When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya MenonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Like The Upside of Unrequited, this piece of lighthearted YA contemporary is more of a 3.5 for me, but I'll round it up to a four. After spending six months sleeping on Sandhya Menon's debut, I've finally read it, and I found I enjoyed it more than I was expecting, especially given that I got a lot of spoilers. Most of which had to do with Dimple's actions and attitude, which didn't endear her to me very much. After reading the book and seeing the contrast between her and Rishi, however, that endearment finally came into play, rather unexpectedly. Obviously I'm not Indian and can't fully relate to Dimple or Rishi, but on many levels, I do. Not only because I can totally picture their stories happening in real life as those of various classmates and friends of mine (and also my boss' sons, of whom Rishi and Ashish remind me greatly, but because there are just enough surface similarities between my own life and those of Dimple and Rishi. Like Dimple, I tend to reject the traditions in which I was born and raised because I no longer feel comfortable participating in that life. Like Rishi, I know how it feels to have artistic ambitions which parental pressure forced me to tamp down. And of course, I especially appreciated this book's Bay Area setting, which, like many other recent Bay Area-set reads of mine, is spot on point. I'm definitely down to pick up other Sandhya Menon books in a more timely fashion in the future!
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