Sari and Sins

by Nisha Minhas

Kareena is understandably nervous on her wedding night, when she will make love to her husband for the first time - but at least she knows her parents have chosen well. Samir is goodlooking, gentle and considerate - and, although she's met him only a few times, Kareena is confident she will grow to love him. But Samir has a secret. A secret in the shapely form of Cloey whom he's been dating for the past six years. Cloey isn't prepared to give up her man - or, more importantly, his bank balance without a fight. And she's prepared to fight very dirty indeed. Kareena, however, is not the timid little Indian bride Cloey had expected her to be. In fact, Cloey might just have met her match.

Genres: India, Fiction

Paperback

First published June 2, 2003

About the author

In her early thirties, Nisha Minhas lives in Milton Keynes with her partner and two cats. A former employee of the Inland Revenue and a avid reader, Nisha couldn't find any novels that really appealed to her, a young woman born in the UK to Indian parents. So she decided to write a book that she herself would really like to read.

Reviews

[anu · Rating 2 out of 5]

pure smut, but somehow i could not put it down. i think a few of my brain cells actually died while i was reading it. :)

[Preet · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. This book is one hot mess, and not in a good way. Boy is the synopsis on the back of the book misleading. I had thought the book would be centered mainly on Kareena and how she goes about getting her husband Samir out of Cloey's clutches, but it wasn't.

Cloey is one messed up woman. I think she's evil and needs some therapy and medication pronto! Kareena was alright, but I pitied her more than anything. Samir was another character I didn't like. That might actually be an understatement. He's married Kareena for his parents but has been seeing Cloey for 6 years and hasn't told anyone about her! Then there's Jordan. I also pitied him more than anything. He's come back into Cloey's life after spending time in jail. He and Cloey were together since they were 13. He's 26 when he gets out of jail.

The book also talks a little about about Sikhism, the religion that Samir and Kareena practice. I'm a Sikh. I wasn't offended by what was written, but it made me uncomfortable how Samir used his religion as an excuse to cover up his lying and cheating and how Cloey had mocked the religion in a painting she had done for Samir. The sad thing is, there are many people from all cultures and religions, who behave like Samir and Cloey in real life and mock without knowing anything about another culture or cheat and hurt out of fear.

This is the 3rd book I've read of Nisha Minhas, and one I've liked the least so far. The plot was a mess and it was hard to feel anything for the characters except pity and anger. The book was touted at a romantic comedy, but besides the above emotions, I was not laughing. There are 3 other books left on tbr list, and I'll still be reading them, but hope I will like them better than this effort.

[Jolainne DeSouza · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really need to take the whole "don't judge a book by it's cover" thing more seriously. I expected a highly entertaining read but was really let down. The characters are just meh, Kareena is described as Cloey's match, but she isn't, she doesn't possess even 1/10th of the bitchiness, spite and viciousness that Cloey has. Her character was the biggest disappointment. On the whole even the rest of the characters are not well-rounded, the writing is dull in certain places, some of the narrative is unnecessary. The only plus was the sudden flashes of humour throughout the book which was the only thing that urged me to finish reading it

I wouldn't really recommend it to anybody.

[Debi Lodge · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good plot idea but the worst book I have ever read. Was the author thinking like an 14 year old prepubescent boy obsessed with sex? The book is going straight into the rubbish as I will not inflict it on another.

[Rhode PVD · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 23 pages due to the mega-shit-ton-load of sexism, homophobia and toxic masculinity. When I picked up this paperback for light airplane reading I didn’t notice it’s about two women fighting for one man, who has nothing to recommend him beyond looks and money, who is trying to juggle both. Which is a disgusting trope from the 1950s.

Plus:

- the intro features a man getting out of prison whose sole thought about it is joy that he has not had sex with any other men there.

- female chastity in these modern British characters is a big concern , the bride in the story is 27 year old who has proudly never done so much as blown a kiss.

