The Wedding Season

by Su Dharmapala

Meet Shani - she's thirty-two, single and has a job to die for. And she likes her life just the way it is, thank you! So why do her family and friends insist on trying to convince her that the only way to the perfect life is meeting the perfect man? When Shani's horoscope miraculously reveals that now is the best time of her life for marriage, her mother decides to take control. As the Sri Lankan wedding season opens she turns a deaf ear to Shani's protests and arranges a parade of 101 potential grooms, in the hope that her shamefully unmarried daughter will salvage the family honour by finally finding Mr Right. But true life, like true love, can get very complicated. Amidst a riot of hilarious dates with would-be husbands, Shani has to cope with a minor Machiavelli at work, a house that is literally falling down around her ears, and a neurotic mother with serious cultural baggage. Worst of all, her best friend, who seems to have it all, is sliding into depression, and Shani seems powerless to help. Through a flurry of curry, cricket, sarees, and sumptuous ceremonies, Shani comes to learn that love comes in many disguises - and degrees of satisfaction - and that life is a one-shot game, even if you do believe in reincarnation.

Genres: Chick Lit, Romance, Womens, Contemporary Romance

337 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Su Dharmapala is social media commentator, writer and blogger.

She was born in Singapore and grew up between Singapore and Sri Lanka before immigrating to Australia in 1989. She completed her Bachelor of Arts (majoring in French and German) and Bachelor of Science at Monash University in 1997.

After graduating from University, Su worked in technology for some of Australia’s Fortune 500 companies.

Su took a two year break from her professional career after her son was born and it was during this time her love for writing was re-ignited. Su blogs on all things mothering and her posts are often syndicated on kidspot.com.au.

When she is not writing or mothering, she is an avid watcher of that bad reality TV show that is Australian politics while cooking scrumptious feasts for friends and family.

Reviews

[Rudi Landmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

What to make of a book populated entirely by characters who are ethnic stereotypes when the stereotyping is carried out by a member of that same community? Is it possible that this is a stage of representation that communities must pass through in their journey from being invisible and absent in fiction and media, through to them becoming almost invisible again as they permeate a dominant culture?

The community in question in The Wedding Season is the Sinhalese–Australian community, and the plot revolves around Shani, a 30-year old accountant whose mother is desparate to see her married off to a nice Sinhalese boy. For the most part, standard and predictable romantic comedy hijinks ensue.

What bothers me about this book is that apart from the stereotyping I mentioned above, there's also some ugly racism and homophobia thrown in for good measure. Dharmapala portrays her protagonist holding these ideas and does not challenge or critique them in any way. Consider her views on the contributions of the British to Sri Lanka:

Venereal disease and the indentured slave labourers who went on to become the Tamil Tigers are slightly less prized by the general populace – at about the level of the cane toad in Australia.

or:

‘Hon, watching back-to-back episodes of Nigella Bites does not make you a lesbian.’
‘Maybe if I got groped by another chick it would be?’
‘Darling, if you are referring to the time you got groped at that lesbian bar, I am going to have to disagree. I’ve prosecuted Hell’s Angels more in touch with their feminine side than those dykes,’ Amani pointed out.

Beyond ideology, another problem I have with The Wedding Season is its structure. The book falls very neatly into two parts, divided by a tragic event: the suicide of one of Shani’s close friends., and the two pieces are almost like two different books with different aims and purposes.

The first part begins as an increasingly outrageous romantic comedy, that culminates in Shani’s mother employing technology to ensure that she meets 101 prospective grooms in 90 days while she is at peak marriagability, astrologically speaking. The second part, set three years later, is Shani’s quiet journey towards falling in love with her friend’s widower. Put like that, I suppose the book could be seen as a study in contrasts. However, there is insufficient parallelism or anti-parallelism in the two pieces to make that satisfy me. It really read like two disconnected works.

Other structural failures were two major subplots developed in the first half—Shani’s flat collapsing due to shoddy construction, and Shani being framed for fraud by a crooked co-worker—that go absolutely nowhere. They are still in play at the caesura of the book, but are hand-waved away in a couple of sentences in the second part.

To me it feels like Dharmapala wrote herself into a corner, then rebooted the story half-way through to finish it as an entirely different story.

What did I like, then? I have been connected to the Sinhalese—Australian community in the past, and I could hear the musical lilt of the Sinhalese words peppered liberally throughout. For me, it was the first time to see many of these words written down. And clichéd though the characters and situations were, I could recognise the aspects of the culture that they represent. So, this was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me.

If you also have a connection to this culture, or are interested in it for some reason, this book might provide a similar nostalgia trip for you. Otherwise, I'd say there's nothing to see here.

