Author: Anna Kaling
Category: Holiday, Advent
Pages: 56
Dreamspinner Press
The festival of Tulsi Vivah ushers in the Hindu wedding season and tears away the love of Kristopher’s life. Three years of passion and tenderness are reduced to a shameful skeleton in the closet as Arjuna submits to the marriage his parents have arranged for him. His family has never even heard Kristopher’s name.
The festival, a ritualistic wedding between the holy basil plant, Tulsi, and her eternal lover, Vishnu, is as much of a play-act as Arjuna’s upcoming nuptials, but he believes the wedding will honor his parents and please Vishnu. So why is his Tulsi plant—whose leaves heal and bless the devout, who is Vishnu's representative on earth—dying? Arjuna tends to her with all the care of a concerned parent, but it might take more than his devotion to save her. She might need Kris, with his clever green-fingers—and maybe a revived Tulsi can heal two hearts.
3.5 Stars
I'm of Asian descent and old enough to know stuff, but this book opened my eyes!
Being vaguely of Asian descent, but entirely non-traditional, I knew I wanted to read this book the minute I came across the blurb, and the first thing I did was google the author, because surely someone writing about a lesser known Hindu celebration would be Indian, right? Nope, turns out she's an English woman who loves cats, so she sounds doubly up my street!
I had to google the actual celebration, as though I know the Tulsi plant is considered sacred by Hindus, I didn't realise the legend and symbolism behind it, and once I clocked that the plant represents a female, it sort of began to make sense. I did like that the author went into detail, because if not, I suspect more than a few readers might have been confused.
The tale itself is one that I've heard of time and time again IRL, and it didn't surprise me, nor did the element of 'intentional, but not intending to hurt' emotional blackmail that Arjuna's mum spouted. That's something that angers me, because I've experienced it, too, and have succumbed to it many a time, and recently, too (it never stops and it can be insidious). Luckily for me, the blackmail wasn't over my Caucasian husband, but it was hard for Arjuna as he was aware of it, but there was another issue at play that affected him and his family and he felt he had to do the right thing, do his duty. Eventually, whilst I didn't quite see him having a total Eureka! moment, he did come to his senses and realise what he'd be doing to an innocent woman in an arranged marriage, and to his own sanity, and to Kris, and he did the right thing, which luckily for him didn't result in on-page unpleasantness and repercussions.
There wasn't the drama that I expected in this, likely because it's a holiday-themed tale, and that's fine. I did think Kris took him back far too easily and that he was far too easily accepted by Arjuna's family, because it would have been several whammys they'd been faced with (the breaking off of the engagement, their son 'shaming' them, what would others say, their son being gay, and their son having a male lover), but it made me think that love for Arjuna was the overriding factor from his traditional parents' perspective, and that love trumped all and everything when it came to their only son. Which was only right and just, and heartwarming. The ending made me think back to the LOL-yourself-silly film, Bend It Like Beckham.
The only sort-of complaint that I have is that the tale ended far too abruptly, as I wanted to see the guys living their mixed religion HEA, as from the start it was clear that Kris enjoyed Indian food, respected the traditions and lifestyle, but didn't quite understand all, and his eventual enlightenment would have been enlightening.
Still, it's a realistic read that I could entirely relate to, plus I got educated, so it's all good in my book.
ARC courtesy of Dreamspinner Press and Bayou Book Junkie, for my reading pleasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment