healnotslay's review against another edition
5.0
i don't actually know what the plot was but it was good
i can see how people would hate the mc like she is so vile & ruthless
i can see how people would hate the mc like she is so vile & ruthless
rcaivano's review against another edition
Reshma is a high school over achiever who will stop at nothing to get what she wants - admission to Stanford. She does nothing but study. She has no friends and no social life. When she doesn't get the grades she thinks she deserves, she badgers her teachers, and even sues them, until she does. But she needs a hook for her college application essay, so she decides she will write a book, based on herself, get an agent, and that will clinch it. She decides she needs to 1) make friends 2) go to a party 3) get a boyfriend and 4) have sex. Then she'l have what she needs for her book. But she also needs to be valedictorian, and will stop at nothing, including suing her school once more, to make that happen.
michellehshen's review against another edition
1.0
Too much metafiction and the narrator's voice was extremely unpleasant
Did not like Reshma as the antihero, and there was a lack of plot and characterization
Did not like Reshma as the antihero, and there was a lack of plot and characterization
chivalricmaiden's review against another edition
5.0
I have reread this novel over and over and I'm reluctant to return this to the library.
First off I want to say that I didn't get why the protagonist couldn't just make it up instead of trying to enhance real life. I don't think it would be hard for her to write the ending she wanted to have. Moving on.
Reshma is this manipulative, school-cheating Indian girl (although she does work hard) who is determined to go to Stanford NO MATTER WHAT. I can't believe I was supporting her all the way. My insides cried when she didn't end up going to Stanford, but it's what she deserves. But the defeat to Susan Le is AGGRAVATING.
In fact, Stanford's the reason she started this whole novel. She doesn't have any real interests but somehow I still loved her. Her tiger personality wowed me even though from the other side I'd be terrified. Her arc isn't big but I can see a gradual sense of change at the end. She's still blunt but she's slightly softer.
I actually can relate to her except her cheating habit. She could've taken various books and websites on one subtopic and mix them all up together beautifully (not whole sentences just partial or paraphrase it), turning in a fresh assignment.
Parenting Reshma must be hard. With her demand of lawsuits, it's a complicated process. I can see her mother obviously saddened and irritated while her father thinks it's no big thing. (Yay dad love)
Chelsea is this nice, fair individual(at least on the outside) who is second adjacent to Reshma with her gold. Although from explanations of past events, I can infer that she wasn't always so bright and sunny. I imagine her with a touch of snobbishness.
When Chelsea applied to Stanford after Reshma got dragged down to a lower place, I could see a bit of joyousness in it. In her mind, she's dancing that she's on top. I wanted to see her spill a bit of rudeness in between the lines, however. Maybe Reshma wouldn't notice but I would.
Miss Ratcliffe did crack however. I was extremely upset along with Reshma when she spoke ill of her parents!
Alex is so aggressive that she's similar to Reshma. The only major difference is that they were on opposing sides. I wasn't mad at her either. (What is this book doing to me?!)
I have no idea how to conclude this or what to talk about anymore so I'll just say something obvious. I loved this book.
(I hate writing reviews. It takes a lot of thought that I never knew I had (and makes me go crazy when I don't have any thought). The result is a tad mushed up.)
REVIEW DONE IN 2017
First off I want to say that I didn't get why the protagonist couldn't just make it up instead of trying to enhance real life. I don't think it would be hard for her to write the ending she wanted to have. Moving on.
Reshma is this manipulative, school-cheating Indian girl (although she does work hard) who is determined to go to Stanford NO MATTER WHAT. I can't believe I was supporting her all the way. My insides cried when she didn't end up going to Stanford, but it's what she deserves. But the defeat to Susan Le is AGGRAVATING.
In fact, Stanford's the reason she started this whole novel. She doesn't have any real interests but somehow I still loved her. Her tiger personality wowed me even though from the other side I'd be terrified. Her arc isn't big but I can see a gradual sense of change at the end. She's still blunt but she's slightly softer.
I actually can relate to her except her cheating habit. She could've taken various books and websites on one subtopic and mix them all up together beautifully (not whole sentences just partial or paraphrase it), turning in a fresh assignment.
Parenting Reshma must be hard. With her demand of lawsuits, it's a complicated process. I can see her mother obviously saddened and irritated while her father thinks it's no big thing. (Yay dad love)
Chelsea is this nice, fair individual(at least on the outside) who is second adjacent to Reshma with her gold. Although from explanations of past events, I can infer that she wasn't always so bright and sunny. I imagine her with a touch of snobbishness.
When Chelsea applied to Stanford after Reshma got dragged down to a lower place, I could see a bit of joyousness in it. In her mind, she's dancing that she's on top. I wanted to see her spill a bit of rudeness in between the lines, however. Maybe Reshma wouldn't notice but I would.
