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Rani Patel in Full Effect
Almost seventeen, Rani Patel appears to be a kick-ass Indian girl breaking cultural norms as a hip-hop performer in full effect. But in truth, she's a nerdy flat-chested nobody who lives with her Gujarati immigrant parents on the remote Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, isolated from her high school peers by the unsettling norms of Indian culture where "husband is God." Her parents' traditionally arranged marriage is a sham. Her dad turns to her for all his needs—even the intimate ones. When Rani catches him two-timing with a woman barely older than herself, she feels like a widow and, like widows in India are often made to do, she shaves off her hair. Her sexy bald head and hard-driving rhyming skills attract the attention of Mark, the hot older customer who frequents her parents' store and is closer in age to her dad than to her. Mark makes the moves on her and Rani goes with it. He leads Rani into 4eva Flowin', an underground hip hop crew—and into other things she's never done. Rani ignores the red flags. Her naive choices look like they will undo her but ultimately give her the chance to discover her strengths and restore the things she thought she'd lost, including her mother.
Sonia Patel is a psychiatrist who works with children and adults. She was trained at Stanford University and the University of Hawaii. She lives and practices in Hawaii. Rani Patel In Full Effect is her first young adult novel.
Sonia Patel is a psychiatrist who works with children and adults. She was trained at Stanford University and the University of Hawaii. She lives and practices in Hawaii. Rani Patel In Full Effect is her first young adult novel.
315 pages, Hardcover
First published October 11, 2016
33 people are currently reading
1,543 people want to read
About the author
Sonia Patel
7books98followersSonia Patel is a first-generation Indian American born in New York and raised in Hawai’i. Her break-out novel, RANI PATEL IN FULL EFFECT, was a finalist for the William C. Morris Debut Award, a YALSA and Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book, and received four-starred reviews. Her subsequent YA novels JAYA AND RASA: A LOVE STORY and BLOODY SEOUL both received the In the Margins Book Award. She contributed a short story—NOTHING FEELS NO PAIN—to the YA anthology AB(SOLUTELY) NORMAL: SHORT STORIES THAT SMASH MENTAL HEALTH STEREOTYPES. Her fourth YA novel, GITA DESAI IS NOT HERE TO SHUT UP, will be published Summer 2024. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist trained at Stanford University and the University of Hawaii, Patel has spent over twenty years providing psychotherapy to youth and their families. She lives in Honolulu with her husband and teenage son, and misses her daughter who’s away at college.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews
Shelved as 'dnf'
February 6, 2017I know I won't go back to it, in spite of the unique narrator - a rapping Gujarati Indian girl living in Hawaii. This is a ya novel with great premise and a lot of promise, but which happened to be published in a very unpolished state.
June 29, 2016
Raw and emotionally draining, Rani's story is one of endurance and empowerment. However, the use of 90s slang and Hawaiian/Gujarati words made it hard to immerse myself into the story. Had I known there was a glossary at the end, I may not have had this problem.
If I could change one thing, I would have waited for an audio book. It would be nice to know how to pronounce some of the words and I would love to hear the raps performed. They were powerful on paper, but set to a beat with the passion of a good reader, they would be amazing. Ultimately, a valuable read for adults and teens.
If I could change one thing, I would have waited for an audio book. It would be nice to know how to pronounce some of the words and I would love to hear the raps performed. They were powerful on paper, but set to a beat with the passion of a good reader, they would be amazing. Ultimately, a valuable read for adults and teens.
June 8, 2017
Everyone, this is not a good book. Both in terms of the writing...
-e.g. "Today is Pono's birthday party. I brew up some extra strong masala chai and pace the kitchen. I sip and contemplate the perfect music selections for his gift--an 80's [sic] hip hop tape" (230) and "Six days later it's done. It chronicles the struggles of multiple generations of women in my family. Including my mom. I want it to be perfect for the next 4eva Flowin' production. Omar agreed to give me an honest critique of it" (182). SO MANY SIMPLE SENTENCES. And there's this nonsensical simile: "A wave of Chaka Khan pours over me like warm jasmine hair oil" (130).
...and the plot(s) themselves. Let's break them down:
-Rani dealing with her father's affair
-Rani dealing with her father's girlfriend's pregnancy (with TWINS, natch)
-Rani dealing with her father's sexual exploitation and incestuous, statutory rape
-Rani dealing with her mother's emotional distance, at least initially
-Rani dealing with her father's desire to move his girlfriend into the house, so they can live together and not "break up" the family
-Rani dealing with the pressure of being an Indian woman, and the oppression imposed on her by the Indian males in her life
-Rani dealing with her insecurities (too skinny, unpopular, no friends, pariah after she shaves her head)
-Rani dealing with her first love
-Rani dealing with her first heartbreak
-Rani dealing with her rape (not by her father)
-Rani dealing with her first hangover
-Rani dealing with a drug-abusing boyfriend
I mean, without even touching on the supporting characters' stories in depth, there are about 13 novels crammed into this one. Plus, there's the shoe-horned pop culture references on every page. I mean, we get it. Rani and Sonia Patel love hip hop. But we don't need a running radio to accompany the story! And so often, the references aren't organic; they're just a way to convey what Rani is feeling and thinking without having to do the work of having the character explain that--it's lazy writing to rely on references to get readers in Rani's head. In one paragraph on page 169, there are references to Nirvana and Public Enemy...and next to nothing about Rani. Now, I don't need every paragraph of a book to be only about the protagonist, but I DON'T want paragraphs detailing the "distinct intro and saturnine guitar riff" of a hip hop remix (169). Finally, the typos are rampant--this book wasn't proofread, or at least not well.
And here's the thing: I was hooked and intrigued by the overall premise: Rani is an Indian teenager living in Hawaii while writing hip hop lyrics and struggling to break into the hip hop scene as her alter ego, MC Sutra. We didn't need all that peripheral stuff! I like and respect that the author is trying to not write a typical high school YA novel, with the usual love triangle (although that is also present). The author, a psychiatrist (it shows) also writes a note, explaining how victims of incest often behave, which is perhaps helpful to readers like me who are beyond frustrated by Rani's behavior (even accounting for her teen hormones, loneliness, and naivete), but there's part of me that feels a good writer would have been able to convey that through the writing, and not rely on a note to explain the protagonist's behavior.
