PATRICK SCHABE, POP MATTERS, USA
Balsari’s book is an easy recommendation. It shines a clear light on a number of shadowy topics, but always with a twinkle in its eye and a relatively sympathetic smile … the language and tone of the novel are lovely, without being sappy or particularly prosaic. It mocks gently, but with an all-inclusive hug.
ALW STORE, FRANCE
The “Cambridge Curry Club” is a fabulous read. The author demonstrates an incredible sense of timing in her humor. Anyone of a South Asian descent, anyone associated with someone from a South Asian descent, or anyone wanting to be associated will love this book. The author lucidly paints characters that you get to know by the second chapter, start to hate halfway through, and fall in love with by the end of the book. Having enjoyed the P.G.Wodehouse style of dark humor in the past, this author bears a similar promise. This book has emotion, drama, lots of humor, and a fast pace. Happy reading!
INDIA TODAY
There is something off-beat and intriguing about Saumya Balsari’s debut play-turned-novel-just enough to keep you turning the pages … Balsari breezes through her tale: she has a light and deft pancake-flipping touch
THE TELEGRAPH, INDIA
The Cambridge Curry Club is hilarious from start to finish. It will doubtlessly lend itself to a hugely entertaining sitcom. Until that comes off, the print version is recommended for lifting the spirits on a gloomy day.
DAILY NEWS AND ANALYSIS, INDIA
Balsari’s wit combined with her lively sense of the ridiculous lifts the mood to deliver a comical romp … if you’re looking for a few laughs, your search ends here.
LIVEMINT.COM, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Cambridge Curry Club is a slice-of-life novel; Balsari is not interested in existential questions and immigrant angst. Remember 2005’s forgettable telefilm Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee? Meera Syal and Ayesha Dharker played roles of women at the cusp of happiness and desperation, all the while coping with their British-Indianness. The Cambridge CurryClub reminded me of the film, but certainly Balsari’s book is breezier, and genuinely funny in parts.
NILAKSHI ROY, INDIA, PHD THESIS
Balsari certainly experimented with the format and style of the novel, and took some serious issues on board like bisexuality, forced abstinence, drug addiction, generational differences, as well as the appetite for adventure among upper middle-class British Asian women despite their set ways and secure lifestyles.
BLIPPR
Funny and bittersweet novel about a group of Indian women (and one Irish woman) working in a charity shop. Sharp and perceptive about life’s disappointments.
THE DECCAN CHRONICLE, INDIA
Their [the characters] bumbling efforts are both comic and poignant.
THE HINDU, INDIA
The Cambridge Curry Club gives you a glimpse of a Cambridge that exists beyond scholars and celestial choirs.
THE ASIAN AGE, INDIA
A cheeky postcolonial tale.