![Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi]()
review, Romance, YA |
Do you know what is the overused word that I have been dreading to hear or read about a book? Nerds. Thanks to John Green, Chetan Bhagat and the likes, I am pushed to cringe physically when someone describes themselves as nerds. So when every book blogger I adore went crazy reviewing about the new YA on the block with two Indian leads who are nerds, I was not sure I would like the end of that melodrama. Still, I had to try it, right? Read more to find out what I feel about When Dimple Met Rishi
Book Name: When Dimple Met Rishi
Author: Sandhya Menon
Genre: Fiction – YA Romance
Characters: Dimple Shah, Rishi and Ashish Patel, Celia
Setting: San Francisco, California, The USA, India
Dimple Shah has ambitious plans for her life and has been accepted to Stanford. She wants to attend a coding camp that might give her a chance to work with her role model. But her parents have other plans for her. Rishi Patel, her parents’ choice of the groom for Dimple, arrives at the Insomnia Camp to spend time with her. Dimple ambushed by her parents hates Rishi even before she gets a chance to know him. Does her opinion about Rishi changes after she knows him better?
Rishi is the perfect first born son for his Indian parents, who follows his dad’s footsteps into computer engineering. He falls for the girl his parents chose for him and agrees to woo her at the summer program she has enlisted to. Does this arranged marriage situation end up well for his hopelessly romantic self? Does he realize what makes him happy, than just being the model son? You have to read the When Dimple Met Rishi to find out more.
Dimple and Rishi are so opposite in their beliefs and value systems, though their origin and culture are the same. While she is a rebel and wants to shine out in the world for herself before she could think of marriage, Rishi stays true to his roots and wants to fulfill his parents’ desires. They are both perfect for each other and fight hard to keep on their courses despite the fact that they were falling for each other. Oh, by the way, I totally adored the other duo (Ashish and Celia) in the story, and I am more than excited to know that there might be a follow up on their stories too.
When Dimple Met Rishi is a cute YA contemporary that would make you grin in all the right places. This short read is what one needs one a bored afternoon to lift you from your slump. Yes, there are some stereotyping towards Indians. And even as an Indian from a similar background, I could not believe these kids were just eighteen. I mean I was never that serious even then. I actually pegged Rishi to be in his late 20s or early 30s, before I had read further. You know I had already another Rishi with whom I had the same problem.
There are a few Hindi slangs but not too many to be turn-offish and the writing is so fluid and breezy that I read the book in less than three hours. Is When Dimple Met Rishi
worth all the commotion it has created by the Twittersphere and the great reviews found online? I would say a YES! If you are in the mood for a YA/romcom this season your choice is right here.
![Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi]()
review, Romance, YA |
So there is this book. You hear rad reviews about the author. His quotes are everywhere. And you pick it with all high hopes. Just to be sorely disappointed. Still you read on hoping it would get better. You are bored. You start doubting if it was you. You continue reading as you don’t usually quit books halfway. You now hope it will end soon. Then it does. We are talking about An Abundance of Katherines!
About the book
Book: An Abundance of Katherines
Author: John Green
Genre: Fiction – Drama, Young Adults
Main Characters: Colin Singleton, Lindsey, Hassan
Setting: Gutshot, The USA
The plot
The story starts with Colin, a prodigy being dumped by his 19th girlfriend named Katherine. Yes you heard it right. He dates only girls named Katherine, with that exact spelling.
He is heart broken and decides he is completely useless, ie, he doesn’t matter. His superpowers are he could anagram any word, can speak in several languages and socially awkward.
His only friend, Hassan takes him on a roadtrip to nowhere specific. And ends up seeing the place where Archduke Franz Ferdiand is buried (yes the guy from WW I) at Gutshot, Tennessee. Ok long story short, he makes friends with Lindsey and Hassan ends up kissing the hot girl Katrina.
After 100 pages, Colin finds a theorem that could predict the life span of any relationship and dates Lindsey. End of the story and sorry for the spoiler. Colin learns to narrate a story!
My thoughts
There you have my review about in just few sentences. I know I can’t live without talking more about it, because that is all was motivating me to finish the book.
Ok seriously, nothing ever happens in the book at all. I really tired liking it though. I particularly wasn’t liking any character at all – neither whiny, self obsessed, self absorbed so called child prodigy Colin nor the self absorbed and nothing to offer to the story female lead Lindsey. Not even the other insufferable smaller characters.
