There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

By -

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon



Rishi has always been the traditional Patel brother, steadfast in family tradition and trying his hardest to be a good son. He even encouraged his parents to arrange a marriage for him. Ashish was nothing like Rishi. Deadset on blazing his own path through life, he dated who he wanted, shunned tradition and had dedicated his life to one thing, basketball. But when his heart is broken and his mojo completely crushed, he gives the idea of letting his parents set him up with an Indian girl a shot. Sweetie is also an athlete. She is one of the fastest runners at her high school and has her sights set on running in college. When Ashish’s mom approaches Sweetie’s mother with the prospect of the two dating, she’s immediately stunned. Not because of the Patel family’s reputation, which is in good standing in the community, but because Sweetie’s mom is worried that her weight would cause her to be the source of ridicule. But Sweetie has no problem with being fat and if her mother doesn’t think she should date Rishi then she’ll just have to see for herself. Dating a guy like Rishi would prove more to herself than it could possibly prove to anyone else.

So, I reread When Dimple Met Rishi because I love that book and I wanted to re-introduce myself to Ashish. I love that he is the character that Menon decided to base this novel around. What readers see in When Dimple Met Rishi is a somewhat shallow character, not all the way sure of himself, trying his best to live outside of the shadow of his brother. We get to see Ashish grow in such a great way with There’s Something About Sweetie. And Sweetie is a joy, a damned delight. I loved her attitude. I loved that she embraced herself even though one of the people closest to her, her own mother, couldn’t embrace her fully. She was brave in ways that people don’t usually give others credit for and it pays off.

                I’ve known about this book for quite some time. I went to a book signing where Menon talked about writing a story about a fat Indian young woman. Now I'm saying this from the vantage of someone who has been thin their entire life, but I appreciate that she notes in the very beginning of the book that she wanted to have Sweetie reclaim the word fat and actively talk against any negative connotation associated with the word and I think she did that. Menon discussed her issues with weight growing up and why she thought it was important to write this novel for young girls, especially younger Desi girls to see what they're capable of regardless of their size. I also think she did a good job discussing the complexities of a mother/daughter relationship. Sweetie tries to talk to her mother on more than one occasion about her weight and how she doesn’t see it as a hindrance and it fell on deaf ears. Menon also does a great job in depicting the micro and macroagressions that Sweetie experienced as a fat person. She added quite a few layers to this story that really added depth to Sweetie’s experience.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. I love Menon’s writing style and this book did not at all disappoint. The way Menon is able to weave different elements of Indian tradition, American culture, the young adult experience and romance into her plot is just masterful. I always end up getting swept away in this world that she is exploring. This was no exception. I’m giving this 4.5 out of 5 stars. Very excited to read the next companion novel in this Dimpleverse Menon has created.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt by Steve Johnson

By -
Image
Enemy of All Mankind: A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt by Steve Johnson Bringing to life the story of a notorious pirate to a modern audience isn’t an easy task. We’re too used to the comfort of easy travel, the mythos of pirates and the commercialized imagery produced by movies and television. Images of Jack Sparrow and Long John Silver have been part of entertainment for so long that the idea of true piracy and all it’s ruthlessness has almost been washed away. It isn’t until you’re able to wash away the false images and submerge yourself into the actual history that you can see piracy for it’s truly brutal nature. It also brings up many questions about governments, laws, corporations, scandal, colonization and other factors that allowed piracy to flourish and exist in the manner that it did for so long. Piracy didn’t exist in a bubble. Enemy of All Mankind takes the story of one pirate, who helped usher in the Golden Age of Piracy, and exa
Read more

Odetta: A Life in Music and Protest by Ian Zack

By -
Image
Odetta: A Life in Music and Protest by Ian Zack          In my case it is always the image of Odetta that comes to mind when I hear her name. The tall, undeniably Black woman, hair in an afro, guitar in hand. It must be that I simply did not know enough about her life, her struggle, and even her music to convey more than that image. But her image is memorable and her presence something not easily described. This book fills in the gaps in the story of Odetta that I didn’t know. Looking back at my childhood, her most memorable songs are the ones I’ve known most of my life, singing in my school’s chapel along with hundreds of other Black students, the words having meaning that I can only truly comprehend decades later as a Black woman.          Zack takes his time with this biography, letting the readers learn as much about Odetta as we do the time from whence she came. Her migration from Alabama to California, her feelings of coming from a loveless, forced marriage,
Read more

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

By -
Image
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood I’m going to cut right to the chase. This book is well written but we didn’t need it. I expected more. I wanted more and this fell flat. I’ve read The Handmaid’s Tale , more than once, and I genuinely enjoyed it. The single narrative of Offred lent itself to the story well and it was genuinely a terrifying society. I watched the first two series of the show and though I have my reservations about it, I still thought it was a good show. It does a great job answering questions that the book could not because of its singular narrative. It filled out the world. This book revolves around three narratives: Aunt Lydia, who we know had a helping hand in stripping women of their sense of self and molded them to be controlled by the men of Gilead; Agnes, raised in Gilead with a Commander as father, privileged and set to marry well; and Daisy, a teenager raised in Canada hating Gilead and the abuses women endured that she’s learned about since she
Read more