This would have been a good collaboration, perhaps, with a more experienced writer (or someone who actually IS a writer), so the story can be told more coherently, more elegantly, and more convincingly. It's really unclear (and I'm not sure it's SUPPOSED to be unclear) how Rani feels about her father's actions for most of the novel--she alternates between grieving the close relationship she had with her father, without acknowledging how inappropriate and unhealthy that relationship was, and between some flashes of self-awareness about how wrong the relationship was. But the first few pages of the book deal with Rani's reaction to her father's affair--she behaves like a woman scorned, which I suppose she is. But it's not the healthy, appropriate reaction of a daughter realizing her father is unfaithful to her mother; it's the reaction of a daughter realizing her father is unfaithful to HER. In the hands of a more skilled storyteller, this could have been a really emotional story, but I just found myself impatient with all of it.
I also wondered if the many references were a way of trying to convince readers that Rani is the "real deal" as an MC, or a way of the author to show off. Because it literally felt like Sonia Patel was trying to impress readers with her references. And look--I love Gilmore Girls, and other shows with quippy references and pop culture asides. But that doesn't always translate well to books. (Now, it would have been a cool marketing scheme to sell an accompanying soundtrack featuring the songs mentioned, or creating a Spotify list or something.)
The end was mostly satisfying, with some resolution and hope for the future. Rani and her mother both seem somewhat empowered, but goddamn, this girl needs intense therapy, which NEVER came up--a strange oversight to me, given that this book is written by, you know, a psychiatrist. But the payoff was not worth the read.
-e.g. "Today is Pono's birthday party. I brew up some extra strong masala chai and pace the kitchen. I sip and contemplate the perfect music selections for his gift--an 80's [sic] hip hop tape" (230) and "Six days later it's done. It chronicles the struggles of multiple generations of women in my family. Including my mom. I want it to be perfect for the next 4eva Flowin' production. Omar agreed to give me an honest critique of it" (182). SO MANY SIMPLE SENTENCES. And there's this nonsensical simile: "A wave of Chaka Khan pours over me like warm jasmine hair oil" (130).
...and the plot(s) themselves. Let's break them down:
-Rani dealing with her father's affair
-Rani dealing with her father's girlfriend's pregnancy (with TWINS, natch)
-Rani dealing with her father's sexual exploitation and incestuous, statutory rape
-Rani dealing with her mother's emotional distance, at least initially
-Rani dealing with her father's desire to move his girlfriend into the house, so they can live together and not "break up" the family
-Rani dealing with the pressure of being an Indian woman, and the oppression imposed on her by the Indian males in her life
-Rani dealing with her insecurities (too skinny, unpopular, no friends, pariah after she shaves her head)
-Rani dealing with her first love
-Rani dealing with her first heartbreak
-Rani dealing with her rape (not by her father)
-Rani dealing with her first hangover
-Rani dealing with a drug-abusing boyfriend
I mean, without even touching on the supporting characters' stories in depth, there are about 13 novels crammed into this one. Plus, there's the shoe-horned pop culture references on every page. I mean, we get it. Rani and Sonia Patel love hip hop. But we don't need a running radio to accompany the story! And so often, the references aren't organic; they're just a way to convey what Rani is feeling and thinking without having to do the work of having the character explain that--it's lazy writing to rely on references to get readers in Rani's head. In one paragraph on page 169, there are references to Nirvana and Public Enemy...and next to nothing about Rani. Now, I don't need every paragraph of a book to be only about the protagonist, but I DON'T want paragraphs detailing the "distinct intro and saturnine guitar riff" of a hip hop remix (169). Finally, the typos are rampant--this book wasn't proofread, or at least not well.
And here's the thing: I was hooked and intrigued by the overall premise: Rani is an Indian teenager living in Hawaii while writing hip hop lyrics and struggling to break into the hip hop scene as her alter ego, MC Sutra. We didn't need all that peripheral stuff! I like and respect that the author is trying to not write a typical high school YA novel, with the usual love triangle (although that is also present). The author, a psychiatrist (it shows) also writes a note, explaining how victims of incest often behave, which is perhaps helpful to readers like me who are beyond frustrated by Rani's behavior (even accounting for her teen hormones, loneliness, and naivete), but there's part of me that feels a good writer would have been able to convey that through the writing, and not rely on a note to explain the protagonist's behavior.
This would have been a good collaboration, perhaps, with a more experienced writer (or someone who actually IS a writer), so the story can be told more coherently, more elegantly, and more convincingly. It's really unclear (and I'm not sure it's SUPPOSED to be unclear) how Rani feels about her father's actions for most of the novel--she alternates between grieving the close relationship she had with her father, without acknowledging how inappropriate and unhealthy that relationship was, and between some flashes of self-awareness about how wrong the relationship was. But the first few pages of the book deal with Rani's reaction to her father's affair--she behaves like a woman scorned, which I suppose she is. But it's not the healthy, appropriate reaction of a daughter realizing her father is unfaithful to her mother; it's the reaction of a daughter realizing her father is unfaithful to HER. In the hands of a more skilled storyteller, this could have been a really emotional story, but I just found myself impatient with all of it.
I also wondered if the many references were a way of trying to convince readers that Rani is the "real deal" as an MC, or a way of the author to show off. Because it literally felt like Sonia Patel was trying to impress readers with her references. And look--I love Gilmore Girls, and other shows with quippy references and pop culture asides. But that doesn't always translate well to books. (Now, it would have been a cool marketing scheme to sell an accompanying soundtrack featuring the songs mentioned, or creating a Spotify list or something.)
The end was mostly satisfying, with some resolution and hope for the future. Rani and her mother both seem somewhat empowered, but goddamn, this girl needs intense therapy, which NEVER came up--a strange oversight to me, given that this book is written by, you know, a psychiatrist. But the payoff was not worth the read.
Read
May 14, 2016This book needed some work for a few reasons, primarily in respect to needing one plot point less than what was mixed in, and it needed a better pacing and time structure. It runs long, but then it rushes to a conclusion that's ultimately not as satisfying as it could be. I was left, too, with a lot of questions of believability/world-building with Rani -- why did she have no friends and no female friends in her life at all? We get a quick note on this later on, but it made me ask a lot of questions throughout, rather than accept things at face value.
THAT SAID.
This book isn't for me, and the teen readers who want a story about an Indian girl living in Moloka'i who turns to rap to work through her grief will love this. There's no question that readers will be annoyed that Rani keeps making the same (terrible) choices relating to men but it's that series of errors that makes her wholly real and realistic. It sucks watching her get hurt again and again, but it's part of her process of growing.
There are multiple instances of rape and sexual assault in this book, and it's tough to see the fallout of that on Rani. But what is great is seeing how she uses this hurt in ways that ultimately help her come into her own as a teenager.
This reminded me a lot of JULIET TAKES A BREATH, both the good and the bad. And there are times while reading this I felt like an outsider who didn't "get" the culture or life on the island -- but what works so well about that is there will be readers who see it, "get" it, and need that story.
