This book, centered around a wedding celebration in India, gave me an interesting glimpse into another culture. The characters were well-written - I definitely felt like I knew them and enjoyed the view of their lives. Even with the commentary on cultural differences, it wasn't a heavy read. I would recommend as a great book to escape into this summer.

3.5 stars rounded to 4

Charming, witty and full of heart, Destination Wedding by Diksha Basu is a kaleidoscope of colorful characters, desi drama and spot on dialogues, amidst a lavish Indian wedding. 

The writing is simple yet unique but I am afraid it might not appeal to those who aren't familiar with what I think of as "Indian style english". Anyhow, I personally found it delightful. The narrative is third person and the author seamlessly transitions between characters, incorporating their backstories along with the background commentary. The portrayal of contemporary India is pretty accurate and I found myself nodding in agreement and laughing out loud several times throughout the book. There is no plot, but that's hardly unexpected in literary fiction as it's usually more about character study than storyline. 

With the wedding being the central theme, there's no shortage of drama, gossip and mayhem, all extremely entertaining, but, beneath all that humor we get an astute examination of class structure, culture, identity, race and belonging. Readers also gain an insight into second generation immigrant experience and interracial relationships. 

I loved getting a glimpse into the lives of characters from The Windfall, and if you've read the author's debut you'll easily see the connection, but don't worry if you haven't, because you won't miss anything. 

Overall, Destination Wedding is a light heated, enjoyable read that both entertains and educates. Recommended if you enjoy character driven, diverse literary fiction with a sprinkle of South Asian culture, custom and traditions.

Pros:
-Indian representation in a book
-talks about socioeconomic issues

And that's about it.
Otherwise, there were weird grammatical errors, trigger warnings for: fatphobia, micr0-aggressions, and classism
It keeps being compared to My Big Fat Greek Wedding & Crazy Rich Asians and honestly...I didn't see it. All I read was dialogue, description. Dialogue, description. Tina is extremely unlikable, and she's always complaining. In fact, everyone is always complaining. About someone else, their job, it's ridiculous. the story dragged so much, and I was expecting a little bit of humor or comedy, but it didn't land. Nothing truly exciting happens, except for one thing toward the end.

I wish the author luck in their endeavors, but this really was not my favorite.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review. I was invited to view this title from the publisher. Tina and her family go to New Delhi to attend her cousin Shefali's wedding. Tina is an American born of Asian Indian descent from her parents who came to America to study. She is a 32 year old single woman who works for a streaming channel to search for reality television ideas. The characters in the book are quirky and interesting. Tina goes with her best friend from college Marianne, while her divorced parents attend - her therapist mother Radha and her boyfriend David Smith; her father Mr. Neel Das who goes to meet a woman through a matchmaking service. The book was entertaining and informative. It reminded me a little of Crazy Rich Asians. The author gave servants and minor characters back stories without clogging up the narrative.

This read was great but i found i just couldn't connect with any of the characters. It was fun to transport to another place. The switching of perspectives i found was not necessary. I did enjoy learning about another culture. Overall pretty good book!

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this novel.
Destination Wedding follows Tina and Marianne as they travel to India in order to participate in a lavish wedding of Tina's cousin. Many new romances are formed during this wedding (including Tina's parents), and it is hard to know who will end up with each other at the end. Fun and delightful, this book provides a great escape.

I enjoyed Diksha Basu's debut The Windfall, so I was delighted to have the chance to get an early copy of Destination Wedding. I love to read about weddings in far-away locales, And, this book delivered. Tina Das is headed from NY to Delhi for a wedding with her divorced parents and BFF in tow. What transpires is a comedic clashing of cultures and generations with a love match or two.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

This book is a somewhat frothy look at how family, ethnicity, and class intersect at a week long wedding celebration. Charming characters, interesting setting, and problems that are both specific and universal. Loved it.

One line from the book that seems to encapsulate the text's message is: "Weddings, especially destination ones, were never about wise choices; they were about panicky introspection." We, as readers, are privy to the thoughts, memories, desires, and regrets of not only the main characters, but the characters in the margins as well. What at the surface level describes a young woman's experience of attending a family wedding in India is on a deeper level an analysis of cultural identity, class, familial relationships/dynamics, friendship, and career aspirations. I appreciated the mix of thought-provoking introspection and dialogue alongside humor, vivid imagery of India, and will-they-or-won't-they relationship pulls. I'm ready for a sequel!

Who here loved the Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan? If you enjoyed that series, I have a book recommendation for you! Destination Wedding is out at the end of the month, and it had a little bit of everything I love in a good book. One of the main characters, Tina, is Indian, but she has grown up in America. She has never felt like she fully belonged in America, and she has been struggling with who she is. When her cousin invites her to a week long wedding in Delhi, she decides to go. The lavishness of her cousin's wedding reminded me of CRA- over 1000 guests in attendance, parties and shopping sprees, brand new iPads for each of the guests, and so much more. The descriptions of India and Indian culture were fascinating to learn about. There was also a rich and fun cast of characters, from Tina's best friend Marianne, to her divorced parents and her mom's boyfriend, to the widow her dad meets through an Indian matchmaking organization. There were moments that were lighthearted and funny and entertaining, and other moments that felt so relevant to what is going on in the world today, especially the struggle Tina and her parents face as Indians in America. Basu touches on privilege and prejudices, assumptions and racism that make this much more than a book about a lavish Indian wedding. Thank you @randomhouse @netgalley @diksha_basu for this e-book.

