Book Review: Wake Up, Girl!

A typical story of an Indian girl post-college, almost a decade ago. Let me first talk about the book and then my take on the story and the setting. Despite my unusual disdain towards Indian authors, I fell in love with this book, will tell you the why later.

Summary:

Naina is back from America, after four years of living on her own. A natural rebel, she has had some fairly life-altering experiences which Mum and Dad would not approve of at all if they get to know. But will her spirit and her stand be enough to fight the forces of parental pressure and heckling aunties baying for her nuptials?

Back in the bosom of her conservative family, Naina cannot even begin to imagine the turn her life is going to take. It's wedding season, and she must now be married. Because every self-respecting upper-middle-class family in India do that, right? Marriage at the 'right age' to the 'right family'.whether she likes it or not.

Naina's worst nightmares are about to come true. What hits her within a week of being at home completely changes her world and her life as she embarks on a journey that will define her and provide her with an education that only life can.

Ayaan, Rohan, Akshay, Shiven. Who will it be? Will she even have a shot at romance, being with someone she loves, irrespective of his caste, respectability or bank balance? She will have to summon all the chutzpah within to fight for herself. For her notions of love and living.

Now that you have the gist of the story (nope, no spoilers here), let me tell you why Naina is so relatable: 

1. She's a girl brought up in a conservative household so, like most of us here, college is her first taste of freedom. Why this point is relevant is because there is a lot of room for error and mishaps when you have the world at your disposal and no one to stop you from doing anything you want to do. A lot of people get lost here. For me it was Delhi, for Naina it was Boston. 
2. Naina is an introvert, again something I relate to. It is difficult to make a lot of friends and be outgoing, especially in a new environment. But as soon as you get a friend, you tend to stick with them for long. 
3. She came back. Now, this is where the story changes for Naina and I. Like any Indian girl after graduation, her future is set to be married. Even before she has a chance to unpack, she is meeting guys. This is not my story but I do know a lot of people who went through this and I cannot imagine my parents or relatives forcing this on me. Career always comes first girls. Remember that. 
4. I can't tell you further for the fear of spoilers but let's just say, she figures it out. She makes her parents happy, she meets all those "Jeevansaathi" guys and she ends up where she always wanted to be. 

"Wake up, girl!" is a short, quick read. There are exciting moments and laugh out loud moments, it is still not perfect, I would have liked the characters to have more depth to them, some scenarios were very done and dusted - a typical high-class Indian family, shopping at Sabhyasachi, a job in London? Come on, who are we kidding, that's pretty much impossible these days, kids flying all over the country, half-crazed family, etc etc. I feel there is a lot of scope to explore an Indian household beyond the obvious. There were a few plot twists, again quite predictable. 

Overall I would say it's a fun read. You don't have to think too much into it, just let the story flow, the language is simple. If you are a fan of chick-lit, you will definitely like it. Just pick it up while on a vacation, or after you've just finished a really heavy read, will definitely get you in the right mood. 

Critique aside, why I related to this book so much was because the day I started reading this, my best friend was actually meeting a guy's family. A typical family-meet-family set up. They didn't click and down the drain went all my best-laid plans of wedding shopping, a bachelorette trip to Phuket and dance practice. I even had the playlist ready! That's not it, just one day before I had an argument with my parents about my delayed nuptials. I am about to turn 24 and they want to get me married at 26. We'll see about that. :P
But I can't fully blame them, they don't know any other way. My mom was married at 21, had me by the time she turned 22. And I, at 24, can barely BARELY take care of myself, let alone a family. Yes, there is a generation gap and the only way to bridge that gap is by being fully honest about what you want and communicating it to them. A lesson that this book highlights as well. 

Let me end this here. This is a topic I can go on and on about. 
I will leave the rest for you to figure. 
Pick up this book, give it a read. I am super excited to read what you guys think. 

XOXO
Pearl S.
#thatcoffeegirl

P.S. I cannot end this blog without a huge shoutout to the marketing team of Bloomsbury and Niharika Jindal. This book arrived in the cutest personalised box possible. In this picture, you can see a cup that says "Wake up, Pearl!" and chocolates. There was also a personalised tee with the same message and SleepyOwl coffee packs. So so in love. Well done team!