(un)Arranged Marriage

by Bali Rai

Reissued in Penguin's ORIGINALS series of powerful teenage fiction.

MANNY WANTS TO BE A FOOTBALLER. OR A POP STAR. OR WRITE A BESTSELLER. HE DOESN'T WANT TO GET MARRIED...

'Harry and Ranjit were waiting for me - waiting to take me to Derby, to a wedding. My wedding. A wedding that I hadn't asked for, that I didn't want. To a girl who I didn't know... If they had bothered to open their eyes, they would have seen me: seventeen, angry,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0241343062
• ISBN13: 9780241343067
• Release Date: August 2018
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

(Un)arrenged marriage

(Un)arranged marriage is a book about an Indian boy called Manjit. He lives in England with his family. Everyone in his family is living according to the Indian culture, but Manjit hates it. His family will arrange a marriage for him when he will finish the school. Manjit doesn't want to marry anyone until he has lived his own life. The story takes place in Leicester in England about 10-15 years ago. I'm not sure but it feels like it would be something like that. If the story had take placed in India I think it would be harder for Majit to fight against his culture. It would have been more people around him from the Indian culture and he would not have same friends like Ady or his girlfriend Lisa that thinks he does the right thing. A analyse and the purpose of the book; I think Bali Rai (he has written the book) wants to stop people to rule over and raise their kids after some culture. We are living in the 21st century, not the 14th century. Parents can't tell their kids who they should marry or not marry. It's wrong to force kids to marriage someone they don't even know. If I would grow up in a family like Manny's it would make me crazy and depressed. Families who want to live after their culture can do so if they want. But they can't force their children to do the same if they don't want to. The children most choose for themselves. I think the book is rather good, it's not a book I really love but the book is worth to read. I think the first part of the book was the best. I liked it because it gave me an insight in Manny's (Majit) life, an insight in the ordinary day for a fifteen-years-old Indian boy in England. I think the end was very good. Viktor Holfve

(un)arranged marriage

The book is written by Bali Rai. This is his debut book but he has also written many other books. The book is about Manny, a 17 years old boy, who lives with his family in England. He is just like all other boys in England except that he has an Indian family witch lives by Punjabi traditional. His parents don't care about Manny's education, the only thing they want is to get Manny married in the age of 17. Manny doesn't want to get married and especially not with a girl he doesn't even met, an arranged marriage. Manny doesn't like his family, his father beats Manny up and he shares a room with his strange brother. Manny wants to live a normal life just like his English friends and he wants to be with anyone he wants to. In this book you will follow Manny's life and conflicts with his family and his desire to do what he wants to do. This is a book about being who you are and stand of your opinion. I think this book was really good and really funny sometimes. It's not a very long book and that's good for those who not are used to read a lot.

good laughs and terrrific style

The story of this book is how the protagonist plans to get out of an arranged marriage to a girl he has never seen at the tender age of 17. The author handles the situation of a British-born young man living in a traditional and closed Punjabi environment in a special way. The parents are lower-middle class and completely uninterested in educating their children, only getting them all married at the age of 17 to girls or boys from India whom they have never met and thereafter making a living for the whole family who all live together- at least the boys and their wives do. The other side of the coin is that Manjit (or Manny a he prefers to be called) goes to a government school and his best friend is black while his girlfriend and his best friend's girlfriend are both white. Why this is important is that the family, especially the father, consider that mixing with anyone other than Asians is a no-no. However, the boy is in a terrible dillema as he loves his life outside the home. In the home he is beaten by his father until no love could possibly remain between them, if there ever was any. He also hates his second brother with whom he has to share a room until the brother's marriage. This brother is loud, ignorant, smelly with body-odour and a terrible bully. In fact the author says that he (the brother) is reaching his maturity "like a large ape, complete with fur and fleas." It is a long time since I laughed out loud at a book and I managed to do this on page 24 for a start. His style of writing is hilarious and the subject matter is so interesting. Although I have read many other Indian books, this is the first time I have come across the Punjabi Sikh customs. I found the names peculiar - there is Manjit and his older brother Ranjit and two of his sisters have identical names expect for the first letter. I am definitely going to read some of his other books. I felt real empathy for Manjit and he makes most of the characters so real. Have deducted a star because the book was a little repetitive in parts.