LIfe isn't all ha ha hee hee by Meera Syal

For those of you unfamiliar with Meera Syal - she is an award winning author, scriptwriter, comedian and actress. Among the roles she is most well known for is the SBS comedy show – “Goodness Gracious Me” and also for playing the Grandma on the ABC TV Show – The Kumars at No. 42.
Being born and raised in Britain in an Indian family, she is quite well placed to show how
two cultures can sometimes intersect or sometimes collide. “Life isn’t all Ha Ha Hee Hee”, takes place in modern day Britain and centers on a trio of girls – Chila, Sunni and Tania, all friends from childhood, who are now in their 30s, living life, getting married, having careers and raising children, not always in the way they would have liked. Many of their personal problems, which is the central theme of the book, stem from the identity crisis they all experience, in trying to work out if they are Indian women living in London, British women living in London, Modern women, Traditional Women or a combination of all four.
Because the narration of the book is told through the eyes of the three women, you get a better understanding of each of the characters. As much as this book is fiction, you get the feeling that what you’re reading about comes from the heart, and that Meera Syal is putting some of her own cross cultural life experiences into the story.
Sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, sometimes very enlightening, it’s well worth a read if you want to see into someone else’s world.
Chris