Although we enjoyed the romance of the novel, the story of "The Dowry Bride" brings significant issues to light, which are currently predominant in the Indian culture. Arranged marriages in India is still a highly practiced tradition and the cases of dowry deaths is still very high.
For those of you who want to learn more about dowry murders in present India, check out this great video at the following link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HGN59gKch8
Because it was a fiction, the book was easy to read and accessible, but there were many interesting facts that one could find throughout the story that reveals the context Megha, the main character, was living through.
We also talked about how the honour of a family is so valued that one will sacrifice lives to preserve that honour. Also, we discussed how shame is seen in India and how it relates to the dishonour of the families.
Even though Megha had many positive factors to her story, not everyone is so lucky in reality. This brought suspense to the novel and made it quite the page-turner.
1 comment:
Hi Kat,
I'm Shobhan Bantwal, the author of THE DOWRY BRIDE. I want to thank you for reading my debut novel and for your kind and encouraging comments about the book. I'm glad you enjoyed it (I'm assuming you did since you called it a page-turner).
I hope you get a chance to read my second book, THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER, to be released on August 26, 2008. It also features a hot-button issue in India and other third world countries - female fetus abortion to get rid of girl children. Female feticide and infantacide are serious problems in some countries and show no signs of abating, despite laws to prohibit them.
THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER is the story of one young mother who refuses to abort her second child (another daughter)that her in-laws are forcing her to get rid of. Her rebellion turns into a dangerous battle and she is willing to put up a valiant fight to protect her little girls.....
Take care and thanks again.
Regards,
Shobhan
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