A good debut which showcases Patel's potential as a writer.
THAT SAID.
This book isn't for me, and the teen readers who want a story about an Indian girl living in Moloka'i who turns to rap to work through her grief will love this. There's no question that readers will be annoyed that Rani keeps making the same (terrible) choices relating to men but it's that series of errors that makes her wholly real and realistic. It sucks watching her get hurt again and again, but it's part of her process of growing.
There are multiple instances of rape and sexual assault in this book, and it's tough to see the fallout of that on Rani. But what is great is seeing how she uses this hurt in ways that ultimately help her come into her own as a teenager.
This reminded me a lot of JULIET TAKES A BREATH, both the good and the bad. And there are times while reading this I felt like an outsider who didn't "get" the culture or life on the island -- but what works so well about that is there will be readers who see it, "get" it, and need that story.
A good debut which showcases Patel's potential as a writer.
June 11, 2016
I'm so excited about this, I told my mom about it.
Sometimes, our best consolers are our parents. Yesterday, my mother was sharing pieces of her relationship with me as she does, and I was like: "You know what? That reminds me of ." I had her so captivated, she asked when it was expected to release. I basically spoiled the book for her. Sorry, Mom.
Rani's father has recently cheated on her mother with a younger woman. In discovering this information, Rani shaves her head "in mourning." As Indian wives often do, when their husbands pass. Rani's father doesn't sympathize with his family for his actions and he soon demands to move his mistress and himself back into the house.
Luckily for her, Rani isn't forced to stay stuck at home, dealing with family drama. She finds solace in rapping. As MC Sutra, she commands the stage and writes her own feminist raps.
One night at the club, she meets a shady character named Mark. They share a considerable age difference. While she's still in high school, he is thirty-one. Some of us may ask why a grown-ass man would want a high school student, but you'd be surprised. Mark is a toxic being. But she continuously returns to him, admittedly, this book drove me crazy. I had a hard time rating this. To an extent, Rani reminds me of the friend with constant relationship trouble and she always needs someone to vent to. But when we're like: "GIRL, leave him." She agrees, but doesn't.
Rani has great friends in Pono and Omar, My only problem with the book - which is very, very, very minor - I would've preferred Rani to end the book as a singular. Otherwise, I dearly love it. Diversity: Rani and her family are Indian-American/Gujarati, living in Hawaii, and her mother supports her career as a hip-hip performer. So much music love. How amazing her mother is. This book truly is everything.
Sometimes, our best consolers are our parents. Yesterday, my mother was sharing pieces of her relationship with me as she does, and I was like: "You know what? That reminds me of ." I had her so captivated, she asked when it was expected to release. I basically spoiled the book for her. Sorry, Mom.
Rani's father has recently cheated on her mother with a younger woman. In discovering this information, Rani shaves her head "in mourning." As Indian wives often do, when their husbands pass. Rani's father doesn't sympathize with his family for his actions and he soon demands to move his mistress and himself back into the house.
Luckily for her, Rani isn't forced to stay stuck at home, dealing with family drama. She finds solace in rapping. As MC Sutra, she commands the stage and writes her own feminist raps.
I want to be
the large and in charge person
I want the world to see
So I MC, and throw down
my self-confidence decree
and strive to be
my own queen bee
One night at the club, she meets a shady character named Mark. They share a considerable age difference. While she's still in high school, he is thirty-one. Some of us may ask why a grown-ass man would want a high school student, but you'd be surprised. Mark is a toxic being. But she continuously returns to him, admittedly, this book drove me crazy. I had a hard time rating this. To an extent, Rani reminds me of the friend with constant relationship trouble and she always needs someone to vent to. But when we're like: "GIRL, leave him." She agrees, but doesn't.
Rani has great friends in Pono and Omar, My only problem with the book - which is very, very, very minor - I would've preferred Rani to end the book as a singular. Otherwise, I dearly love it. Diversity: Rani and her family are Indian-American/Gujarati, living in Hawaii, and her mother supports her career as a hip-hip performer. So much music love. How amazing her mother is. This book truly is everything.
March 8, 2017
I enjoyed many things about this book and definitely think it's a worthwhile read, but I will say that it was also difficult at times. Content warnings for sexual and emotional abuse.
Sonia Patel (the author) is also a psychiatrist, and her portrayal of abuse is intentional. She includes an author's note at the end detailing why she chose to have her title character make unhealthy choices -- "Incest has tragic consequences on the lives of children and adolescents. Yet in treating these youth or adult survivors, I know many can recover. But what happens in between? Rani's story is one version of this."
Rani is sixteen, and the story is told in first person from her perspective, so we see how she processes and sometimes internalizes the things that happen to her. Despite everything, she's also incredibly caring, smart, and creative. She's a second-generation Indian-American (Gujarati, like me!) and she writes and performs raps (not like me) about racism, sexism, colonialism, abuse, female power, etc. She reflects on the struggles of being a POC and child of immigrants, but also understands her position as a settler in Hawaii. (I like that the author includes a glossary of the Gujarati and Hawaiian words that show up organically without translation in the narrative.) Occasionally there's a disconnect between Rani's thoughts about female oppression and her actual interactions with women, which are sometimes problematic, but that's part of her experience of trauma. She does grow a lot in this respect, and actually her growing relationship with her mom is one of my favourite parts of her story. She also has a couple of really good friends who attend activist meetings with her, call her out on unhealthy behaviours, and consistently support her.
For anyone who wants to read this, I strongly encourage you to read the author's note in the back of the book; she makes it clear that some of the things we might ideally like to see with female protagonists (confidence, self love, healthy decision making) are hard-earned in a patriarchal society, and young girls in particular need to be supported, not judged, as they work towards those traits/behaviors.
Sonia Patel (the author) is also a psychiatrist, and her portrayal of abuse is intentional. She includes an author's note at the end detailing why she chose to have her title character make unhealthy choices -- "Incest has tragic consequences on the lives of children and adolescents. Yet in treating these youth or adult survivors, I know many can recover. But what happens in between? Rani's story is one version of this."
Rani is sixteen, and the story is told in first person from her perspective, so we see how she processes and sometimes internalizes the things that happen to her. Despite everything, she's also incredibly caring, smart, and creative. She's a second-generation Indian-American (Gujarati, like me!) and she writes and performs raps (not like me) about racism, sexism, colonialism, abuse, female power, etc. She reflects on the struggles of being a POC and child of immigrants, but also understands her position as a settler in Hawaii. (I like that the author includes a glossary of the Gujarati and Hawaiian words that show up organically without translation in the narrative.) Occasionally there's a disconnect between Rani's thoughts about female oppression and her actual interactions with women, which are sometimes problematic, but that's part of her experience of trauma. She does grow a lot in this respect, and actually her growing relationship with her mom is one of my favourite parts of her story. She also has a couple of really good friends who attend activist meetings with her, call her out on unhealthy behaviours, and consistently support her.