Miss Ratcliffe did crack however. I was extremely upset along with Reshma when she spoke ill of her parents!
Alex is so aggressive that she's similar to Reshma. The only major difference is that they were on opposing sides. I wasn't mad at her either. (What is this book doing to me?!)
I have no idea how to conclude this or what to talk about anymore so I'll just say something obvious. I loved this book.
(I hate writing reviews. It takes a lot of thought that I never knew I had (and makes me go crazy when I don't have any thought). The result is a tad mushed up.)
REVIEW DONE IN 2017
alexisgracev22's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
carry_on_ames's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know what to say. This was a very meh book. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. Reshma was a bit of a spoiled brat, but overall I didn't mind her. It was a good book, it just wasn't anything special.
azagee's review against another edition
3.0
I had no idea what to expect going into this book and, honestly, I was just as confused coming out of it.
Reshma Kapoor is the kind of character I live to adore. Unreliable narrators always hold a special place in my heart, and Reshma had the added bonus of reminding me of a personal favourite flawed heroine-- Emma Woodhouse.
The similarities to Jane Austen's Emma were what drew me in, I'll admit. The idea of a modern Emma, one who takes herself and her talents seriously, was endlessly appealing. And, in that respect, I wasn't disappointed. There were definitely parallels, right down to the misguided quest for a friend and the love interest with a level head and a healthy outlook on life.
He was even named George.
As I read, though, I stopped thinking of Reshma as a the newest iteration of my old love, and instead, she became a person in her own right. Everything about her screamed to be given its due, and with every chapter she became more and more real to me. Slowly, I was even finding pieces of myself in a character who had once seemed my opposite in every way.
No matter what I have to say about the book, I will always love Reshma.
Sadly, though, the story didn't live up to its leading lady.
While the plot definitely had potential, the execution was severely lacking. The pacing was clunky and uneven, the secondary characters were flat and unappealing, and the interpersonal relationships didn't develop so much as they suddenly pivoted in a new direction with no forewarning. While some of this might have been intentional. as this is the diary of a girl who is both self-centered and deep in denial, it made for a wholly unpleasant reading experience. Most of it was tolerable (and, honestly, par for the course for a YA contemporary), the way the plots and subplots are handled left the book a tangled, unorganized mess.
The most egregious example is Reshma's therapy plotline: While the author manages to 'slip in' the fact that Reshma has bipolar disorder, it's really only recognizable to those already familiar with the disorder. The only other purpose the subplot seems to serve (and, indeed, perhaps its chief function) is hamfistedly dishing out both meta and comic relief in ways that made me deeply uncomfortable. In a novel that otherwise presented its characters with the utmost seriousness, having mental illness be represented by a caricature was actually kind of shocking... in the worst way. This couldn't even be explained away as an examination of thing that are actually wrong with the treatment of the neurodivergent, it was just awkward and, honestly, a chore to read.
However, the book handled the subjects of addiction and White Saviour racism so well, I could almost forgive it--
And that is precisely the problem. Enter Title Here offers the wonderful and the terrible in equal measures. The result is something hard to describe and a mess of emotions you won't know what to do with. Would I recommend it? I honestly don't know. Maybe on a case by case basis, depending on what the reader found important and wanted from their next read.
But in general, I'm still just as lost as everyone who hasn't read it.
Reshma Kapoor is the kind of character I live to adore. Unreliable narrators always hold a special place in my heart, and Reshma had the added bonus of reminding me of a personal favourite flawed heroine-- Emma Woodhouse.
The similarities to Jane Austen's Emma were what drew me in, I'll admit. The idea of a modern Emma, one who takes herself and her talents seriously, was endlessly appealing. And, in that respect, I wasn't disappointed. There were definitely parallels, right down to the misguided quest for a friend and the love interest with a level head and a healthy outlook on life.
He was even named George.
As I read, though, I stopped thinking of Reshma as a the newest iteration of my old love, and instead, she became a person in her own right. Everything about her screamed to be given its due, and with every chapter she became more and more real to me. Slowly, I was even finding pieces of myself in a character who had once seemed my opposite in every way.
No matter what I have to say about the book, I will always love Reshma.
Sadly, though, the story didn't live up to its leading lady.
While the plot definitely had potential, the execution was severely lacking. The pacing was clunky and uneven, the secondary characters were flat and unappealing, and the interpersonal relationships didn't develop so much as they suddenly pivoted in a new direction with no forewarning. While some of this might have been intentional. as this is the diary of a girl who is both self-centered and deep in denial, it made for a wholly unpleasant reading experience. Most of it was tolerable (and, honestly, par for the course for a YA contemporary), the way the plots and subplots are handled left the book a tangled, unorganized mess.
