A review by afox98
Well-Behaved Indian Women by Saumya Dave

3.0

Mami, Nandini, and Simran - three generations of Indian women all dealing with their own struggles in the context of expectations of them. I found that the book described pretty well the classic pressures on Indian women as described to me by my Indian women friends and colleagues. I found Nandini's story to be the most interesting - maybe because she bridged the gap of women still living in India and moving to America and living as an Indian woman in America and becoming more "modernized." There wasn't enough focus on Mami and how she lived as an Indian widow on her own in India - not sure I've heard of that much. And while I liked Simran's character, I found her to be a bit unrealistic - she was in a love relationship for a long time and planning to have a love marriage, but knew he was probably not right for her as a husband, but stayed with him? She had more freedom than her mother or grandmother - why didn't she break it off? Of course, that could have been her way of dealing with pressures on an Indian woman and meeting others' expectations - to not rock the boat when everyone was expecting her to go through with the wedding. In general, it was interesting to read about how each woman handled their growing independence and addressed it with their spouses and family members and the fallout and/or acceptance of it. Learning about other cultures and how they morph over time is intriguing to me, and Indian culture especially due to my travels there and several friends in that country.