For anyone who wants to read this, I strongly encourage you to read the author's note in the back of the book; she makes it clear that some of the things we might ideally like to see with female protagonists (confidence, self love, healthy decision making) are hard-earned in a patriarchal society, and young girls in particular need to be supported, not judged, as they work towards those traits/behaviors.
March 26, 2017
I feel a little ambivalent about this book. The things I like, I really, really like: the mix of Hawaiian and Indian (Gujarati) cultures; the insight into hip-hop and how all the external expressions of strength can become inner strength (fake it 'til you become it); Rani's voice and raps; the characters around her, both positive and negative.
But the things I don't like are hard to get past. Rani's abuse and healing feels shallow, and as the author says in her note, "the fact that Rani was able to gain insight as quickly as she did is unusual. If anything in this story is unrealistic, it is that." I'm not someone who loves to read angst for angst's sake, but I wanted Rani's pain and recovery to come from a deeper place: sometimes when she rapped, I felt those things very strongly, but in her other actions, the abuse and healing seemed mere storytelling.
Rani's character in general can come across as uneven: while she's supposed to be a nerdy, ambitious student body president no boys want to date, she's also a super cool rapper with tons of guy friends. I don't disbelieve these prototypical girls can coexist in one woman, but with only a bit of characterization anchoring each facet in the text, Rani came across as Mary Sue-ish at times.
And then there's all the Gujarati and Hawaiian and hip-hop terminology. The glossary in the back is only helpful if it includes all the unknown words. If I flip to the back to define a word and can't find it listed, that seems unprofessional...or lazy. I'd rather no glossary and having to guess the definitions by context than a glossary only capable of answering my questions part of the time.
I did love Rani's world and words, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of Sonia Patel's work in future. And since this is an advanced copy, perhaps some of the more nitpicky glossary issues will be resolved by the date of publication.
But the things I don't like are hard to get past. Rani's abuse and healing feels shallow, and as the author says in her note, "the fact that Rani was able to gain insight as quickly as she did is unusual. If anything in this story is unrealistic, it is that." I'm not someone who loves to read angst for angst's sake, but I wanted Rani's pain and recovery to come from a deeper place: sometimes when she rapped, I felt those things very strongly, but in her other actions, the abuse and healing seemed mere storytelling.
Rani's character in general can come across as uneven: while she's supposed to be a nerdy, ambitious student body president no boys want to date, she's also a super cool rapper with tons of guy friends. I don't disbelieve these prototypical girls can coexist in one woman, but with only a bit of characterization anchoring each facet in the text, Rani came across as Mary Sue-ish at times.
And then there's all the Gujarati and Hawaiian and hip-hop terminology. The glossary in the back is only helpful if it includes all the unknown words. If I flip to the back to define a word and can't find it listed, that seems unprofessional...or lazy. I'd rather no glossary and having to guess the definitions by context than a glossary only capable of answering my questions part of the time.
I did love Rani's world and words, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of Sonia Patel's work in future. And since this is an advanced copy, perhaps some of the more nitpicky glossary issues will be resolved by the date of publication.
February 3, 2017
1.5/5
I was really hoping to like this book. The binding and cover is gorgeous. I was very enticed by the little snippets I had heard, but that's not what I got.
First off, this novel is dripping of debut. There is so much needless descriptions of outfits (a mistake most first authors have but usually before they get published). Like, I don't care about what colour of adidas hightops the characters owned, really! And Sonia had really poor pacing. She would suddenly tell a bit of what was happening at the end of a scene and then switch to something else (not giving any evidence that time had passed). I was left so confused. That shouldn't happen. I understand too many descriptions or some typos but if your publisher is any good, they should catch your bad transitions. Or... lack of any transition what's so ever. Like how does Sonia have Rani have a panic attack while making out and then just end the scene there. How is it that we never hear how Mark dealt with it? She just switched to something else and leaves off the character in the middle of her first dissociative panic attack. Poor, poor writing.
Rani Patel and co. are some of the flattests characters I have ever had the displeasure to read. You can tell Sonia is a psychiatrist by how little humanity and outside personality she brings to the story of Rani. I know survivors of this kind of stuff, none of them are a checklist of symptoms like Rani is. It's done so Rani doesn't even have continuity. Scenes are just there to get a symptom checked off and then move on to the next issue at hand.
There also is the issue of Sonia treating female characters like shit. I understand that Rani is not going to socialize well with women. Her nature of abuse changed how she interacts with them. However, that doesn't mean you have to have characters like Emily or Crystal. Rani doesn't need to like other girls but Sonia does. That's how you are accountable as an author. Your characters don't have to do things you necessarily agree with but you, as an author, need to be able to provide that insight in another way. Plus, calling Wendy a 'floozy' and allowing her to marry an abusive pedophile is not okay! I get it, she is part of Pradip abandoning his family but you don't allow someone to marry an abusive pedophile even if you don't necessarily like the person. Wendy may be the "other woman" but none of that is okay. None of that is deserved.
There are also a myriad of really offensive, shitty things. 1. the Gandhi references, really? He hated women, africans, and Muslim people just like Rani's relatives did. He is not some contrast to offer for Gujarati culture. 2. the KKK references? ESPECIALLY with the svastika thing when it came to her uncle. Like, you can't liken her uncle to the KKK. You can't Ever diminish what the KKK did or what the swastika symbolised. Sonia didn't need to address the issue of the appropriation of the svastika by Nazis but she did and it was so terribly done. It made me very uncomfortable. 3. The treatment of addicts, oh Jesus... I know crystal meth is more serious of an issue than I will ever understand but making all the addicts in the story (other than La'akea who is a flat, stereotype which is another thing) evil and abusive is really fucked up and sends a bad message. 4. The really weird descriptions of other people's race. like the 1/16th Spanish thing. That was just irritating. 5. The really bad, polarizing descriptions of Native Hawaiians. It was either "noble savage" or stereotype. There was no nuance or effort to give these characters more. So many characters were reduced to that identity. It's vital for those things to be important, yes, but a person is still a person and deserves a little bit of more personality than that. 6. The fucking treatment of black culture. It was appropriative, deplorable, and pathetic. There is a way to treat rap and hip hop without turning black culture into a costume one can put for rap shows. It really disappointed me to see how Sonia handled that.
