The novel I chose to read is named (un)arranged marriage and is written by English-Indian author Bali Rai. The novel is about a young boy named Manny who lives in a small English city with his Punjabi family. The novel tells the story of how Manny (Manjit) tries to escape the fate his two older brothers both received, being married to a woman he doesn’t know and having to live the Punjabi way the rest of his life.
Manny is born in England and unlike the rest of his family he is only used to the English culture, which he loves. He wants to go to university, find a girl he really loves, live out his teenage years to the fullest and travel the world. His father on the other hand has a whole different plan for Manny. He wants him to follow his brother’s footsteps and marry an Indian girl through arranged marriage at the age of seventeen. Manny understands quickly that in order to live his dream life he has to act fast, as he has only four years to escape his dreaded destiny.
The story goes on throughout those four years as we follow Manny and several helpers (his best friend Ady, and girlfriend Lisa) as they work together to save Manny from the arranged marriage. Dealing with both the issues of being a normal teenager and the pressure from the family we experience a both funny and fresh story of a young man’s fight for freedom to be himself.
The greater part of the plot is set in Leicester, England. Manny lives in a small house with his parents, two brothers and their wives. This affects him a lot. He feels anger because he has absolutely no space, and is surrounded by people at all hours. He feels captured in a home where nobody understands him. This I believe is the main reasons why Manny seems so angry and frustrated at his family, and there for chooses to act like he does.
Otherwise he spends a lot of time in town with his best mate Ady. The boys spend most