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Love Marriage: A Novel by V.V.…
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Love Marriage: A Novel (original 2008; edition 2008)

by V.V. Ganeshananthan

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23764113,222 (3.43)58
In this globe-scattered Sri Lankan family, we speak of only two kinds of marriage. The first is the Arranged Marriage. The second is the Love Marriage. In reality, there is a whole spectrum in between, but most of us spend years running away from the first toward the second. [p. 3] The daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants who left their collapsing country and married in America, Yalini finds herself caught between the traditions of her ancestors and the lure of her own modern world. But when she is summoned to Toronto to help care for her dying uncle, Kumaran, a former member of the militant Tamil Tigers, Yalini is forced to see that violence is not a relic of the Sri Lankan past, but very much a part of her Western present. While Kumaran's loved ones gather around him to say goodbye, Yalini traces her family's roots-and the conflicts facing them as ethnic Tamils-through a series of marriages. Now, as Kumaran's death and his daughter's politically motivated nuptials edge closer, Yalini must decide where she stands. Lyrical and innovative, V. V. Ganeshananthan's novel brilliantly unfolds how generations of struggle both form and fractures families. Praise for Love Marriage "A beautiful first novel. This intricately woven tale, with its universal themes of love and estrangement, presents an exciting new voice in American literature." -Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers "Complex and moving . . . an impressive debut." -Daniel Alarcón, author of Lost City Radio    "V. V. Ganeshananthan has given us a riveting picture of the intersections of love and war that shape us all. A debut of incredible passion and wisdom." -Rebecca Johns, author of Icebergs "At its best and simplest, Ganeshananthan can be profoundly moving. She captures the pain of exile poignantly." --The San Francisco Chronicle "Ganeshananthan has created a slow-burning and beautifully written debut in Love Marriage.  It is an evocative examination of Sri Lankan cultural mores, and the way one family is affected by love and war" -- The Financial Times "Poignant and authentic.... Insight gained into Toronto's Tamil community is a welcome bonus in this gem of a book by a young writer who is sure to present more thought-provoking, entertaining prose in the future." --The Toronto Star "The book is at times witty and always beautifully written" -- The Irish Times "Innovative....this is an ambitious family drama about an underreported part of the world, filled with well-shaded characters [and] gorgeous flourish...Buy it." -- New York Magazine "As if she were stringing a necklace of bright beads, the author relates the stories of Yalini's Sri Lankan forebears in lapidary folkloric narratives...What she does here, she does quite affectingly." -- The Boston Globe "In spare, lyrical prose, V.V. Ganeshananthan's debut novel tells the story of two Sri Lankan Tamil families over four generations who, despite civil war and displacement, are irrevocably joined by marriage and tradition....Powerful." -- Ms. Magazine… (more)
Member:msjoanna
Title:Love Marriage: A Novel
Authors:V.V. Ganeshananthan
Info:Random House Trade Paperbacks (2008), Paperback, 320 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:***
Tags:have, ARC, bookcrossing, bookcrossing TBR

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Love Marriage by V. V. Ganeshanathan (2008)

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» See also 58 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 66 (next | show all)
Nice short read, told me a lot about Sri Lankan Tamils and what it is to be Tamil... ( )
  RekhainBC | Feb 15, 2019 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
I read this book nearly six years ago and have had a great deal of difficulty getting a handle on the overarching theme. I will admit that, if nothing else, it educated me about the political unrest in Sri Lanka that has been ongoing for over thirty years. A fact most Westerners seem to be blissfully unaware of. I was able to learn more about the Tamil Tigers, the militant Sri Lankan rebel group, about whom I had only minimal knowledge based on my familiarity with the Sri Lankan hip-hop artist M.I.A.

Basically, it’s the story of Yalini, the American-born daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants (who are the “love marriage” couple of the book’s title). When her dying uncle, a Tamil Tiger rebel, comes to Toronto to live out his final days, she takes time off school to help care for him. Through conversations with him, his militant daughter Jenani, as well as her parents, she learns the history of her family and their war-torn nation.

The family stories are told as short vignettes, almost like fables. Through these tales Yalini sees that there are many different types of unions, not merely a “Love Marriage” or an “Arranged Marriage.” There is the Outside Marriage, the Cousin Marriage, the Self-Arranged Marriage, the Marriage without Consent, Marriage under Pressure and Marrying the Enemy. Both Yalini and the reader begin to understand that, in life, things are never merely one thing or another. There are many shades of grey in between. While reading of these various unions, I couldn’t help but wonder if the author wasn’t trying to comprehend the seemingly irreconcilable relationship between the Tamils and Sinhalese (who control government and its oppressive regime).

