A review by caitatoes
Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier

4.0

the use of fake expletives is what gets me most about this book, it reads too much like what an adult thinks a kid would cuss like. but maybe i'm just out of the loop with how the kids cuss in Jersey. also, the bit at the end where Dimple gets the brunt of the blame for her and Gwen's fight, despite the fact that Gwen was, for the whole back half of the book (and as only one character mentioned and then immediately dropped, and was never mentioned again) fully appropriating Dimple's culture and was trying to be more brown because of it. Even in their fight, and subsequent make-up, Gwen still comes out shining and on top, and nothing ever happened because of or to solve her bad behavior. meanwhile Dimple gets the boy (and was fully willing to let him go if that's what he and Gwen wanted, meanwhile Gwen accuses her of, basically, sabotage or something close to it) but she still is the only one who actually feels negative emotion because of the way she acted. this is partially because the book is written from Dimple's point of view, sure, but if Gwen truly did feel bad about openly, explicitly, and meanly dumping on Dimple in order to win a boy from her then something should indicate that other than one single apology at the end. Dimple should have been more open about her feelings, yes, but Gwen shouldn't have been just, like, a huge bitch the whole time.