A review by kba76
Anita and Me, by Meera Syal
4.0
Anita and Me...a comic look at a troubled time, highlighting the tensions that come from the clash of cultures within its setting.
Nine year old Meena comes from a nice Punjabi family. Her parents are reluctant to let her forget her cultural roots, but Meena is at the age where she is more focused on the immediate. As the only coloured family in the small mining town of Tollington Meena is desperate to fit in with her peers...and the local ‘queen bee’ Anita. Inevitably, this doesn’t always go well.
The clash of Meena’s home life and her environment is written about with great comedic focus. It’s hard to laugh at some of these events and attitudes at the same time as hanging your head that this was the reality.
On occasion certain characters are, perhaps, exaggerated to develop a point. However, on the whole this was a good-humoured look at a key moment in time.
Nine year old Meena comes from a nice Punjabi family. Her parents are reluctant to let her forget her cultural roots, but Meena is at the age where she is more focused on the immediate. As the only coloured family in the small mining town of Tollington Meena is desperate to fit in with her peers...and the local ‘queen bee’ Anita. Inevitably, this doesn’t always go well.
The clash of Meena’s home life and her environment is written about with great comedic focus. It’s hard to laugh at some of these events and attitudes at the same time as hanging your head that this was the reality.
On occasion certain characters are, perhaps, exaggerated to develop a point. However, on the whole this was a good-humoured look at a key moment in time.