Ganeshananthan is an effective story-teller. I found the individual family vignettes enlightening, sometimes humorous and other times profoundly moving. Her characters are well-fleshed out and sympathetic. But most importantly, she demonstrates that life is complex and there’s more than one side to every story; one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

It just depends on your point of view. ( )
  blakefraina | Oct 2, 2014 |
This is a brilliant and amazing read. The author crafts an engaging story; others have described it here. I, however, will speak to the writing. V.V. has taken seemingly ordinary English words and placed them in a blend that is musical and poetic. Her sentences and paragraphs had me in awe and delight. There are no tricks or contortions. Simple words have been masterfully put together. They conveyed perspective, emotionally tugging and creating a mental surprise. There was dynamic tension and soothing revelation. V.V. kept up this efficient but consistent pace throughout the book. I finished the book last night and felt as if I lost a friend. The rhythm of the writing echoed in me and left me satisfied and wanting more. I highly recommend this book. ( )
  ming.l | Mar 31, 2013 |
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Love Marriage is the first novel of promising young writer V.V. Ganeshananthan. What began as her Harvard senior thesis has blossomed into a multi-generational, multicultural tale of love, tradition, and family.

The fictional story unfolds through the eyes of Yalini, an American-born daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants. As Yalini reveals the secrets of her family's past in Sri Lanka, including the story of her uncle, a former militant Tamil Tiger, readers witness her internal struggle between American modernity and the customs of her ancestors. The thread of differing types of marriages (arranged, love, self-arranged, outside, cousin, village, abroad, without consent, under pressure, proper and improper) unites the pieces of her relative's stories that she can wheedle out of her close-lipped parents. For the rest, she must rely on her dying uncle, whose time is quickly coming to a close.

Reminiscent of Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, Ganeshananthan's Love Marriage has the capability to transcend American indifference, quietly sharing the background and history of a culture frequently identified as the enemy. The novel, well researched and magnificently crafted, will surely (and thankfully) not be the last we see from Ganeshananthan.

Many thanks to LibraryThing and Random House for providing me with an Advance Reader's Edition of this book through the Early Reviewers program. More of my book reviews can be found at: www.libraryscenester.wordpress.com ( )
  erindorney | Sep 14, 2011 |
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In this globe-scattered Sri Lanken family, we speak only of two kinds of marriage.
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This LT Work is V.V. Ganeshananthan's debut novel about fractured family relationships in modern Sri Lanka, Love Marriage (2009). Please distinguish it from the similarly-titled anthology published by Peter Pauper Press, Love & Marriage (1965). Thank you.
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In this globe-scattered Sri Lankan family, we speak of only two kinds of marriage. The first is the Arranged Marriage. The second is the Love Marriage. In reality, there is a whole spectrum in between, but most of us spend years running away from the first toward the second. [p. 3] The daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants who left their collapsing country and married in America, Yalini finds herself caught between the traditions of her ancestors and the lure of her own modern world. But when she is summoned to Toronto to help care for her dying uncle, Kumaran, a former member of the militant Tamil Tigers, Yalini is forced to see that violence is not a relic of the Sri Lankan past, but very much a part of her Western present. While Kumaran's loved ones gather around him to say goodbye, Yalini traces her family's roots-and the conflicts facing them as ethnic Tamils-through a series of marriages. Now, as Kumaran's death and his daughter's politically motivated nuptials edge closer, Yalini must decide where she stands. Lyrical and innovative, V. V. Ganeshananthan's novel brilliantly unfolds how generations of struggle both form and fractures families. Praise for Love Marriage "A beautiful first novel. This intricately woven tale, with its universal themes of love and estrangement, presents an exciting new voice in American literature." -Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers "Complex and moving . . . an impressive debut." -Daniel Alarcón, author of Lost City Radio    "V. V. Ganeshananthan has given us a riveting picture of the intersections of love and war that shape us all. A debut of incredible passion and wisdom." -Rebecca Johns, author of Icebergs "At its best and simplest, Ganeshananthan can be profoundly moving. She captures the pain of exile poignantly." --The San Francisco Chronicle "Ganeshananthan has created a slow-burning and beautifully written debut in Love Marriage.  It is an evocative examination of Sri Lankan cultural mores, and the way one family is affected by love and war" -- The Financial Times "Poignant and authentic.... Insight gained into Toronto's Tamil community is a welcome bonus in this gem of a book by a young writer who is sure to present more thought-provoking, entertaining prose in the future." --The Toronto Star "The book is at times witty and always beautifully written" -- The Irish Times "Innovative....this is an ambitious family drama about an underreported part of the world, filled with well-shaded characters [and] gorgeous flourish...Buy it." -- New York Magazine "As if she were stringing a necklace of bright beads, the author relates the stories of Yalini's Sri Lankan forebears in lapidary folkloric narratives...What she does here, she does quite affectingly." -- The Boston Globe "In spare, lyrical prose, V.V. Ganeshananthan's debut novel tells the story of two Sri Lankan Tamil families over four generations who, despite civil war and displacement, are irrevocably joined by marriage and tradition....Powerful." -- Ms. Magazine

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