Though the novel was readable, the raps weren't half bad, and the mother was such a sweet character, I didn't like this book. I wanted to. I was hoping too but Sonia really missed the mark with this one. There was so much potential that she just couldn't handle. I am giving it one point five stars rather than one because the ideas behind the novel really work despite the shotty execution.
I was really hoping to like this book. The binding and cover is gorgeous. I was very enticed by the little snippets I had heard, but that's not what I got.
First off, this novel is dripping of debut. There is so much needless descriptions of outfits (a mistake most first authors have but usually before they get published). Like, I don't care about what colour of adidas hightops the characters owned, really! And Sonia had really poor pacing. She would suddenly tell a bit of what was happening at the end of a scene and then switch to something else (not giving any evidence that time had passed). I was left so confused. That shouldn't happen. I understand too many descriptions or some typos but if your publisher is any good, they should catch your bad transitions. Or... lack of any transition what's so ever. Like how does Sonia have Rani have a panic attack while making out and then just end the scene there. How is it that we never hear how Mark dealt with it? She just switched to something else and leaves off the character in the middle of her first dissociative panic attack. Poor, poor writing.
Rani Patel and co. are some of the flattests characters I have ever had the displeasure to read. You can tell Sonia is a psychiatrist by how little humanity and outside personality she brings to the story of Rani. I know survivors of this kind of stuff, none of them are a checklist of symptoms like Rani is. It's done so Rani doesn't even have continuity. Scenes are just there to get a symptom checked off and then move on to the next issue at hand.
There also is the issue of Sonia treating female characters like shit. I understand that Rani is not going to socialize well with women. Her nature of abuse changed how she interacts with them. However, that doesn't mean you have to have characters like Emily or Crystal. Rani doesn't need to like other girls but Sonia does. That's how you are accountable as an author. Your characters don't have to do things you necessarily agree with but you, as an author, need to be able to provide that insight in another way. Plus, calling Wendy a 'floozy' and allowing her to marry an abusive pedophile is not okay! I get it, she is part of Pradip abandoning his family but you don't allow someone to marry an abusive pedophile even if you don't necessarily like the person. Wendy may be the "other woman" but none of that is okay. None of that is deserved.
There are also a myriad of really offensive, shitty things. 1. the Gandhi references, really? He hated women, africans, and Muslim people just like Rani's relatives did. He is not some contrast to offer for Gujarati culture. 2. the KKK references? ESPECIALLY with the svastika thing when it came to her uncle. Like, you can't liken her uncle to the KKK. You can't Ever diminish what the KKK did or what the swastika symbolised. Sonia didn't need to address the issue of the appropriation of the svastika by Nazis but she did and it was so terribly done. It made me very uncomfortable. 3. The treatment of addicts, oh Jesus... I know crystal meth is more serious of an issue than I will ever understand but making all the addicts in the story (other than La'akea who is a flat, stereotype which is another thing) evil and abusive is really fucked up and sends a bad message. 4. The really weird descriptions of other people's race. like the 1/16th Spanish thing. That was just irritating. 5. The really bad, polarizing descriptions of Native Hawaiians. It was either "noble savage" or stereotype. There was no nuance or effort to give these characters more. So many characters were reduced to that identity. It's vital for those things to be important, yes, but a person is still a person and deserves a little bit of more personality than that. 6. The fucking treatment of black culture. It was appropriative, deplorable, and pathetic. There is a way to treat rap and hip hop without turning black culture into a costume one can put for rap shows. It really disappointed me to see how Sonia handled that.
Though the novel was readable, the raps weren't half bad, and the mother was such a sweet character, I didn't like this book. I wanted to. I was hoping too but Sonia really missed the mark with this one. There was so much potential that she just couldn't handle. I am giving it one point five stars rather than one because the ideas behind the novel really work despite the shotty execution.
November 27, 2016
This book had the potential to be really great, but it just didn't work for me. I was SUPER excited when i heard about this book. Strong woman of color who loves rap music and slam poetry..had me from the moment I heard about it!
This story was a focus on the cycle of abuse and for me what didn't work is that all 300 pages of it focused on that cycle! The ended is all of a sudden and BAM in those last 5 or so pages you finally see things looking up and our main girl getting her shit together. But for the whole book all you see is her seeking out, putting herself in these positions to be hurt. Reading from that perspective never is easy.
There were certain things I read in this book that I was seriously like..so this is happening and I'm supposed to just read this like it's okay..like NO I don't want young women reading this and thinking this is acceptable.
I did like that Rani had music as her escape. I liked the time period the book took place, the 90s is still such a classic era for music.
This isn't something I would just up and recommend to teenage girls. Rani is super naive, at times a tease and the cycle she puts herself through just gets annoying at times. I was so over it and wanted to dnf this book quite a few times.
This story was a focus on the cycle of abuse and for me what didn't work is that all 300 pages of it focused on that cycle! The ended is all of a sudden and BAM in those last 5 or so pages you finally see things looking up and our main girl getting her shit together. But for the whole book all you see is her seeking out, putting herself in these positions to be hurt. Reading from that perspective never is easy.
There were certain things I read in this book that I was seriously like..so this is happening and I'm supposed to just read this like it's okay..like NO I don't want young women reading this and thinking this is acceptable.
I did like that Rani had music as her escape. I liked the time period the book took place, the 90s is still such a classic era for music.
This isn't something I would just up and recommend to teenage girls. Rani is super naive, at times a tease and the cycle she puts herself through just gets annoying at times. I was so over it and wanted to dnf this book quite a few times.
January 31, 2018
I am hesitant to put this down as local-Hawaii-literature, but it does take place on Molokaʻi in the 90s and although I first felt like the geographic markers in the story were sort of like people in Hawaiʻi watching Dog, the Bounty Hunter, I know that even though I would never drive so much on Molokaʻi, one of the high school kids I talked to from Molokaʻi High said his biggest achievement was driving 200 miles in one night. Do you know how many times you have to cruise back and forth to make 200 miles? Epic. So if you do not get the Dog reference, but you are from Oahu and Hawaiʻi island, like me, you know that they are in Waiʻanae on the west side of Oʻahu and suddenly they are in Puna or Ocean View on Hawaiʻi island and people who do not know better think since they are driving the same black SUV, it is all one island when it is not.
I think the 90's slang, even the hip hop songs are more familiar to me and I am WAY older than the YA audience so I'm not sure how they take that. Some of the slang is really dated. We don't say okole anymore but our use of Hawaiian over these 20 years has also gotten more precise. Depending on which kupuna story is heard, it is Molokai with the kai being the ocean versus Molokaʻi, but Lanaʻi is written as Lanai in the book which is inconsistent. I also don't know how readers from the continent understand the smattering of local terms like skebei (Japanese slang that even my college students don't understand. It is a plantation slang from the grandparents long gone), holoholo (Hawaiian), etc.
