false pretenses, of Henna Rub, an underaged Bengladeshi shopkeeper’s daughter, into the established landowning family of Ricky-Rashid and ends (some fifty years later) with an extended family gathering in a London park for a performance by her grandson’s rock band. In between these two events we follow the family of Henna and her erstwhile husband to London where their only show more daughter, Shona, elopes in a “love marriage” to Parvez, a penniless Pakistani. Shona and Parvez give birth to twin sons – timid, bookish Omar and rakish, womanizing Sharif. These six characters spend the entire novel deceiving one another and, just as often, themselves, in their quest for fulfillment.

While the book has no shortage of light moments, it’s essentially a drama and, as such, I was surprised at how deceptively light and easy it is to read. It has a touch of Moliere about it, with its myriad misshaps, misunderstandings and just misses. As they say, Oh what a tangled web we weave...

It’s one of those rare books that I couldn’t wait to get back to each night, to see what twists the story would take.

The author lets the reader see into the thoughts of all the main characters, jumping from person to person, often within one scene. The technique is effective in creating tension, since the reader always knows when two characters are at cross purposes. This comes particularly useful in a story about a group of liars. But it also creates empathy. Even the least likeable characters are allowed to tell their side of the story and Farooki trusts her readers to formulate their own judgments about them. Even the lazy, narcissistic Henna.

My only complaint is that the resolution happens too suddenly and all seems a bit too pat. Almost as if Farooki ran out of steam. I found the story so enjoyable, the writing style so effortless and breezy and the characters so appealing, which probably explains my disappointment that the whole thing ended a tad too abruptly.

All in all, a sparkling debut. I will definitely check out her future work. show less

Farooki presents a unique balance of the light-hearted and elements of a soap opera in this epic tale that centers on the damage that can be done through deception. This story won't be for everyone and I personally prefer some other books I have read that evoke a similar story or themes (such as Jhumpa Lahiri's work), but it is worth a try for someone seeking something with a little family-focused weight that's not "heavy."

I greatly enjoyed this aptly titled multigenerational saga. The story is intricately woven and transcends nationality and locale. The ending was a little too perfectly tied up but did have a decent twist. I look forward to future books by Farooki.

I was so excited to read this book - especially since its cover boasted similarities to Jhumpa Lahiri as well as Zadie Smith. Marketing based on name-dropping can be seductive; however, in this case it backfires tremendously since the product is so inferior to its proposed company.

First-time author, Roopa Farooki, seems to be constantly trying to convince us that she really is a serious writer in "Bitter Sweets"; however, the one-dimensional characters, artificial situations, and over-explanatory grad-student language can't disguise the banality of it all. The theme of the novel is supposed to be deception, or as it is spelled out on the back cover: "Why is deception so delicious?"

The story involves female trickery to get married, show more mothers who are either too busy for their children or who constantly burn the dinner, secret fertility treatments that turn out "startling" results towards the end of the story, spouses who cheat or become bigamists (but always for justifiable reasons), incestuous (or not?) relationships and, of course, the predictable gay surprise. All in all, it is at times quite entertaining, however, it seems manufactured to appear similar to the current popularity of Indian/Muslim/Culture Clash literature - chick lit light style...

And then there is the language...
It is mostly straight-forward and most everything is tediously explained to bits, but then there are the sprinklings of achingly bad similes and descriptions. I just have to quote some of my favorites:

"His caramel-colored chest was smooth and hairless, and the muscles in his back moved like poetry as he pulled on a pair of casual trousers". (poetry...?)

"The engagement thus confirmed, Ricky truly was the happiest man on earth"

"...(she) was gaining weight at an alarming rate..."

"He kissed her on the forehead again, holding her temples gently on either side. This is what I like about you, right here, in your head. It's like the British Museum, with hidden gifts in hidden rooms. I want to wander in it with you and roam around"

"Ricky felt an icy hand close around his heart - it was too much, it felt like his heart was breaking"

"But he knew that nothing but utter oblivion could take away the pain he felt in the deep pit of his stomach, in the throbbing chambers of his heart which was thumping so loudly he thought the treacherous organ might explode out of his chest and fly after Candida, falling in a bloody, irresolute heap at her terrified feet" (whew...)

In conclusion, this quick-read novel has a tempting premise; however, it is just so painfully trite, including the Disney ending.
Try again, Farooki. show less

Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki (my ARC) is a readable book following the adventures of three generations of an Indian family. Each member of the family shares the same flaw. They are all dishonest liars! As they struggle to control the drama created by deceit, the story develops.
I was not impressed by the lightness of the book. I really dismissed it as being flippant and unrealistic. After all, dishonesty is a serious subject. Several days after finishing the book though, I realized Bitter Sweets was still on my mind. After some thought, I realized that the simple readability, the "too easy" neatness of the plot, the tying together of every loose end, mimicked the very essence of deception. Do you want to tell a good lie? Follow this show more author's writing style! This exploration of human nature would make a fun read at the beach or on a rainy day. show less

Bitter Sweets is the story of three generations of a Pakistani family. Beginning with Ricky-Rashid and his marriage to the duplicitous Henna, the story then jumps to their daughter Shona, who elopes to England. She eventually has two sons, Omar and Sharif. All the major characters engage in lies, lies, and more lies: cheating, adultery, plagiarism, etc. It gets to the point that the characters can't tell the difference between what is real and what is not. Everything comes to a climax when Ricky-Rashid has a heart attack, and the characters are forced to face their deceptions head-on.

The book is excellently written, with an eye for minute detail. Roopa Farooki's writing style reminds me a lot of Zadie Smith, especially with regards to show more the plot. It was maybe for this reason that I really liked this novel. I really look forward to reading more of Farooki's writing in the future. show less