[Lily Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful surprise this book was! It was part of a Simon & Schuster book pack that I won as part of Shelleyrae Cusbert's Australia Day Blog Hop earlier this year. Judging by the cover, I really wasn't sure it would be a book for me, but the blurb convinced me otherwise - and having finished it in two days, what can I say?
I loved this book. It's chick-lit with cricket!!!! (Yes - this deserves a gazillion exclamation points in my book of perfection!)
It certainly helped that cricket-tragic that I am, I understood every cricket joke, e.g.: "She still had enough facial hair to be confused for Merv Hughes."
But it's such a fun story. The dialogue is wonderful - so natural between the four friends and their partners. The scene when the four friends are driving to Dandenong on a saree hunt early in the book had me in stitches, and went most of the way to making me love these characters through to the end.
All that said, it's not a book without tragedy - so there were tears for me too, but nothing that a good cricket reference couldn't snap me out of, like: the way all the blokes at these Sri Lankan gatherings sneak around with ear-pieces in so they can listen to cricket; and Shani's father disappearing to hide in the garden so he can catch the "last five overs in peace."
It's so nice to open a book with no expectations. I hadn't heard of this book or the author and I can't recall seeing any reviews of it by bloggers that I follow. The cover didn't tip me off about the content of the book either, and so my whole experience with The Wedding Season was refreshing.
One warning. Don't read it hungry! If it wasn't talking about cricket, it was talking about food. Particularly the most mouth-watering descriptions of curries you can ever come across!
I spent time in London years ago with a Burmese family and the mother there was the most amazing cook... this book took me back to those times in her kitchen in the most wonderful way. I'm all set to bust out my curry cook books and my mortar and pestle, and crush me up some cardamom pods for authenticity!
Great job Su Dharmapala. I loved it! And I don't think you have to love cricket, like me, to get a lovely warm buzz out of The Wedding Season.

[Captainslog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two weeks later and I am still thinking about this book and the characters in it; it is THAT good.

This book could easily be bundled in to the romance/ chick-lit genres and left at that but it is so much more. Fascinating engaging and also (mostly) likeable characters present a roller coaster of a story that I thoroughly enjoyed. Indeed my only negative is that I will never be able to re-read this book again for the first time (and it WILL be re-read!)

At times it seemed like a Sri Lankan/Australian version of Sex and the City in that it is centred around 4 modern day and women. It also deals with (hardly a spoiler) weddings, and as well the hip parts of Melbourne, family, love, loss, doubt, high flying corporate types and so much more. You'll also learn a thing or two about the interior of the BMW 5 series you won't find in the owner's manual.

I loved this book, it was brilliantly written, the story never bogged down or got tired. The dialogue is at times razor sharp and quite funny; I laughed aloud at many points. This story would not look out of place on the big screen and I'd line up and pay to see it without doubt.

Probably the book I enjoyed most this year, I give it 5 stars only because I can't give it 6.

[Nicola Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I write at night to meet deadlines and don't get enough sleep, so I don't lose sleep for many books.
The Wedding Season is one book I sacrificed sleep for, unable to put it down in the wee small hours.

It's an enticing blend of multicultural chick lit/women's fiction/romance.

Shani is a 32 yo single Sri Lankan woman living in Melbourne.
She has loyal friends, an interfering mother and boy troubles.

I laughed out loud in several parts of the book, and loved recognising all the landmarks in my home city.

Have to admit, I was shocked when the book took a serious twist but even then I loved how the author developed the characters' relationships.

A really satisfying read, one I recommend.

[Sally906 · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE WEDDING SEASON is chick lit so I knew before I even open the cover that there is going to be laughter, there is going to be a little tension and there is going to be a happy ever after! It’s almost like an unwritten contract of expectation that I have with an author, Su Dharmapala did not disappoint. I loved this story; it made me laugh out loud many, many times. The blurb really covers all the basics – to give more detail would be venturing into the realm of spoilers and I don’t want to do that. There is a serious/sad section in the story but it was handled very well with a break of a few years between the tragedy and the continuation of the story. Having had both Sri Lankan and Indian friends the events are not over the top. My friends are a wonderful blend of both traditional and modern beliefs, choosing to make decisions according to which belief fits the outcome they want! I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys chick lit and multiculturalism.

And some totally useless information - I had an aunty who came from India and she had many beautiful saris. She told me that the traditional folklore maintained that a test for the purity of the silk used in a sari was that all 6 meters of material could be pulled through a gold finger ring. I can remember her daughters and me pulling all of my aunt’s saris off the shelf and pulling them one by one through a ring – they all went through too!!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mulitcultural Aussie chicklit complete with the usual themes of, well, chick lit. It follows the erratic path of SriLankan women in Australia as they navigate the minefields of multicultural Australia and Sri Lanka. There are the usual annoying mothers and aunties, populating the Melbourne landscape of successful South Asian women and men, it starts out promisingly, but rapidly disintegrated into Mills and Boon, with very predicable plots replete with evil racist bosses, conniving mothers and heartbreaking orphans.