Tina is an American Indian struggling with her identity. Born and raised in America, as an Indian, she feels like an outsider, but when she travels to India for her friend's wedding, as an American, she feels like an outsider there too. On top of trying to find her place in the world, she's struggling with her work as a producer for a TV station. Every idea she has seems to crash and burn, leaving wounded prospective talent in its wake.

Marianne, Tina's friend and companion for the wedding, is grappling with her identity in a different way. White and from obvious privilege that extends beyond her skin, Marianne routinely shifts her self to fit in and connect with her current beau. She prefers exotic men who can open her world and change her perspective. Having been with Tom, a Black man from Newton, MA, for several years, Marianne is feeling restless and bored with Tom's stability and "normalness." Being at a lavish Indian wedding and meeting many handsome men from wealthy and diverse backgrounds, Marianne questions her fidelity and future with Tom.

Also attending the wedding are Tina's parents - divorced for over a decade and finding their own happiness in their new lives. Tina's mother, Rhada, has brought her very white, very American boyfriend, David Smith, and her father, Neel Das, meets a widowed woman through a matchmaker.

The storyline is very character-driven and we become intimately familiar with the Das family and Marianne as each individual confronts their anxieties and insecurities and makes new life choices. The narrative often switches from character to character, which overall I really enjoyed as it felt authentic and added a really great layer to the story, but it was occasionally a bit hard to follow. Hopefully the final version is a little more clearly delineated when a narrator switches. I also loved the culture but would've enjoyed a bit more about a traditional Indian wedding and the customs. I loved that the author took care in highlighting the disparities between the wealthy and the impoverished in India. It painted a really wonderful picture without defining the country by one or the other.

Overall this was an incredible read. I had a smile on my face for much of it as I really connected with the characters (love Mr. Das and Rajesh!!). I absolutely recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Loved The Windfall found this novel just as entertaining.Full of family ,destination ,celebration.This was a fun read a look at Delhi society at their magical weddings .at the complications of family relationships,Fun wonderful read.#netgalley#randomhouse

I loved it! It was like watching one of my favorite Bollywood movies but it was more than that cuz it was layered with real people and real live situations
and comedic moments. All these people were living experiences ,and it revolves around them being in India for a wedding happening at the same time . I can't wait for the next book, I really enjoyed this.

Talk about a book that literally lives up to the title! Fun novel about family, weddings and how travel involving your family is a trip, not a vacation. It was lighthearted but I felt like the characters were real and not not stereotypes. I did feel like the switching of perspectives was not needed. I know that is the trend in novels now but I don't think this book benefited from it.

Basu has a pitch-perfect ear for the dramas, real and imagined, of Delhi society, and is a joy to read. Loved it.

I really enjoyed this book! I've read a few of the "desi" books and they are always interesting. The view of a different culture and how they meet their partners and get married was fascinating, and I wanted to know more. The characters were strong and well-written, I was hooked after the first chapter. I highly recommend this book, 4 stars.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I want to start by saying I love weddings, I love rom-coms, and I love to travel. So, in theory, this is the perfect book for me. It follows the story of Tina who travels to her cousin's wedding in Delhi, with her Dad, her Mom, her Mom’s boyfriend, her best friend and upon arrival immediately runs into a man she had a fling with and never called her back.

So, I will say again I wanted to love this book. But ultimately, while there were funny moments, the overall story was choppy and at points confusing. The narrative would suddenly switch perspectives, to sometimes random passing characters that had nothing do with the plot. This felt unnecessary and honestly was distracting. Each time this occurred, it would take me completely out of the story, because things stopped making sense. I’d be more than halfway through a chapter and all of a sudden for three paragraphs I was seeing things from another person’s point of view and then it would switch back. The result was jolting and caused me to have to re-read those paragraphs every time. I imagine if someone was listening to this as an Audio Book, they would have a worse time following along.

Similarly, this also happened with the passage of time and location. Between one paragraph and the next characters would be in a totally different location, causing the reader to feel like they missed something or at least some kind of indication that time has passed.

It just felt it lacked focus or needs some more editing. But that is just my personal opinion. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC

Just kind of wasn’t feeling this one. I don’t really know why, but it was a little hard to connect to, and I didn’t really get into it.

What starts as seemingly light reading featuring New York family and friends headed to an Indian wedding morphs into a spectacularly entertaining examination of race, privilege, hybrid identity, family dysfunction, and maybe even a love story or five. Living in Mumbai and New York City, Diksha Basu, who used her home city of Delhi to immense success in her 2017 debut, The Windfall, returns with the dazzling Destination Wedding ...

Full review posted on Shelf Awareness Pro: https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3748#m48604 .

Review also cross-posted to Smithsonian BookDragon: http://smithsonianapa.org/bookdragon/destination-wedding-by-diksha-basu-in-shelf-awareness/

Tina Das grew up in Ohio, but never felt quite like she belonged in America. She visited India in the summers
with her parents, but doesn't quite belong there, either. She's facing a crisis of identity when she visits Delhi for her cousin's weeklong wedding. With Tina are her best friend Marianne, her mom Radha, her mom's boyfriend David Smith, and her father Neel.

For me, it was slow getting into this book. I wasn't sure I would finish it but I felt like wanted to see it through and I'm glad I did. I thought the author did a great job switching POV from character to character. It can be difficult as a reader to follow the switch in POV when it happens within a chapter but I thought Basu did it organically. I'm glad the characters got HEAs, and I appreciate that there was some uncertainty: no one was riding off into the sunset, there are always going to be more obstacles, but each of the characters ended headed on a path that they were happy with and that reflected their arcs and growth, so it was really satisfying.