The Mango Season

The Mango Season by Amulya Malladi takes us on a trip to today’s India as Priya Rso returns after seven years in America for a visit to her Brahmin family. She finds India dirtier than she remembered, hotter than she can stand and her family even more difficult to get along with than before. Her family are starting to question why, at age twenty-seven, she isn’t married. Her parents are intent on finding suitable suitors. She meets a new aunt but is appalled at how badly the family treat her, she is Indian and from the right caste but grew up in a different province which seems to make her unacceptable. She has something to tell her family, but fears that her announcement will end badly. After all, if they won’t accept an Indian show more girl, what will they say when they learn that Priya is engaged to an American.

Set against the harvesting and preparing of mangoes, the author draws us into this family with it’s larger than life characters. Like the mango, this story is a mixture of sweet and sour. At times it becomes overly dramatic while at others the family dynamics show a great mix of humor, emotion and caring. Of course, this is a multi-generational family that believes in the tradition of arranged marriages, so when Priya finally comes clean there is plenty of passion and controversy.

I enjoyed this story and loved the descriptions of the food, climate and customs of Southern India. Although I would have liked the characters to be more fully drawn, this was a light, informative and interesting read and the slight twist at the end of the book certainly brought a smile to my face. show less

After spending seven years in America, a young Indian woman must return home to tell her parents a secret that will shatter them - she is getting married to a man outside her caste. But when is the proper moment to tell them? Harassed and babied by her mother, there just doesn't seem to be a good time. And with her entire family plotting to marry her quickly to a stranger, it's hard to reject their choices graciously. Trapped between her backwards, bigoted and racist family and the man that she loves, Priyah must learn how to grow up and claim what she desires.

This book was quick and entertaining, but oddly unsettling. Priyah's family seemed like caricatures. It was hard to understand how an intelligent, educated woman could have strong show more feelings for a group of people who treat her like a piece of property. I suppose this must be a cultural difference, but it's very difficult to relate to. show less

This is, surprisingly, a very powerful book about relationships between members of a close family, especially about relationships between members of different generations. Although the central character's family has a great deal of difficulty coming to terms with her decision to marry an American instead of an Indian man of their choosing, in the end they decide that the ties of family are more important than custom and tradition; and they decide to continue to accept her as a member of the family in spite of their strong disapproval and disappointment. As the father of four daughters, I was especially moved by the relationship between Priya and her father, the love that eventually turned the tide in her favor. I very much admired the show more father when he told his father-in-law that he knew that he had raised his daughter well, that he believed she knew that what she was doing was right for her happiness, and that if the grandfather could not accept that it would be the end of the relationships between generations of the family. Given that choice, Priya's hard-headed mother stood by her daughter ,and the grandfather backed down. show less

I loved this book! And it made me soo soo hungry for Indian food!! Growing up I had a close family friend who was South Indian and I loved going to her house and immersing myself in her culture: the food, the Bollywood movies, the spices, the saris, the colors, everything! Since then, I've always had a curiosity and insatiable appetite for all things Indian and this book definitely whet my appetite again!

The story follows Priya, a twenty seven year old women, who is going back to India for the first time in seven years to meet her family. Little do they know that she is engaged to an American, Priya plans on breaking the news to them if she can muster the courage. Once back she gets immersed in the family politics and the dramas, and is show more anxious to leave. But it is mango season and there is pickling to be done so she must tough it out with her family and hope for the best. Can she tell them about her fiance? Will it break their hearts?

Great book, peppered with recipes and good humor. A perfect book club pick :) show less

Priya's visit home let me into a culture I know little about. She was apprehensive to tell her parents that she was engaged to an American. And as I learned more about her and her family her apprehension turned into panic. She could lose her family for someone she loves because they didn't believe Indians should marry anyone but Indians. I thought the story was very interesting. I couldn't believe how racist the family was and how set in their traditional ways. I felt for Priya because she loved her family so much.

“Relationships bound people together to the point that home was a feeling and not a brick structure.”
Almost DNF’ed because I was annoyed- glad I finished it.

This novel is about Priya, a 27-year old Indian woman who is living in the States and is engaged to an American man. She has to face the obstacles as she is about to reveal to her family she is going to marry a non-Indian boy.

It is an entertaining and interesting read, which provides glimpses to the Indian culture and the issues that a woman has to deal with - getting married to a "nice Indian boy" of same/higher caste chosen by the family, producing male heir, dowry ... etc.