Oh yes, and it espouses the Singhalese cause, the writers opinions reflecting the hatred of Tamils who she calls 'Cane toads'. So you can imagine, I was not overly impressed by the later addition of a half hearted love match between a Tamil and a Singhalese. Sigh, so sad when people carry their prejudices to another generation.

[Sanjiva Wijesinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, this book has the typical formula of romantic fiction: girl meets boy (lots of boys!), girl falls for boy, obstacles arise and events transpire to separate girl from boy, girl gets together with boy, they live happily ever after (or at least until the end of the book).
Having said that, I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Wedding Season'. It will appeal to Australians of Sri Lankan origin - who will appreciate and perhaps even identify with some of the characters! Just imagine a JehanR video like 'Amma Points' in paperback!
'The Wedding Season' will also appeal to Australians (particularly Melburnians) as well as to the members of the vast Sri Lankan diaspora - in fact to anybody who knows the difference between Parippu and Pappadam.
Highly recommended.

[Chandrika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this humorous and moving ride through the Sri Lankan wedding season. With references to many Hindu and sub continental beliefs and celebrations, it will appeal to anyone living in multicultural Australia and especially those with Sri Lankan or Indian heritage (or friends). True love is illusive and life is complicated but I just love Shani and her friends. The story feels warm and inclusive, like the kind of kitchen you'd like to gather in for a chat and catch-up.

[Kimberley Kanages]

No stars.
Referring to Tamils as Cane Toads was enough.
Getting her own country's history wrong on page 12 and her bias against Tamils soured it for me.
The indentured workers the British imported from India were Tamils, but to this day remain quite distinctly their own ethncity.
The Tamil Tigers were Jaffna Tamils who had migrated to Sri Lanka roughly 1000 years ago by colonisation.

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious, funny, reminds me of Big Fat Greek Wedding :)

[Peter Dickerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Wedding Season is fun, funny, sad and interesting. I really enjoyed the Sri Lankan language, food and cultural issues. I really enjoyed the book. I will be keen to read Su's next. :)

[Samurdhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never felt so connected to a character in my life...maybe because I'm a SLn and unmarried and going through the same process that Shani went through. There was of course a little bits of orientalism dragged into the book and hyperbole in term of introducing the culture but the things that happened with Amani's Mother and Shani's mother and her constant nagging for Shani to get married is true to word. Of course (Thankfully) my mother doesn't believe in horoscopes that much. Amani's incident really shook me to the core. I also do not get how Shani's mother would've come to accept her situation in the final chapter. My mother would kill me if I suggested something like that to her. BUT all in all, I loved the book and it made me cry at the end. I've read Saree before and it didn't disappoint me and this certainly didn't.

A definite read!

[Lyn Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book. A culture I knew nothing about was interesting and full of fun laughter love and emotion and a friendship with both family and friends to last a lifetime. Happiness is good for the soul. Great read

[Joan Charlton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny book.

[Divya Gunaseelan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as saree

[Julie McKay · Rating 2 out of 5]

easy on the ears

[Aimee R · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars - a good op shop find!

[Nisha-Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved so much of this book for so long.

It was so refreshingly modern and relatable for a diaspora novel, very much set in the here and now of Melbourne rather than the there and then of the mother country. And for me particularly, it was fascinating and hilarious and chilling too how different and similar the Sri Lankan culture in this novel was to my Indian immigrant culture. I loved how career-focused Shani was, loved how real and direct her friends were, how three-dimensional all these girls were. I loved how much Sinhalese there was in the narrative itself, words that were only a few times explained but quite understandable in context. And I very very much appreciated the attention given to issues of post-natal depression, and marriage dynamics. That was marvellous.

I could have done without the two incidences of stereotypical characterisation at the beginning of the novel. And too some of the very careful food explanations.

And then something horrible happened mostly out of the blue. As if that trauma wasn't enough, the narrative IMMEDIATELY jumped forward three years. I wasn't even given time to absorb or recover and I had to learn these characters all over again.

I never recovered. And so the eventual love story really soured for me. Everything was horrible about that happy ending because it felt badly earned. Quite unfair and not earned at all.

I still feel betrayed, yes.

[Catherine Heloise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in the 2014 Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop, and I am terribly late in reviewing it, since I read it months ago, so this will be brief.