What I liked was the author used her psychiatry background and family practice background to talk about difficult issues in a more realistic way and then adds some information at the end. I am interested in how the younger local readers in 2018 feel about the use of counter culture in the book, the placing of the story on Molokaʻi and the placing of the story within multiple "local" languages. It would be nice, considering this was printed in 2016 to at least get the publishers to face the ʻokina in the correct way so that it is not an apostrophe.
I think the 90's slang, even the hip hop songs are more familiar to me and I am WAY older than the YA audience so I'm not sure how they take that. Some of the slang is really dated. We don't say okole anymore but our use of Hawaiian over these 20 years has also gotten more precise. Depending on which kupuna story is heard, it is Molokai with the kai being the ocean versus Molokaʻi, but Lanaʻi is written as Lanai in the book which is inconsistent. I also don't know how readers from the continent understand the smattering of local terms like skebei (Japanese slang that even my college students don't understand. It is a plantation slang from the grandparents long gone), holoholo (Hawaiian), etc.
What I liked was the author used her psychiatry background and family practice background to talk about difficult issues in a more realistic way and then adds some information at the end. I am interested in how the younger local readers in 2018 feel about the use of counter culture in the book, the placing of the story on Molokaʻi and the placing of the story within multiple "local" languages. It would be nice, considering this was printed in 2016 to at least get the publishers to face the ʻokina in the correct way so that it is not an apostrophe.
Read
February 6, 2017I'm having a hard time thinking of a rating... The story is so good, and important, and I loved the Hawaiian-Indian-rap elements. The author, a psychologist who shares a lot of Rani's descriptors (Indian, lives on the same island as Rani, and is a rapper) could have made a really fantastic book... but the clunky writing almost ruined this for me. While a few other reviews have touched on some valid criticisms about character development and Rani's Mary-Sue-ness, mine is that the story structure was distractingly uncompelling. I think an editor could have improved it tenfold. There were moments that could've been drawn out; detailed chunks that could've been taken out altogether; the front end was loaded with issues that seemingly were untangled too quickly in the second half.
I did want to add that even though you're not familiar with Hawaii or Indian culture, there is a glossary in the back for some used terms that may help you understand what is going on. Some words aren't in the glossary, though, so you have to use context clues.
However, the running soundtrack in the background of Rani's thoughts are real songs by real artists, and if you're not familiar with them, I can see the story losing a whole lot of dimension. Brush up on your early 90s rap, people!
And the raps are so good. I just wish the vehicle to convey Rani's story and her raps was better! Dang it!
It's always disappointing when the back blurb of the book excites you with its potential, but the storytelling falls flat. So it goes.
I did want to add that even though you're not familiar with Hawaii or Indian culture, there is a glossary in the back for some used terms that may help you understand what is going on. Some words aren't in the glossary, though, so you have to use context clues.
However, the running soundtrack in the background of Rani's thoughts are real songs by real artists, and if you're not familiar with them, I can see the story losing a whole lot of dimension. Brush up on your early 90s rap, people!
And the raps are so good. I just wish the vehicle to convey Rani's story and her raps was better! Dang it!
It's always disappointing when the back blurb of the book excites you with its potential, but the storytelling falls flat. So it goes.
March 16, 2017
It's 1991 and Rani Patel's father is having an affair. It's confirmed and documented and Rani is furious. Not just on her distant mother's behalf but on her own behalf. Her and her Dad have been closer than is right for quite some time now - she feels like a widow and shaves her head as is customary in her parents' culture. Yes, what you're reading between the lines is exactly what I'm referring to.
She's an outsider in her family. An outsider at school being as they live in Hawaii and her family is not from there. And she gets through it by rapping - best be up on your classic 80s and 90s hip hop. It's a tough subject matter to deal with but Rani really comes into her own despite what is happening to her family and what happens to her in some of her other choices.
A glossary is included and I did make use of that in the beginning but I found I at least got the gist of everything thanks to context clues. It's a great read in that we're dealing with a tough subject matter in as engaging a way as possible without getting bogged down in its own heaviness. There is a lot of positivity here even after everything that happens. I also love our main character and how different of a voice she is in YA and in her own story. Do give it a shot if you see it around.
She's an outsider in her family. An outsider at school being as they live in Hawaii and her family is not from there. And she gets through it by rapping - best be up on your classic 80s and 90s hip hop. It's a tough subject matter to deal with but Rani really comes into her own despite what is happening to her family and what happens to her in some of her other choices.
A glossary is included and I did make use of that in the beginning but I found I at least got the gist of everything thanks to context clues. It's a great read in that we're dealing with a tough subject matter in as engaging a way as possible without getting bogged down in its own heaviness. There is a lot of positivity here even after everything that happens. I also love our main character and how different of a voice she is in YA and in her own story. Do give it a shot if you see it around.
November 14, 2017
4.5 stars
SO GOOD. I stayed up all night finishing this because once I got into the story, I could.not. put it down. Rani is such a great character. I loved her and felt for her and wanted to be her Get A Grip Friend. I kind of want to listen to the audio to see if the narrator actually performs her raps or just reads them aloud.
SO GOOD. I stayed up all night finishing this because once I got into the story, I could.not. put it down. Rani is such a great character. I loved her and felt for her and wanted to be her Get A Grip Friend. I kind of want to listen to the audio to see if the narrator actually performs her raps or just reads them aloud.
March 31, 2017
Rani in Full Effect takes place on the island of Molokai in Hawaii during the early 90s. Rani is a teenage Gujarati Indian whose family runs a general store and restaurant on Molokai. Her world comes crashing down the day she sees her father with another woman. Her parents traditionally arranged marriage is a sham, her parents are always arguing, with Rani always coming between them. She's always been very close (unhealthily close) to her father, with him coming to her for all his needs. With his new girlfriend, Rani has been replaced and everything falls apart.
Around the time Rani's world is falling apart, she becomes friendly with Mark, a 30-year-old, who often visits the general store to buy beer and cigarettes. Rani loves hip hop music and turns to listening and writing her own rap lyrics during this difficult time. Mark introduces her to a secret underground hip hop group where she is able to feel like herself. She has a huge crush on Mark and she is ecstatic when she learns that he likes her back (Ew). What follows are a bunch of bad decisions made by Rani, with her relationship with Mark basically replacing the relationship she had with her father.
