The Wedding (Imraan Coovadia)

Well, I plucked this book from the library shelves in a hurry last time I was at the library (which was a few days before Christmas), and I had good intentions. It's not a particularly long book, and I should have finished it days ago. But it was Christmas and Jim's family was here, and, thanks to Jim's grandparents, I got hooked on the new puzzle craze Sudoku (which I hadn't heard of before) and spent the flights to and from Arizona doing that instead of reading this book. And then it was New Year's Eve, which we spent with my oldest sister and her husband playing Cranium, which I'm declaring one of the most fun games ever, and next thing I knew, we were back in San Jose where giant Pacific winds tried to blow us away and suceeded in knocking over our fence and lots of trees. And there was rain. Lots and lots of rain. All of which I found more exciting than this book.

The Wedding by Imraan Coovadia is an Indian book-length fairy tale of sorts, but if you're like me, a short, 2-3 page fairy tale is all you need. Ever. I once decided I was going to sit down and read a book of Brothers Grimm fairy tales like a regular book and quickly learned that wasn't going to work at all. They were too short, too similar, and there were too many of them. So given that experience, The Wedding probably was not a good choice.

The story is about the narrator's grandfather and how he met the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, married her, and how she did everything in her power to get him to leave her alone. That's the gist, and I'm certain that someone who really enjoyed the book would give a completely different synopsis. There's lots and lots of dialogue that's often filled with colloquialisms and little other description (lots of "fiddlesticks" and "ur-ur mans"). Again, not really my style. I finished it not really sure what I was supposed to take away from it, but glad to be done.

Have a mentioned how much fun Sudoku is? I recommend it highly.

Next book up: This will either be American Fried: Adventures of a Happy Eater by Calvin Trillin or The Sweetheart Season by Karen Joy Fowler. I have both of these books on hold and need to stop by the library to pick them up. (After my experience with The Wedding, I decided to reward myself with a couple of tried and true authors.)