Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee - Meera Syal

Most people will have probably come across Meera Syal in the successful and critically acclaimed comedy show Goodness Gracious Me which was a sketch show which focused on Asian humour however she is also an accomplished author in her own right. Her first book was one I really enjoyed so I was keen to read her second novel “Life isn’t all ha ha hee hee”. Just like her first novel this book focuses on the Indian community in England and it tells the story of three female friends in the east end of London, who have known each other since their school days, as there lives take rather different directions. The story opens with the wedding of Chila to Deepak, Chila ...

This is a book which follows a familiar 'group of friends who take different paths' route, but that doesn't necessarily make it any less enjoyable. It set within the second or third generation Hindu Indian community in east London, and the three protagonists, friends since childhood are Chila, Sunita and Tania. The book opens with Chila's impending wedding, she is the quiet, traditional type, although she is really the epicentre of the book and although all the characters change during the course of the book, she probably changes in the most surprising and ultimately pleasing way. The name of the book, incidently, is one of the stock ...

This book is in the process of becoming a huge bestseller (no. 14 in Amazon.co.uk ratings at the moment) and it’s easy to understand why. It’s a witty, racy novel with the right balance of ethnic flavour and perky ‘here and now’ details to make it exotic and familiar at the same time. The story follows the lives of three Anglo-Indian women through one turbulent year. Friends since primary school, failed lawyer Sunita, aspiring producer Tania and their simple-minded protégé Chila battle with love, birth and ultimate betrayal trying to preserve their friendship at all costs. The story line is banal enough, echoing countless similar ‘female ...