Product Description

On a winter morning in London's East End, the locals are confronted with the sight of a white horse skidding through the sooty snow, carrying what looks like a Christmas tree on its back. It turns out to be a man covered in tinsel, with a cartoon-size turban on his head. Entrepreneur Deepak is on his way to get married. As he trudges along, he consoles himself with the thought of marrying Chila, a nice Punjabi girl (a choice which has delighted his surprised parents) does not mean he needs to become his father, grow nostril hair or wear pastel coloured leisure wear. LIFE ISN'T ALL HA HA HEE HEE is the story of Deepak's bride, the childlike Chila, and her two childhood friends: Sunita, the former activist law student, now an overweight, depressed housewife, and the chic Tanja, who has rejected marriage in favour of a high-powered career in television. A hilarious, thoughtful and moving novel about friendship, marriage and betrayal, it focuses on the difficult choices contemporary women have to make, whether or not they happen to have been raised in the Asian community.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #275608 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
'A magical mosaic of friendship, betrayal and cross-cultural incongruities. By turns spicy, hilarious and sad, it unfolds the ties that bind young women to their East End Punjabi roots even as they head west for trendy careers, cafe bars and sexual freedom.', She .'Funny and sharp.', Independent .'The story surges along on a rip-tide of wisecracks and wisdom... Excellent.', Sunday Telegraph .'An engrossing and provocative book, both funny and sad.', Big Issue .'Extremely funny, wonderfully insightful . . . a big, ambitious book with serious points to be made about the choices women face today . . . Syal mixes her message with hilarious set pieces.', Sunday Express .'A superbly crafted, page-turning comedy which isn't afraid to tackle the big subjects . . . heartfelt, heartwarming and very, very good.', Mirror

From the Publisher
The TV tie-in edition of the bestseller from the star of Goodness Gracious Me.

From the Back Cover
‘A magical mosaic of friendship, betrayal and cross-cultural incongruities. By turns spicy, hilarious and sad, it unfolds the ties that bind young women to their East End Punjabi roots even as they head west for trendy careers, café bars and sexual freedom’ She

‘Extremely funny, wonderfully insightful . . . a big, ambitious book with serious points to be made about the choices women face today . . . Syal mixes her message with hilarious set pieces’ Sunday Express

‘The story surges along on a rip-tide of wisecracks and wisdom… Excellent’ Sunday Telegraph

‘A superbly crafted, page-turning comedy which isn't afraid to tackle the big subjects . . . heartfelt, heartwarming and very, very good’ Mirror

‘An engrossing and provocative book, both funny and sad’ Big Issue

Customer Reviews

Review
This book was so good I couldn't put it down. Meera syal is fantastic a brilliant comic and author. The book was hilariously funny and depicts reality really well but also makes women feel better about their lives. the authors insight into womens thoughts and feelings is amazing and brilliantly done. I have recommended this book as a must read to all my friends.

Fabulous
This book is one of the best books I've read on my English literature course to date. It's approach to feminism is both interessting and powerfull. Meera Syall isn't afraid to admit the true problems women face (family life, work etc..) which most women writers nowadays choose to ignore fearing that the problems seem too trivial. Meera Syall shows that what people pass off as trivial matters aren't so trivial in a breath-taking manner. For example Sunita's problems with her marriage lead to her self harming. This book is filled with emotion, a truly fabulous read.

The worst title of all time?
I was recently stuck on a long-haul flight with only this to read. Don't ask me how. The point is: good grief. How to describe it? I don't want to. It's so uninteresting it hardly exists at all, as if it's been worn utterly smooth by the tides of narrative convention. Contrived, sterile, irritatingly PC. We follow the struggles of a group of photo-fit Asian 30-somethings. Inoffensive and uninteresting, it's like a novel designed by a committee - a group of Blairite New Labour MPs, for instance. And I was literally shielding the cover with my hand as I read; Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee is not just a bad title - it's the worst book title I've ever, EVER come across, bar none. The author and the publishers - indeed, everyone associated with the choice of title - ought to be hauled in front of a UN tribunal.