Bitter Sweets

July 16, 2007
This rollicking debut from former London ad exec Farooki weaves “an audacious network of lies as elaborate and brazen as the golden embroidery on scarlet wedding sari.” Henna, an illiterate 13-year-old Calcutta shopkeeper’s daughter, is passed off as the educated 17-year-old daughter of a successful businessman in order to marry her into one of the city’s best families. The lie reverberates deliciously through three generations of Henna’s family: Farooki’s witty narrative winds its way over some 50 years, moving Henna, husband Rashid (“Ricky”) and daughter Shona from Calcutta to Bangladesh, Pakistan and London, where Shona elopes and raises her twin boys above a confectioner’s shop. Unflinching insights into Henna and others are well done, and allusions to literature and philosophy buoy them up. Farooki pulls off a lightly spun epic tale with effortless charm and more than enough delightful twists to keep pages turning. Even the characters’ most unexpected and disastrous choices seem somehow inevitable, and one is quickly resigned to rooting for the wily woman at the center.

September 1, 2007
Farooki's delightful debut novel commences in India, where Heena Rub and her father trick the Westernized and wealthy Ricky-Rashid Karim into marrying the illiterate Heena. Heena's initial deceit begets a string of deceptions that twists through succeeding generations. Daughter Shona continues the family tradition when she and her secret Pakistani boyfriend lie in order to elope and move to London. There they build a new life with twin sons Omar and Sharif. Shona remains complicit in maintaining the deceitful tradition until the expansive conspiratorial web of dishonesty and double lives threatens her sons' future. Farooki's tale almost spins out of control but finally remains true to the classical tradition of comedy, and all ends well. Along the way, Farooki entertains with witty language and lighthearted commentary on the South Asian immigrant experience. Readers expecting more lyrical writing and harder-hitting commentary should check out the likes of Salman Rushdie, Bharati Mukherjee, Arundati Roy, or Anita Desai, but with this work Farooki joins the rapidly growing ranks of talented South Asian writers writing in English.Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of Oregon Lib., Eugene

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2007
Adult/High School-This multicultural comedy of manners stretches from the 1950s to the present. Nadim, a Bengali shopkeeper, comes from a long line of liars. His greatest deception has led to the marriage of his lazy, uneducated 13-year-old daughter into the wealthy Karim family of Calcutta. Henna, this child bride, is a manipulative, over-the-top adulteress. Duped groom Ricky-Rashid achieves his lifelong goals of becoming a successful businessman and finding true love late in life, but theres a catch: he becomes a guilt-ridden polygamist in the process. Aziz has had a crush on Henna since the beginning and takes over brother Ricky-Rashids role as the caretaker of family land and becomes Hennas lover. Other members of the extended family include Shona, who elopes to London with a distant Punjabi relative; Omar, who is in the closet; and Dermot, who wants Shona to himself. Numerous other characters are witting and unwitting collaborators to deceits, secrets, and even ignorance. Through the comfortably flawed, self-deceptive, clandestine behavior of its characters, this novel achieves a level of human realism that is at once hilarious, intriguing, and achingly cringe-worthy. This is one confection that is as literarily satisfying as it is delectable."Shannon Peterson, Kitsap Regional Library, WA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2007
This sparkling, fresh debut follows three generations of a family caught up in the web of their own deceit. When scholarly Rashid weds beautiful Henna, he is surprised on their wedding night to learn shes not an accomplished 17-year-old but rather a lazy, illiterate 14-year-old who opted for marriage overeducation. He waits several years to consummate the union, then Henna gives birth to Shona, who quickly learns her parents language of deception. Shonaelopes withhandsome Parvez and movesto London. At the same time, Rashid finds himself traveling to the same city on business, and when he meets Verity, a shy English woman in her late thirties, he sees a chance for the happiness that hes never found with Hennaeven if it means weaving an intricate tangle of lies. Rashid, Henna, and Shona continue to deceive each other and their families for the next two decades, until Shona faces a midlife crisis that makes her question whether deceit really is the best policy.Farookis vibrant characters leap off the page and straight into the imagination in this clever and intricate novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)