The most egregious example is Reshma's therapy plotline: While the author manages to 'slip in' the fact that Reshma has bipolar disorder, it's really only recognizable to those already familiar with the disorder. The only other purpose the subplot seems to serve (and, indeed, perhaps its chief function) is hamfistedly dishing out both meta and comic relief in ways that made me deeply uncomfortable. In a novel that otherwise presented its characters with the utmost seriousness, having mental illness be represented by a caricature was actually kind of shocking... in the worst way. This couldn't even be explained away as an examination of thing that are actually wrong with the treatment of the neurodivergent, it was just awkward and, honestly, a chore to read.
However, the book handled the subjects of addiction and White Saviour racism so well, I could almost forgive it--
And that is precisely the problem. Enter Title Here offers the wonderful and the terrible in equal measures. The result is something hard to describe and a mess of emotions you won't know what to do with. Would I recommend it? I honestly don't know. Maybe on a case by case basis, depending on what the reader found important and wanted from their next read.
But in general, I'm still just as lost as everyone who hasn't read it.
isabelkitarj's review against another edition
2.0
It has the metafictional elements of [b:The Basic Eight|10997|The Basic Eight|Daniel Handler|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442649478l/10997._SY75_.jpg|518224], and the unlikeable, slightly-queasy-making protagonist of both The Basic Eight and [b:Prep|9844|Prep|Curtis Sittenfeld|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386925666l/9844._SY75_.jpg|2317177]. Reshma is also a bit like a more off-putting but equally intense version of the girls in Booksmart (though at least they had each other!).
Some of Reshma's qualities, like her intense focus on excelling according to a set of metrics, her super-high-stakes view of the college admissions project, and her experience trading fun in high school for good grades, are familiar and remind me either of myself or of my high school as a whole. It's fun and also cringe-y to read this exaggerated version of the very real experience that is attending a pressure-cooker high school. (And, even though Palo Alto is renamed Las Vacas, the high school in this novel is quite literally described as being located on the street corner where Palo Alto High is.)
The writing isn't that strong, most of the characters beyond Reshma are drawn only with broad, impressionistic strokes, and the metafictional conceit drags quite a bit. Some of the characters, like Ms. Ratcliffe, never really felt real to me. The plot is fairly predictable, but sort of tries to excuse its predictability with a claim to parody. At the same time, it was a quick and engaging read.
Some of Reshma's qualities, like her intense focus on excelling according to a set of metrics, her super-high-stakes view of the college admissions project, and her experience trading fun in high school for good grades, are familiar and remind me either of myself or of my high school as a whole. It's fun and also cringe-y to read this exaggerated version of the very real experience that is attending a pressure-cooker high school. (And, even though Palo Alto is renamed Las Vacas, the high school in this novel is quite literally described as being located on the street corner where Palo Alto High is.)
The writing isn't that strong, most of the characters beyond Reshma are drawn only with broad, impressionistic strokes, and the metafictional conceit drags quite a bit. Some of the characters, like Ms. Ratcliffe, never really felt real to me. The plot is fairly predictable, but sort of tries to excuse its predictability with a claim to parody. At the same time, it was a quick and engaging read.
gordonj's review against another edition
5.0
I got so sucked up in this book; I read it in a weekend, which almost never happens. Mostly this was because Kanakia's narrator is so compelling. High school senior, Reshma Kapoor isn’t always likeable, but she’s always interesting. I found so much to relate to in her desperate bid to become her school’s valedictorian. Not that I was my school’s valedictorian. I didn’t even come close. But I know what it’s like to want something so bad you’re willing to lie to your own son to make sure he doesn’t find the Halloween candy you’ve stolen from his bag and hidden in your closet. But I digress. Enter Title Here is a darkly funny story that takes on the real pressures teens feel today to succeed, no matter what the cost. I'm recommending it to everyone.
renatasnacks's review against another edition
4.0
I couldn't put this down! It's so compelling and dark and FUNNY. I loved how complicated Reshma was as a protagonist--how you can totally see where she's coming from, given her surroundings, but also how over the top she is, even for a Silicon Valley very competitive high school.
I also liked the way racism against Asian students specifically was addressed--not something I've seen much in YA fiction.
The whole meta-narrative schtick really worked for me, too--I could see it being a little too twee for some readers but I think a lot of teens especially like that kind of 4th wall breaking. (See: Deadpool's popularity.)
I also liked the way racism against Asian students specifically was addressed--not something I've seen much in YA fiction.
The whole meta-narrative schtick really worked for me, too--I could see it being a little too twee for some readers but I think a lot of teens especially like that kind of 4th wall breaking. (See: Deadpool's popularity.)