Beth's Reviews > Bitter Sweets

This book opened my eyes, some books just do and this is one of them. It touched on all kinds of love, showed it truthfully, it's not black and white, sometimes it's not clear who should be with who. Whether it's right to stay with a man who you were in love with for so long just because you don't want to mess up the children you secretly already beleive you have already messed up. Or to seperate from your loveless marriage to find a person who actually loves you now and not an image of the past and realise maybe your children can look after themselves. But can affairs be justified? Is true love a good enough excuse for the lies and treachery that an affair entails? All these things were explored in the book through each characters individual story.





The thought of arranged marriages isn't one I have really thought about but the book brought up the issue so I really thought about it and I've come to the conclusion that, culturally it is still a significant practise but as every other significant cultural practise it has advantages and disadvantages, it's a strong tradition but I just can't see myself beleiving it's the best option at all. Marriage for me is a complete and binding thing, it takes a lot of work, sacrifice and love to make it last, for some people change and they aren't compatible anymore but what if this happens in an arranged marriage? More likely since the 2 parties know less about each other than in an western marriage. Is the chance that being shackled to someone, like Henna for the rest of your life worth it? Rashid decides that he can't keep living as he is and so starts an affair, however for appearances he leaves his marriage to Henna secret and continues with his life in the UK whilst Henna continues her relationship with his brother. All for appearances. This is something I know about, Surrey with all it's riches has a lot going on under the radar, everyone knows about it of course but no one says a word. For example, there was a well-known pilot, he was liked and respected in the Surrey community, he had a wife, 2 sons and a daughter.....in England at least. He also had a family in Scotland, America and Spain each not knowing about the other however Surrey society knowing all. I always thought his wife knew or at least had some inkling, but never mind. His wife was sleeping with the gardener and his first son was a well-known drug dealer. All this went on in this family but no one spoke a word about it, appearances must be kept.






The sub-plot of Shona's son and Rashid's daughter was brilliant and kept me on the edge of my seat, I couldn't beleive the son's despair and made me think that you can really care about someone, the hospital scene was done amazingly well.





Overrall I loved the easyness of this book despite it's many sub-plots and characters, it's description evoked places instantly and the characters were extremely life-like. I haven't been posting as I've started the work I missed when I was ill, needless to say it's quite a bit and vital too.

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