A review by michromeu
Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
3.0
3.5 stars
So I loved a lot of this book, and could really identify with the main character feeling "too Indian for Americans, and too American for Indians" (roughly paraphrasing) - just replace "Indian" with "Latin" and you've got the story of my life. I feel like a lot of the cultural confusion rang true and I was really drawn in by Dimple's voice throughout the entire story. I also really enjoyed how Dimple's relationship with her parents evolved throughout the story, and how our perception of her parents changed by the end, as well. I thought the characters were well-drawn and dynamic.
My two main gripes are these: one, this book is set in the early 2000s, but for some reason it felt dated to me instead of nostalgic. This could also be due to the fact that it was also written in the early 2000s, but something about it felt off to me.
Two, the character of Dimple's white best friend Gwyn made me deeply uncomfortable throughout the novel. The issue of her appropriation of Indian culture is brought up briefly at a couple of points, and it may be that the author was presenting her as an example of what is wrong with cultural appropriation. Regardless, there were too many times where I was blatantly shocked at the ways in which she was exploiting Dimple and her culture, and it felt as though the narrative was saying it's ok. If you're going to put in a character and use her as an example of what NOT to do, then maybe you should make it more obvious that you're not condoning it?
In the end, I liked the novel, but the message regarding cultural appropriation and exploitation was unclear, which preventing me from fully enjoying it.
So I loved a lot of this book, and could really identify with the main character feeling "too Indian for Americans, and too American for Indians" (roughly paraphrasing) - just replace "Indian" with "Latin" and you've got the story of my life. I feel like a lot of the cultural confusion rang true and I was really drawn in by Dimple's voice throughout the entire story. I also really enjoyed how Dimple's relationship with her parents evolved throughout the story, and how our perception of her parents changed by the end, as well. I thought the characters were well-drawn and dynamic.
My two main gripes are these: one, this book is set in the early 2000s, but for some reason it felt dated to me instead of nostalgic. This could also be due to the fact that it was also written in the early 2000s, but something about it felt off to me.
Two, the character of Dimple's white best friend Gwyn made me deeply uncomfortable throughout the novel. The issue of her appropriation of Indian culture is brought up briefly at a couple of points, and it may be that the author was presenting her as an example of what is wrong with cultural appropriation. Regardless, there were too many times where I was blatantly shocked at the ways in which she was exploiting Dimple and her culture, and it felt as though the narrative was saying it's ok. If you're going to put in a character and use her as an example of what NOT to do, then maybe you should make it more obvious that you're not condoning it?
In the end, I liked the novel, but the message regarding cultural appropriation and exploitation was unclear, which preventing me from fully enjoying it.