The Sari Shop Widow

Anjali Kapadia is a 37 year old widow who dreams of owning her own chain of upscale Indian boutiques. She sink all her savings into upgrading her parent’s Sari shop in New Jersey’s Little India, turning it into the boutique: Sari’s and Sapphires. She happily designs and sells her beautiful contemporary Indian designs until one day her father announces that their business is failing and that he has called upon his tough, overbearing older brother to help them out. Anjali fears the worst—that her uncle will force them to sell or he’ll decide to take over her business. And when her uncle arrives from India with a business partner, a handsome 42-year-old Indo-Brit, her fears seem to be coming true...What ensues is a rather show more predictable romance, but with an ethnic flavor. Nothing spectacular, but good for a cozy afternoon by the fire or a beach read. show less

Ugh. And this book looked so good when I saw it in the library... attractive cover, intriguing premise (albeit a little unoriginal, but I thought it might be interesting from an Indian perspective), author with several other books under her belt known as 'Bollywood-in-a-Book' stories. This one was apparently a bit of a departure for her, as it's set in the U.S. rather than India, and it's a little more 'chick lit' in tone... but ultimately I was sorely disappointed.

The main character is perfect. Oh, how I abhor perfection in main characters. The only flaw she has is falling for the wrong guy and having casual sex with him now and then, but even that isn't portrayed as a "bad" thing because it's her only attempt at being with a man since show more her husband died ten years ago.

This woman is in her early thirties, and yes, I understand that the grieving period can last for a very, very, very, long time. I certainly would mourn my husband for decades, so I can understand that, but at some point you really do have to move on -- especially so young! According to the story, the main character's marriage was so brief that as a reader, I wondered whether she really had a chance to get to know her husband, and as a result, why did she keep moping about ten years later?!?

Oh, but back to the story. The characters are flat. The romance is contrived and there's no chemistry between the main character and the love interest. We get chapters from the POV of the love interest that are: a) not believable as a man's voice; b) boring as heck; c) consisting mostly of mooning about how perfect the main character is and how he loves her even more because she doesn't know how wonderful she is.

The most interesting part of the story was the subplot of the rich, dying (oh nooo, spoiler that you saw coming ten miles away!) uncle -- well, that is, until he stopped being obstinate (read: having a personality) and became as bland as the rest of the cast.

I wondered if maybe this novel was a fluke -- an experiment that didn't quite work out for the author. I've looked up her other novels on Amazon and on here, and unfortunately... none of her other books seem to garner all that much praise, either. How disappointing! To be quite honest, I might try her newest book (released next month, The Unexpected Son... touchstone not working ) simply due to curiosity, but if it's as poorly constructed as this one, I won't finish it and I'll just have to admit that this author's work is not for me. show less

I was not as enchanted with this book as I'd hoped to be. There were small nuggets of life in an Indian family or living as a woman of Indian heritage in New Jersey that were interesting, but somehow, the story lacked passion to me (which is kind of ironic since it was a love story.) I think also stumbling into dacoits (armed bandits of the sort who killed my brother last year in India) probably did not help me find a "happy place" with this book.

One thing that was interesting was that a huge premise of the book was that being a widow was not a death sentence for a woman. While I wholeheartedly agree, I can't say that Anjali's life was necessarily proof of that. She was active in her work but her world certainly didn't expand much show more beyond the shop -- they'd come home to sleep and eat food they'd carried out from a restaurant because they were too tired to cook. Then wake up in the morning and go back to the shop. That's a pretty narrow space to dance in, it seems. Or at least it seems to me. Makes the title just a little more telling. show less

Set in Edison, NJ, this romance tells of a 30-something widow who is a fashion designer and owner of a sari shop with her parents. When the business founders, her overbearing but business-smart uncle arrives from India to advise, and he brings a surprise guest, whom he hopes will marry his niece. After a few twists and turns, all's well, as might be expected. The cultural setting was interesting, especially since I have family in Edison, but the plot (initial distrust, misunderstandings, family connivings, and the inevitable reconciliation) were a bit too pat for me. Fans of the genre might like it, though.

As this book opens, Anjali is helping her parents run the Silk and Sapphires boutique in a community known as Little India in New Jersey. After her beloved husband passed away ten years before, she has invested all that she had into the little boutique, so she definitely has a vested interest in the success of the business. Anjali found that she had quite a knack for design so she ran that aspect of the business while her father took care of the administrative side.

Anjali has noticed that business has been a bit slow lately, so she really wasn't too surprised when her father informed her that the boutique is in serious financial trouble and they stand to lose everything. Not knowing where to turn, her father decides to seek advice from show more his older brother Jeevan. Jeevan has been known to always have a good head for business and if anyone was going to help them get out of this jam he knew Jeevan would be the one to accomplish the task.

Since uncle Jeevan lives in India, he has only been to the United States to visit his family a few times, but the impression from those few visits as being the rich, tyrant uncle was embedded into everyone's minds. When Anjali and her parents are informed that Jeevan will be helping them with their dilemma, and he will be staying with them until the task is completed, everyone is on pins and needles awaiting the arrival of this demanding man. When he does show up at their doorstop everyone is quite shocked when they find that not only will he be staying with them for the duration of the project, but he has also brought along his business partner Rishi as a consultant.

As Rishi and Anjali are working so closely to get the store on the right track they can't help but notice the spark that has been created between them. Anjali knows that she hasn't felt anything like this since she lost her husband but is worried about the outcome of their relationship if it should develop. She thinks that after his consultation project is over he will be on his way and out of her life, so she finds it very difficult to let her guard down around Rishi and allow her to share her true feelings.

While Rishi and Anjali are appearing to be building a relationship, Jeevan uses this time to try to mend his own relationships with his family. As the story develops we find that Jeevan came to the United States with his own secrets and we learn more about what made him the businessman that he has become. It is not until Jeevan confides honestly in his family that they can finally come to terms with his demanding ways and accept him wholly into their lives.

I believe that this book may fall into the romance genre, but to me it was really much more than that. This book really gives you a good taste of the Indian culture. It helped me to visualize the beauty of the elegant silk fabrics and smell the aroma of the ethnic foods. I loved how this novel shared the importance of family bonds, stressing that when one is in trouble you strive together as a unit to work it out. show less

This book was terrible! I guess I picked the book by its name, because that was the only good thing about it. Don't bother.

I love this book. I was in love from the first page to the last, front to back cover. Do need to say more!!!