Fiction
authorsUPFRONT
21 June 2018
Paperback
225
A perfect pack with humour, satire, seriousness and social problems dealt with a casual attitude as if he does not want to show how to solve them but just wants to show them to us - the readers. Merlin Franco has been successful in bringing out callous laughter on the faces of his readers in his very debut attempt at fiction writing and he has done well - accept it!
Review by Ishant for Book Reviews Lab
Book – A Dowryless Wedding
Author – Merlin Franco
Publisher – authorsUPFRONT
First Published – 2018
Pages – 225
Ideal for – readers with a taste for sarcasm and humour
Merlin Franco’s debut venture in the field of writing has been very fruitful for him and very interesting for the readers, to be frank. A Dowryless Wedding made me smile as well as laugh… more than that, the novel was certainly able to keep my attention for the time it took to finish. It has got humour, satire and sarcasm.
“But, my wedding was different. It was a dowryless wedding.”
This belief of Franklin is shattered into pieces. His marriage turns out to be annoyingly disastrous for him as well as his family while Nisha, his wife, enjoys a strange win… The novel is about a youth from Kanyakumari who, like most other young men in India, is struggling for a good job where he could get some good monetary reward for his hard work. A lecturer, Franklin is a young man with Communist ideas in his brain and he is determined that he won’t accept dowry when he marries. There are the people in India who are worried about the marriage of young boys and girls in the locality than their actual parents and one of them is like Kumar, the eternal pursuer! He keeps bugging Franklin with marriage proposals.
The novel, as the title suggests, revolves around the marriage, problems in the marriage, problems after marriage and finally how problems eat up a marriage. Franklin and Nisha are both pushed into a life that either of them likes neither (forgive my grammar here). Franklin has other aspirations and Nisha is too young to understand what does a marriage look like (though she is a graduate).
Merlin Franco’s attempt at mixing the social issue and a humorous narrative has fruited well. It will be useful and interesting read for a serious reader as well as a casual reader. They can enjoy the issues raised by the novelist and they can laugh at the exposition of those humorous moments which can offer them a chance to laugh and enjoy their reading. This novel also takes a dig at the families which leave no stone unturned to spoil the lives of their children with constant interferences into their personal matters.
In the critical terms, the novel is a piece with a mix of everything – good narrative, good plot and generally good language. You can see a few words of Malayalam popping up here and there. A Dowryless Wedding has been written in the first person and Franklin has been given the duty to narrate the novel to the readers; and naturally, you will learn about the story as it happened from the male point of view. Women do have a right to complain about the probable bias that they might feel after reading this piece of fiction. 🙂
“I looked at Robin. He stopped spreading the glue, feigned a fearful face and then burst into laughter.
I laughed. He laughed. There was laughter again.”
And so will the novel for you! Enjoy this amusing read whenever you get your chance. You can get a copy of A Dowryless Wedding by debutante Merlin Franco from the Amazon link given below:
Buy the Book – Amazon India
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review by Ishant for Book Reviews Lab
