A review by dandelionfluff
The Not So Star Spangled Life Of Sunita Sen by Mitali Perkins
2.0
I'm a bit hesitant on this one. Firstly, I'm sure someone out there would read this and see parts of themselves reflected back. For people outside this cultural sphere, it can provide insight into the identity crisis some people have, being the children of immigrants or part of a family with roots outside of America. I'm sure this would be valuable to have in a library, too, as a conversation-starter... But I felt that other books might tackle this conversation with greater depth.
Geetie, her sister, is painted as a liberal vegetarian eco-warrior feminist in such an eye-rolling way that I flipped through even faster, never being so taken with anything that I'd slow down. In the end, Sunita becomes a bit more comfortable with herself, but I appreciated her grandparents more than anything. Her Dadu, especially, was a very wise, compassionate, patient character. Her parents, too, were more interesting to me, with her mom struggling to be a good Indian daughter. I dunno. Just finished this feeling a bit relieved that I didn't have to endure Sunita's immaturity any more.
Spoiler
Sunita Sen struggles with her Indian heritage, longing for a truly American identity, but the entire journey is rather... annoying. I wished she would stop incessantly complaining, even if it is a rather accurate picture of a disenchanted middle schooler. Even when she yells at her mother, is reprimanded by her father, is told she's going to an Indian festival regardless of her attitude, the whole thing is made a non-issue in a heartbeat, with no further repercussions for her being a total jerk. At this point, a little over halfway through the book, I started speed-reading.Geetie, her sister, is painted as a liberal vegetarian eco-warrior feminist in such an eye-rolling way that I flipped through even faster, never being so taken with anything that I'd slow down. In the end, Sunita becomes a bit more comfortable with herself, but I appreciated her grandparents more than anything. Her Dadu, especially, was a very wise, compassionate, patient character. Her parents, too, were more interesting to me, with her mom struggling to be a good Indian daughter. I dunno. Just finished this feeling a bit relieved that I didn't have to endure Sunita's immaturity any more.