From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon


From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon


                Twinkle wants to make films that change the world. But right now, she is a nobody in high school who is losing her best friend Maddie to the popular crowd. Those are the rich kids while Twinkle’s family can’t even afford to buy her a cell phone. She has a crush on Neil who she thinks will elevate her status higher than a groundling, but does he even notice her. Then Maddie suggest Twinkle make a movie for their high school’s end of the year Midsummer Night festival and who volunteers to help produce this movie? None other than Sahil, Neil’s twin brother. When the two start to work together Twinkle has to manage her feelings for the two brothers, especially since she’s been getting emails from a secret admirer under the name N.
                Cue the high school drama and angst! This novel is riddled with it. And the insecurity that comes along with being poor and not able to afford the things that others can. Along with being on the bottom of the social totem pole and losing one of the people who have meant the most to you. Twinkle is on an emotional rollercoaster throughout. There are layers to the storytelling here because we learn very early on that Twinkle has a very complicated relationship with her parents and especially her mother. Her grandmother, Dadi, is her biggest support system and Twinkle has issues with that, even though she loves her Dadi. Menon has a gift when it comes to capturing the voices and emotions of teenagers. She captures angst really well but also knows how to add subtle nuances to her characters and her world building.
                This story is told in a few different ways. The majority of the story is told through journal entries written by Twinkle to the women filmmakers she admires, but there also text messages and emails included from some of the other characters. I enjoyed all of the mediums used. I thought some of the moments were a little exaggerated and my only problem with this novel is it got really repetitive near the middle of the novel, when Twinkle was obsessed with one thing and kept reiterating it over and over. But it ended beautifully. I had to pick up this book after reading When Dimple Met Rishi by Menon and I would definitely recommend both. I give this one 4 out of 5 stars.

Comments

  1. You have made me want to read this book!

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    Replies
    1. You should! When Dimple Met Rishi is my favorite by her but I definitely really liked this book!

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