- the first sex scene features a woman worrying if her body is good enough and then with zero foreplay beyond a quick kiss, the men hops on top, pumps a few times and done. She is nice about it. He promises to do better next time. And this is the man she’s supposed to want to “fight” for? WTF?

Basically, although this is supposed to be lighthearted humor, it’s incredibly sad to see these toxic values in writing. I’m feeling badly for the author who although a young woman, is clearly not remotely woke.

[EJ Hatton · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've read this book and another book of hers which is: "bindis and brides" and I have to say that although I enjoyed it as teenager, it is terrible to read as an adult (had the opportunity to read it again years later). The author follows the same typical formula of one set of people / culture being a gold digger and a womaniser etc. I won't mention what I thought about her formula on the other culture. As soon as I read both books, I ended up throwing both books in the bin. Not worth the time or effort to read to be honest.

[Dhruv Garg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only read that as it was assigned to me in my school library. This is terrible.

[okyrhoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having read two passable books by Nisha Minhas (Passion & Poppadoms, The Marriage Market), I have to admit this one is a total disappointment.
The plot is all over the place, with no unifying structure, or thematic or character development to keep things going along. The writing needs some serious editing. Scenes are often interrupted with pointless details about this or that to give some sort of backstory, but by the next page this information is inconsequential and easily forgotten.
It's impossible to sympathize with any of the main characters. We are never sure where they stand, and whether what they say to one another is ever the truth. Their behavior, either out of nastiness, duplicity, plain dumbness or emotional naiveté is cringeworthy and the reader dare not take any character's side.
The main problem with the novel's story is Cloey's neverending nastiness and desperation. It goes on and on, becoming more psychotic, to the point where it isn't funny anymore, only disturbing. The humor and satire is long gone by the final scene of Cloey's comeuppance. There is only relief that the book is finally over, and that no one was -hopefully - harmed in the telling of the tale.

[SalScamander · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really know how to rate this book. Although the author has a very good writing style, and some of the storyline was kind of interesting, there were parts of this book that I just didn't like. The book contains lots of drama, I'll give her that. But some of the story line wasn't very good. Also the blurb is very misleading, the book was nothing like how I had expected it to be. I just don't really know how to express some of the things I feel about this book, and this feelings are not very good. Besides there are things about this book that I could say, that many people probably wouldn't like to hear. I think I'll keep those to myself.

It makes for a very bad Reading, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. The book has a very messy storyline. In fact I found some of the book kind of offensive.

[Mitchan · Rating 1 out of 5]

That's several hours of my life I will never get back. Through sheer stubbornness I persevered and finished it despite the loathsome, trashy characters and inferior plot. Are people really shallow enough to fall for a woman who is a psycho demented bitch, allowing her to use them and come back for more of the same, time and time again just because she has a hot body?? This book is soooo bad. Plot essentially consists of aforementioned psycho bitch manipulating her ex-boyfriend (who did time for her but now released) and her current boyfriend who is Sikh but has just had an arranged marriage.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this up in a hotel in India while travelling. Thought it would be an entertaining read since when in Rome (India) and all that. Disappointing. Just a chick lit novel with a sari thrown in. The novel is set in the UK and is akin to watching Eastenders for a week solid. Dull story, basic, low end characters and definitely mis-sold on the idea that it's about Indians, their culture and how they deal with arranged marriages.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Far too much left unanswered. Was left really disappointed. Manic catholic mother? In this day and age? Nah! And what happened to the mad sister who was obviously harbouring incestuous feelings fof her brother?

[Uci · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought the story would be much deeper than this, concerning that it is written by a female Indian novelist. Well, let's not judge a book by its writer, shall we?

[Vonique · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay a bit bland

[Samia · Rating 2 out of 5]

really bad .. :/ not funny. not cool. just bad overall ..

[Latifah]

safe

[Abirami]

Crappiest book EVER.

[Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light interesting read

[Aity · Rating 3 out of 5]

just entertaining

[Manpreet]

asas