The Wedding Season tells the story of four women, close friends from Melbourne's Sri Lankan Australian community. The story starts off on a Bollywood-like, cheerful, comic note, with friendly banter, synchronised dancing, much discussion of wedding attire, and Shani's mother using a rather terrifying phone GPS app to ensure that she meets 101 bachelors during the four months that her horoscope claims is the optimum time for her to find a husband. But things quickly start to unravel. About halfway through the story, tragedy strikes, and after that, the book goes to a much quieter sort of place. I'm not sure how well the two halve mesh, but I enjoyed the setting and characters so much that I was happy to go along for the ride.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The relationships between the four women at the centre of the story are lovely, and I also enjoyed the many descriptions of food, the Melbourne setting, the cricket references and the sense of colour that pervaded everything.

This book is likely to be enjoyed by fans of Looking for Alibrandi, or My Big Fat Greek Wedding, for its similar depiction and celebration of one of Australia's many immigrant communities.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a light-hearted, but moving look at Sri Lankan culture in Australia. Shani is 32, single and content – until the Sri Lankan Wedding Season comes along, and her mother decides it’s time Shani was wed! Problems, naturally, ensue, together with plenty of hilarity and sadness, as the author tackles one of today’s most tragic issues, depression.

This novel is quite a light read, but the undercurrent of sadness stops it from sliding completely into the chick lit genre. The insight into Sri Lankan culture is fascinating and, from my experience working among Sri Lankan families, accurate.

The storyline was a bit stilted, and I didn’t feel there was much character development, apart from Shani’s mother, who is more of a stereotype. A light-hearted, easy read.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I am so glad I read it at home as I think I had many a snigger and outright laugh at the wonderful way Su Dharmapala wrote. I had previously read Saree so felt it only fair to read the author's previous work and I am so glad I did. In this politically correct world it is too often we are told not to stereotype but when an author does it about her own ethnicity, it somehow becomes even more enjoyable. The main character Shani and her friends Tehara, Una and Amani are just wonderful characters and by the end of the book I felt I knew them well.

This is an easy read - or did it just seem that way because I didn't want to put it down? Enjoy it as much as I did!

[Urszula · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a simply a random pick. I love reading about other cultures. And this book had that in spades.

Yet it wasn't simply a story abour four Sri Lankan girlfriends who grew up in Australia, with numerous references to their customs and traditions. Most of all it was a story abour the complex relationshios that we have with our parents, especially with our Moms, our girlfriends and their partners. And most of all it's a story about beeing true to yourself and what you believe in.

Shani had to go through many steps to find happiness. There was laughter, tears and real friendships and all of that had the ethnic flavour.

Loved this book from the first page.

[Nabarun · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first novel from a Sri Lankan author, based on 1st and 2nd generation of lankan (& sub-continent) migrants to Australia. 4 childhood girlfriends, 2nd generation Lankans in Melbourne go through their lives searching for the right person and how their parents, still very conservative and traditional, want them to marry off the "desi-way". Very heart rending and a soulful journey of 4 friends, sticking for each other through thick and thin till the end and how love finally comes searching for them.
A good read, would wait for this author's next installments.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wedding Season is an insight into Sri Lankan culture in Australia in a blend of chick lit/romance. Started off really strongly but quite a few dangling bits left me wondering what had happened.

Young career women whose mothers think they “should be considering getting married before they are left on the shelf”, will truly related to Shani’s story. She’s 32 and a successful accountant who happens to love her work and is not too fussed about getting married.

There is some great comedy and some extreme sadness in this novel, as well as a wonderful story of female friendship.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was light hearted and had a natural flow. I became attached to all 4 girls and the event that closed part one took me by surprise. I appreciated that the author talked to the reader and was able to explain the customs and blend this into the story. It shows that relationships will happen regardless of outside influences. And I really loved that the father was so into cricket.

[Sonika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having a South-Asian Heritage, I found that I could relate to this book.
Books like this, urge me to keep reading until the wee hours of the morning. I managed to finish it within a week. It covered issues such as arranged-marriages, astrology, superstitions,relationships and coping life, with a humorous and charming tone.

[Jithendri Weerasingha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the first novels I had picked up in a while and it was a really interesting read. It felt weird that I could relate to so much of what she was talking about and understand all the Sinhalese lingo. Growing up in a very similar setting really helped me understand this book and I think it's part of the reason why I liked it. A good read and a great ending.

[Eliza Bober · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Living in Alaska but having been born in Poland I understood some of the aspects of Sri Lankan culture (the respect towards one's parents for example) while still finding the cultural mix fascinating. It was so easy to relate to the characters, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the scenes!

[Kim Hine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I picked it up in a caravan park, you drop off a book and take one away with you. I have been doing a challenge where we read Aussie authors and didn't realise until I took this book back to camp this is an Aussie author, I almost missed out on reading it, EXCEPT I loved the cover and YES l do judge books by their covers! Love love loved it!

[Sandi Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, light, fast read... I thought it was going to be about India, but was surprised when I found out it was about several Sri Lankan girls & their families in Australia! so, that was a bonus for me, the Australian references.