Grown-Up Pose

From the outside, it appears that Anu Desai is living the sweet life. But things are not always as they seem.

I loved Lalli's The Matchmaker's List last year so I couldn't wait to get my hands on Grown-Up Pose, a story about a woman's journey to self-discovery despite her many roles: as a wife, mother, daughter, friend and professional. I went into this story expecting a 'romance with a side of yoga' focus but instead got a contemporary fiction read that gave me a lot to think about.

Anu is a woman who has always been the 'good girl'; following the rules and putting others' needs before her own. Readers will sympathize with her as she finds herself unfulfilled, unhappy and in a life she's not sure she wants. So, she decides to take control of her life. As with The Matchmaker's List, I enjoyed how Lalli includes aspects of Indian culture and shows the struggle to balance cultural traditions and expectations within a changing, contemporary world. But I struggled to sympathize with Anu and a few of her compulsive and cringeworthy decisions. It was a hard go for a bit but thankfully, I found aspects of her character to connect with to get me through the rocky bits.

This was a sweet read that covers a lot of issues and will give readers food for thought but perhaps needed a bit more depth and could have benefited from smoother transitions between the often-changing time frames. But what surprised me about this book was that I didn't love the ending. Wha?! It was all happily ever after and a bag of chips kind of happiness but I reeeeally wanted Anu to end up with someone else. I didn't see that ending coming … and maybe that was the point. Hmm.

Overall, this is a lighthearted story with great diversity and a good message: just because you have many roles (mother, wife, daughter) and responsibilities does not mean you forfeit your dreams and individual identity. A message many people can take to heart.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Lonya Lalli

Genre: Romance, Light Read, Canadian

Type and Source: eBook from public library

Publisher: Berkley

First Published: March 24, 2020

Opening Lines: Anu Desai tied her hair back with the 
elastic around her wrist and broke into a job as 
she turned into the back alley.

Book Description from GoodReads: A delightfully modern look at what happens for a young woman when tradition, dating, and independence collide, from acclaimed author Sonya Lalli.

Adulting shouldn’t be this hard. Especially in your thirties. Having been pressured by her tight-knit community to get married at a young age to her first serious boyfriend, Anu Desai is now on her own again and feels like she is starting from the beginning.

But Anu doesn’t have time to start over. Telling her parents that she was separating from her husband was the hardest thing she’s ever done—and she’s still dealing with the fallout. She has her young daughter to support and when she invests all of her savings into running her own yoga studio, the feelings of irresponsibility send Anu reeling. She’ll be forced to look inside herself to learn what she truly wants.