Reviews

Skunk Girl by Sheba Karim

lillyreads_08's review

4.0

This was one of the books I read with a muslim main character. It was refreshing and fun to see a character that was relatable.

lazygal's review

2.0

Nina's parents are Pakistani Muslims, while she wants to be an Americanized teenager. She's got two girlfriends, both white, and a crush on the new boy Asher. Problem is, of course, getting her parents to allow her to do anything that might involve boys, dating, dancing, etc., which of course they won't because they want her to be a good girl. Asher appears to like her, though...

The ending is, I think, supposed to let us know that Nina has somehow made peace with her American and Pakistani sides; it just comes across as a tacked-on coda.

Skunk Girl is set in the 1990s, and I'm guessing that is because the author grew up in a similar situation during that time. Because there's no real reason for it to be set then (by which I mean there's no great event or person that would require it to be set in the '90s), the lack of cell phones, texting, computers and all the other teen "stuff" stands out.

book_nut's review

3.0

Not a bad look at the hardships a child of immigrants (especially one with strict parents) faces. But it lacked a real point to the story.

kmc3050's review

3.0

A witty little number about a Pakistani-America-Muslim teenager. It was pretty enjoyable and reminded me of girls I went to high school with in Michigan.

heykellyjensen's review

3.0

Not particularly unique nor memorable. I think there's also a strange message in there about removing body hair as being okay with one's heritage? I know she's proud, but I thought that her removing her hair was just strange, and that Asher's commenting on it and then never bringing it up again was also weird. He first mentioned it like it was bad but when she removed it, he liked her heritage? Not sure.

ktrusty416's review

5.0

Absolute gem of a novel! Karim's "Skunk Girl" is hilarious, heart breaking and hopeful in equal measure. Nina Khan is an American-Pakistani, Muslim high school junior attempting to navigate the murky waters of small town adolescence. Loved that there were no easy answers or simplistic portrayals here - just a young woman trying to figure it all out.Gutted to find that it's out of print, as would love to have a copy in the store.

booksontheknightbus's review

4.0

"My Parents leave the country," I begin "and suddenly I'm Cinderella, going to parties and ski trips, and-and kissing you. But it's not like you're going to show up at my house with a glass slipper and we will live happily ever after."

This book was a pleasant surprise. I was given this book from my mother in law a few years ago because our dog was sprayed by a skunk and then she terrorized our house... Okay back to Skunk Girl, I went in not knowing a thing about it, and came out loving it.

Nina Khan is a Muslim American girl growing up in a small town with her older sister and her two parents. Her mother is overprotective and her father is the towns doctor. Nina wants to be like all the other girls at her school, blonde, able to go out to parties, and also to date who she wants. She is also under the Shadow that her sister Sonia left before she ran off to Harvard.

The character growth in this book is excellent. Nina tends to grow on you because her character starts off pretty shy but by the end she has started to make decisions for herself. She learns that holding grudges are sometimes not warranted. Actually, this was one of the parts of the book that surprised me the most because it wasn't the stereo typical mean girl trope. I promise I won't give it away. (; I learned several things from this book, about the Muslim faith and a ton of words in Urdu, and for a fiction book to do that, it is quite incredible.

"Well, what is a good Muslim? Whose definition are you applying to that? In every religion people pick and choose what they want to follow. Look at Ma and Dad's own friends- a few of the aunties cover their hair, and a few of the aunties drink, some fast during Ramadan, some don't. You can't spend your life worrying about what other people will think.

If you are looking to read a book that tackles Ethnicity and the realism of daily life this book is for you. It was refreshing to read something so diverse and about an underrepresented group of people in literature.

librarykristin's review

3.0

Am reviewing this for SLJ can't share that stuff here...a good backup for girls who love Randa Abdel-Fattah's stuff.

rhovingh's review

3.0

3.5, this one was fun.

sarahbowman101's review

3.0

Nina is the only Muslim in her small upstate New York high school. She is smart and has some good girlfriends, but is struggling under the academic shadow of her older sister (now at Yale) and has a crush on the part Italian-part Jewish Asher, even though she is aware of her parent's ban on dating. Despite the cultural differences, Nina is identifiable, funny and regular. Her story is sweet, but also somewhat forgettable. Nina's friends have sex, and there is a drinking episode at a party (lessons are at least learned at the party). Despite this, Skunk Girl would be an easy multi-cultural/coming of age story to recommend to most.