Rani has a very complicated relationship with her mother. She craves to have a better relationship with her mother, but most of the time she's distant and ignores Rani. It's frustrating to see Rani trying to get her mother's attention with little to no result. However, by the end of the book, her relationship has begun to heal. I love that her mom intervenes between Rani and Mark and my favorite part may been when she stands up to her husband's girlfriend "Oh, Wendy. I wouldn't live with you and Pradip even if that meant I had to be homeless. I actually wanted to say thank you. Thank you for taking Pradip off my hands. You can keep him. And his bullcrap." YES!
I'm so glad Rani and her mom stood up to her father when he wanted to move back in with them, WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND! That could have gone so many ways, but they said no and stood by that no.
It's also frustrating to see Rani make so many bad decisions. These bad decisions are a result of the years of abuse she endured but that didn't make it any easier to read each time she decided to take Mark back. I'm glad she decided not to go back with Mark at the end of the book, but it bothers me that she may have taken him back if he wasn't going to Maui to live with his pregnant girlfriend. It was also hard to read about the self-blame she kept feeling through the story. You just want to tell her it's not her fault and try to help her in anyway possible.
I really had no interest in reading the book until I found out it takes place on Molokai. I was fortunate to visit Molokai about 10 years ago and I have fond memories from that trip. I loved being familiar with some of the places that she mentions in the book. We looked in some of the shops along Ala Malama Avenue in Kaunakakai, including going grocery shopping there. I have a picture of the library she mentions. We went to Kalaupapa and I'm pretty sure we stopped at the overlook where Mark takes Rani at the end of the book. I have a picture taken with the Phallic Rock. I know who Father Damien is! (I hope I don't sound like the tourist who Pono and Rani find so annoying at the end of the book.) I felt like Molokai was a character of the book.
It was the setting that drew me in, but once I started the book, and while it was difficult to read at times, I really enjoyed Rani's story. I look forward to reading Sonia Patel's next book.
**Just a side note, there is quite a bit of Hawaiian and Gujarati jargon throughout the book. I was lucky enough to know that there is a glossary at the end of the book, but you may not know this if you aren't warned. Don't become frustrated; just flip back when you see something you don't understand. There are a few words that aren't included in the glossary, but most of those you can figure out using context clues.**
Around the time Rani's world is falling apart, she becomes friendly with Mark, a 30-year-old, who often visits the general store to buy beer and cigarettes. Rani loves hip hop music and turns to listening and writing her own rap lyrics during this difficult time. Mark introduces her to a secret underground hip hop group where she is able to feel like herself. She has a huge crush on Mark and she is ecstatic when she learns that he likes her back (Ew). What follows are a bunch of bad decisions made by Rani, with her relationship with Mark basically replacing the relationship she had with her father.
Rani has a very complicated relationship with her mother. She craves to have a better relationship with her mother, but most of the time she's distant and ignores Rani. It's frustrating to see Rani trying to get her mother's attention with little to no result. However, by the end of the book, her relationship has begun to heal. I love that her mom intervenes between Rani and Mark and my favorite part may been when she stands up to her husband's girlfriend "Oh, Wendy. I wouldn't live with you and Pradip even if that meant I had to be homeless. I actually wanted to say thank you. Thank you for taking Pradip off my hands. You can keep him. And his bullcrap." YES!
I'm so glad Rani and her mom stood up to her father when he wanted to move back in with them, WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND! That could have gone so many ways, but they said no and stood by that no.
It's also frustrating to see Rani make so many bad decisions. These bad decisions are a result of the years of abuse she endured but that didn't make it any easier to read each time she decided to take Mark back. I'm glad she decided not to go back with Mark at the end of the book, but it bothers me that she may have taken him back if he wasn't going to Maui to live with his pregnant girlfriend. It was also hard to read about the self-blame she kept feeling through the story. You just want to tell her it's not her fault and try to help her in anyway possible.
I really had no interest in reading the book until I found out it takes place on Molokai. I was fortunate to visit Molokai about 10 years ago and I have fond memories from that trip. I loved being familiar with some of the places that she mentions in the book. We looked in some of the shops along Ala Malama Avenue in Kaunakakai, including going grocery shopping there. I have a picture of the library she mentions. We went to Kalaupapa and I'm pretty sure we stopped at the overlook where Mark takes Rani at the end of the book. I have a picture taken with the Phallic Rock. I know who Father Damien is! (I hope I don't sound like the tourist who Pono and Rani find so annoying at the end of the book.) I felt like Molokai was a character of the book.
It was the setting that drew me in, but once I started the book, and while it was difficult to read at times, I really enjoyed Rani's story. I look forward to reading Sonia Patel's next book.
**Just a side note, there is quite a bit of Hawaiian and Gujarati jargon throughout the book. I was lucky enough to know that there is a glossary at the end of the book, but you may not know this if you aren't warned. Don't become frustrated; just flip back when you see something you don't understand. There are a few words that aren't included in the glossary, but most of those you can figure out using context clues.**
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2016
Rani is a teenage Gujarati girl living in Hawaii with her hardworking mother and her hardly working father. When her father leaves the family for a younger woman, Rani shaves her head in defiance and seeks solace in her rhymes. As her life gets more and more complicated, hip hop is always there. Rani Patel In Full Effect is about beats, rhymes and the will to overcome every kind of external threat and the internal ones too.
There are a lot of layers to this book and they are all salty-sweet. There is triumph and sadness and the all-too-lovely "What the hell is she doing?" Set in the early 90's there is terminology that I can't be sure is accurate or not and as someone who was not too young during the time I can't remember if everything feels authentic. Because the subculture and setting is so specific this can read like historical fiction. You have to forget the here and now and allow yourself to be transported. Patel gives us smells and tastes that let you know you're on the island, but also that you're in the home of a Gujarati woman and child.
From the first pages we see Rani in crisis. She's just shaved her head and hair is so integral to female identity that we know that this is nothing light. This is more than acting out and whatever has happened it is catastrophic and it proves to be so. In small glimpses we see that the family unit that Rani is so desperate to protect is gnarled and broken in ways that she has yet to grasp. This toxic thing is something she wants and until it's snatched from her without a hope of returning she can't see it for what it is. We go on this journey of realization with her and we have moments of jubilation, usually punctuated with dope rhymes from Rani herself.
It can't be overstated that hip-hop is a big part of Rani's life and the book itself and the fact that it is such a positive force warms my heart to no end. Often anything loved and manufactured by black boys is vilified, but Rani exalts the art form. It is a salve and a holy healing drink. That's dope!
Get discussion questions and more on my blog at
There are a lot of layers to this book and they are all salty-sweet. There is triumph and sadness and the all-too-lovely "What the hell is she doing?" Set in the early 90's there is terminology that I can't be sure is accurate or not and as someone who was not too young during the time I can't remember if everything feels authentic. Because the subculture and setting is so specific this can read like historical fiction. You have to forget the here and now and allow yourself to be transported. Patel gives us smells and tastes that let you know you're on the island, but also that you're in the home of a Gujarati woman and child.