And hope you will forgive my generalizing of John Green’s books (I have read three now), but I still have to find any person, let alone teens, being so nerdy (again forgive me using the most over used word in the past few years). Seriously I am yet to meet even one single person who actually speaks like any of these characters
And if you knew where ever they were hiding, please please let me know – I really need to make friends with them. But these characters in all of his stories seem to have the best of friends – equally nerdy ones. Come on, it is killing me. Be it Hazel and Augustus from The Fault in Our Stars, or Alaska and Sam from Looking for Alaska, or every one (Collin, Hassan and Lindsey) from AOK.
If I hate him creating too good to be true, ‘unique’ characters and making my normal life miserable, I wish him hell for making socially dysfunctional to be cool. We have had enough off the same churn. Dear Mr Green show us real life characters, I understand it is a book of fiction but I am not interested in old wine in new bottle, even if we had liked the old wine.
I tried really hard to like the book and went to the extent of bookmarking favorite quotes and stuff – but after a while I felt I was doing the same thing Colin / Green did – searching for something that would matter when there was absolutely no other sense at all.
I am actually frightened to say this aloud, is John Green the western version of Chetan Bhagat? His characters are smarter, I get it. But there are too many of clichés thar keep repeating and making me feel so.
Quotes that worked for me
Ok now for some of those over hyped quotes:
“Books are the ultimate Dumpees: put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.”
“If people could see me the way I see myself – if they could live in my memories – would anyone love me?”
“He liked the mere act of reading, the magic of turning scratches on a page into words inside his head.”
“You don’t remember what happened. What you remember becomes what happened.”
Bottom-line
In conclusion, AOK was an ok read, but yet another book that let me down mainly because of the hype around.
Pin me!
Let us chat
Have you read this one? Did this review ended up being too much rant-y? Let us talk.
![Book Review: When Dimple Met Rishi]()
review, Romance, YA |
caI quickly needed a short and sunny read to wash out the bad after taste of the last book I read, and I picked out ‘Lola and the Boy Next Door on an impulse. I had wanted to read the Anna and the French kiss before this book, being the first of the series and all, but couldn’t find it on my book pile.
At a time when my Facebook wall is filled with pompous quotes from Augustus and Hazel from The Fault in Our Stars, Lola’s teenage love story came out as a refresher. It accomplished what I wished for. A quick breezy, light hearted distraction from all the chaos around me, without trying to be more than what it is. Don’t get me wrong, I do love reading about nerdy teens, even nerdy dying teens but that was not exactly what I wanted read just now.
Book: Lola and the Boy Next Door
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Genre: Fiction – Romance;, Young Adult
Main Characters: Lola Nolan (Dolores Nolan), Cricket Bell, Calliope Bell, Max, Andy and Nathan Nolan, Norah Nolan
Setting: San Francisco, California, The USA
Dolores Nolan, a costume designer of 17, almost perfect daughter to her two dads and a part time worker at movie theatre. She is desperately in love with Max who is all coolness personified – a tattooed band musician with bleached hair roots of 22 years. She is pretty smitten over him, much like her namesake. She tries to earn her fathers’ blessings and freedom from their Sunday brunches with her boyfriend and check-ins through hourly calls. The parents and her best friend, Lindsey try to voice their concern over their age difference.
The story takes a turn when her first love, Cricket Bell (More about the name later) and his family return to their house after two years. Lola is unable to choose between cool and older Max or the childhood best friend and sweetheart, nerdy Cricket.
I loved the writing. It is a simple story, boy-girl break up, girl dates someone else, boy-girl meet again, gets back together after heart aches (and few sad tunes if it were a movie). I liked the way each character was described just the right depth without dragging the story line, yet deep enough to understand them.
I found it really hard to like Lola – for a 17 year old she is pretty dumb to be chasing a 22 old guy. Wait, that’s love – I am overlooking it. But she is too selfish, lying pretty much to everyone, ditching her best friend, and letting Max walk over Lindsey at every opportunity and then later gets completely dependent on Cricket for everything.
And what was the author thinking when she named a lead ‘Cricket’? He is Mr. Nice that’s it. Nothing to be liked about nor hated. But when he is with Lola he is just happy being a doormat. Wait again, it is love. Then what is this being a toy to his possessive sister? Both the male and female leads didn’t personally appeal to me, but I liked the mushy love story.
Oh, there is also yet another love story on the sidelines, Anna and St Clair from the book one, which made me feel I have to read that book but not right now. I will wait for my next mood out or another bad book 😉
Dimple and Rishi are so opposite in their beliefs and value systems, though their origin and culture are the same. While she is a rebel and wants to shine out in the world for herself before she could think of marriage, Rishi stays true to his roots and wants to fulfill his parents’ desires. They are both perfect for each other and fight hard to keep on their courses despite the fact that they were falling for each other. Oh, by the way, I totally adored the other duo (Ashish and Celia) in the story, and I am more than excited to know that there might be a follow up on their stories too.
