My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding - Review

My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding

By: Sajni Patel

Publication: April 19th 2022 by Amulet Books

304 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--A fresh, witty rom-com romp set against the backdrop of a high-profile music competition and a riotous Indian wedding

Zurika Damani is a naturally gifted violinist with a particular love for hip hop beats. But when you’re part of a big Indian family, everyone has expectations, and those certainly don’t include hip hop violin. After being rejected by Juilliard, Zuri's last hope is a contest judged by a panel of top tier college scouts. The only problem? This coveted competition happens to take place during Zuri’s sister’s extravagant wedding week. And Zuri has already been warned, repeatedly, that she is not to miss a single moment.

In the midst of the chaos, Zuri’s mom is in matchmaking mode with the groom’s South African cousin Naveen—who just happens to be a cocky vocalist set on stealing Zuri’s spotlight at the scouting competition. Luckily Zuri has a crew of loud and loyal female cousins cheering her on. Now, all she has to do is to wow the judges for a top spot, evade getting caught by her parents, resist Naveen’s charms, and, oh yeah . . . not mess up her sister’s big fat Indian wedding. What could possibly go wrong?

The description above pretty much covers most of what's going on in this book. There is so much culture packed into this one book. And honestly, most of it went over my head. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. I have become increasingly interested in Indian culture through contemporary books focused on Indian characters. And My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding was super immersive into all of the things I find fascinating about the culture.

Zurika is struggling. Because her heart is in music. Music (any form of the arts really) isn't considered a worthy career pursuit by her family or culture. She didn't apply to colleges that she had any hope of getting into, and so Zurika's future feels like it is very much hanging on whether or not she can get a music scholarship from a competition that just so happens to be held the same week as her sister's big wedding. Zurika has been repeatedly warned not to mess with any of the wedding events. Anything going wrong during one of these events is a bad forecast for the couple's future. Yet Zurika's cousins are determined to help her reach her goals. Or at least have the opportunity.

Naveen is a cousin of the groom. He lives in South Africa but also dreams of pursuing music in college and for his career. And he's in competition with Zurika for the scholarship. While the two could have easily been rivals, they quickly strike a deal to help the other. They practice together and begin to develop an interest in the other. Zurika is hesitant because if Naveen can't move to the states, the distance between America and South Africa is vast. And even if he does come to the US for college, that is still months away. Yet Naveen wasn't hesitant at all to know that he wants to get to know Zurika better.

Had I written my review for this book when I finished it instead of waiting until I'd read FOUR other books, I probably could have written a better review than this one. But if you're enjoying Indian culture, then My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding should be right up your alley. It was right up mine. I did wish for a little more romance since I always prefer the romance to drive the relationship, but honestly, what occurred felt genuine and not forced.

Favorite quote:

-If I were in my eighties and had spent nearly twenty hours on a flight from India to Atlanta, I'd be the walking dead, too.

Nice, subtle pop culture reference to The Walking Dead which takes place and was filmed in Atlanta and surrounding suburbs.

The other pieces I highlighted were grammatical issues that I'm sure were corrected in the final copy.

My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding was an immersive look into Indian/Hindu wedding culture and I loved it. It wasn't without romance, although I wouldn't have minded a little more. These wedding events sound like a total mix between exhausting and a huge party. I enjoyed every minute of My Sister's Big Fan Indian Wedding and Sajni Patel hasn't let me down yet. This book gets 4 Stars. Have you read My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding? What did you think? Let me know!