From the first pages we see Rani in crisis. She's just shaved her head and hair is so integral to female identity that we know that this is nothing light. This is more than acting out and whatever has happened it is catastrophic and it proves to be so. In small glimpses we see that the family unit that Rani is so desperate to protect is gnarled and broken in ways that she has yet to grasp. This toxic thing is something she wants and until it's snatched from her without a hope of returning she can't see it for what it is. We go on this journey of realization with her and we have moments of jubilation, usually punctuated with dope rhymes from Rani herself.
It can't be overstated that hip-hop is a big part of Rani's life and the book itself and the fact that it is such a positive force warms my heart to no end. Often anything loved and manufactured by black boys is vilified, but Rani exalts the art form. It is a salve and a holy healing drink. That's dope!
Get discussion questions and more on my blog at
November 3, 2016
I received this book for free through ŷ giveaways.
So one thing that I want to say before I review this is that I'm definitely not a part of all three cultures featured in this book, so it was insightful, but it made the book very hard to read. I didn't realize there was a glossary in the back, and there were some words that were not included in the glossary. So a lot of the time I had no idea what the characters were saying, which made it a bit confusing and hard to read.
The story itself packed a hard punch, though. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but Patel ties the main pats of the story together - Rani's family issues, her love of rap, and her sexual abuse. It was interesting and heartwrenching to read about and I admit I did get frustrated with her going back to Mark again and again, even when he had clearly hurt her and was going to hurt her again, but the author's note at the back cleared it up. I feel like this book made me understand a lot about sexual assault victims.
One thing I have to say about Rani's character was that her characterization seemed to jump back and forth between several different personas. She didn't feel like one person. She felt like a variety of people, reacting in almost opposite ways to the same sort of thing, which was kind of jarring.
However, all in all it was a pretty good book. I'm glad that Rani is starting to heal at the end and things are looking up for her.
So one thing that I want to say before I review this is that I'm definitely not a part of all three cultures featured in this book, so it was insightful, but it made the book very hard to read. I didn't realize there was a glossary in the back, and there were some words that were not included in the glossary. So a lot of the time I had no idea what the characters were saying, which made it a bit confusing and hard to read.
The story itself packed a hard punch, though. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but Patel ties the main pats of the story together - Rani's family issues, her love of rap, and her sexual abuse. It was interesting and heartwrenching to read about and I admit I did get frustrated with her going back to Mark again and again, even when he had clearly hurt her and was going to hurt her again, but the author's note at the back cleared it up. I feel like this book made me understand a lot about sexual assault victims.
One thing I have to say about Rani's character was that her characterization seemed to jump back and forth between several different personas. She didn't feel like one person. She felt like a variety of people, reacting in almost opposite ways to the same sort of thing, which was kind of jarring.
However, all in all it was a pretty good book. I'm glad that Rani is starting to heal at the end and things are looking up for her.
March 20, 2017
Finalist for the 2017 William C. Morris Debut YA Novel award from American Library Association. The best words I can find to describe this story are raw, brave, powerful and rich. This novel is not for the average YA reader and I have to include trigger warnings for rape and incest right away. For mature YA and adult readers, though, this is a heartbreaking look at life for an Indian-American teen rapper on the small Hawaiian island of Moloka’i in the early 1990's. The complex family issues and rare look into Native Hawaiian and Gujarti cultures made this an uncommon read for me, and one that I will likely never forget. The back of the book includes an informational section from the author (a psychiatrist) on teenage victims of family sexual abuse, as well as a glossary of the many, many hip hop, Hawaiian, Gujarati, Hindu, slang, and Hawaiian pidgin terms used throughout the book.
April 5, 2024
this wasn’t awful, it was just sad and the writing style/content was not really for me�
December 14, 2016
Rani is a very outward facing person, even though she has insecurities and other things that she's working through. So I think for that reason she has to enact her mistakes to evaluate her negative patterns, and see them in her writing, instead of brooding about them. That is a character trait not so often seen in YA because I think authors are more introspective and they write what they know. So it was refreshing to read Rani, and a little frustrating. I was relieved that her raps weren't totally terrible. She was a believable creative teen.
February 17, 2017
I loved this book. Raw, moving story told by a unique, funny, specific voice. Rani Patel is a fantastic character. Also love the hip-hop woven throughout, including all the rhymes written by Rani. BONUS: Takes place in the early 1990s!
July 27, 2016
Unlike anything I've ever read before. I couldn't put it down. This novel needs its own playlist.
October 23, 2016
A super, super important story with an insightful Author's note and an awesome 80's/90's soundtrack that gets you through those tough to read moments.
May 28, 2017
Raw, achy, and empowering. I need to print out Rani's raps and post them all over my room.
April 1, 2017
Overly histrionic and a little too cheesy at times.
September 9, 2017
upper ya novel, family, multicultural, incest, poetry/spoken word, resilience
May 27, 2018
This book is so good, I wish it had been around when I was a teen.
July 15, 2018
A difficult book because of some of the things Rani experiences
September 22, 2018
I liked it.
September 16, 2019
This is a book that I know that so many people need, and this is a book that I feel so privileged to have read. This book depicts discussions of trauma, rape, incest, drugs, rap, hip hop, friendships, and Indian culture. And that's not all! We also have topics of mother-daughter-father relationships through first- and second-generation immigrant families on colonized land.
This was such a well-designed and interesting book! It's phenomenal, intriguing, and depicted a world completely unlike the world that I know. Through that, I learned so much about Indian culture, language, and the ways in which families navigate their dysfunction. This book though, I'm sure, is something of a mirror for other readers out there who are more familiar with these topics and cultures.
That being said, if you're like me and not a part of the "in" crowd, I'd really recommend this. It's a great read, unlike so much that I've read, and a book that was so moving and personal and touching. Overall, definitely worth picking it up, reading it, and supporting it.
Review cross-listed !
This was such a well-designed and interesting book! It's phenomenal, intriguing, and depicted a world completely unlike the world that I know. Through that, I learned so much about Indian culture, language, and the ways in which families navigate their dysfunction. This book though, I'm sure, is something of a mirror for other readers out there who are more familiar with these topics and cultures.
That being said, if you're like me and not a part of the "in" crowd, I'd really recommend this. It's a great read, unlike so much that I've read, and a book that was so moving and personal and touching. Overall, definitely worth picking it up, reading it, and supporting it.
Review cross-listed !
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