Arranged Marriage: Stories

By: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Narrated by: Judith West

Although Chitra Divakaruni's poetry has won praise and awards for many years, it is her "luminous, exquisitely crafted prose" (Ms.) that is quickly making her one of the brightest rising stars in the changing face of American literature. Arranged Marriage, her first collection of stories, spent five weeks on the San Francisco Chronicle best seller list and garnered critical acclaim that would have been extraordinary for even a more established author. For the young girls and women brought to life in these stories, the possibility of change, of starting anew, is both as terrifying and filled with promise as the ocean that separates them from their homes in India. From the story of a young bride whose fairy-tale vision of California is shattered when her husband is murdered and she must face the future on her own, to a proud middle-aged divorced woman determined to succeed in San Francisco, Divakaruni's award-winning poetry fuses here with prose for the first time to create 11 devastating portraits of women on the verge of an unforgettable transformation.

©1995 Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Fake accent

I didn’t get past the first five minutes. The fake accent is horrible!! I was looking forward to the book but i couldn’t keep listening to the fake accent

Took a chance

Glad I took a chance on this book. I kept seeing this book listed but it never showed any reviews. Since I love reading about other cultures I decided to take a chance and it really was quite decent. Although it is a collection of stories all with a common theme each story is different and explores the subject...arranged marriage, in different ways...they are not predictable. The rich character development, the descriptive details and the perfect narrator made this book enjoyable,

Terrible Audio Rendition

What a terrible accent. Not even close to an Indian accent. I wish Judith West would have just read it out naturally. Just made me angry to hear her accent - terrible terrible terrible. ruined the book for me

engaging stories. narrated well. recommended.

the stories are very simple, real and everyday-like. Narration could've been better though. I recommend the book to one and all. looking forward to other books by Chitra Banerjee Diwakaruni.

Mixed feelings

Overall the stories interesting and well written. My problem is the narrator. Her voice doesn’t match the stories. They are written in the first person about young women. The narrator has the voice of an elderly woman and is very jarring in context of the stories.

Please get an actual Indian reader

The fake accent with the mispronounced names and words was grating to my ears. I wished the reader just read it in either an American accent or actually have an Indian reader. Audible this is really bad. I’ve listened to many other books written by Indian authors that were read by Indian women. So it’s not like this isn’t a possibility.

As for the actual story, I really enjoyed most of them. Looking at our first generation and the struggles they dealt with is fascinating. It makes my mother’s generation more dimensional and complex than I had thought them to be. Definitely high on the reading list.

Inappropriate Accent

The worst narration of all the books have listened to! I couldn’t finish the book because of the bad accent.

painful narration

The story is not bad but the narration is awful both the sound quality and the reading.

The narration does the book an injustice

The narration is horrible. She sounds like Michael Anderson’s character from Twin Peaks. It feels like I’m listening to this in the Black Lodge. I’ve read the book which is excellent. I like to listen to stories while I work, I’ll skip ahead to another book.

The narrator is awful

Please redo this with an Indian narrator. This narrator didn’t even pronounce the author’s name right and that put me off immediately. Couldn’t even get through a minute into the first story because of the fake Indian accent.