A review by citrus_seasalt
The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy

Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
DNF at 44%. Nothing against the author: I think the story has a lot of heart, and shows middle school insecurities well. But the secondhand embarrassment was excruciating, the bullying (and some internalized homophobia) was more graphic than I expected it to be, and within 2 examples of Rahul testing out things to see if he was good at them and failing, I was starting to sense a formula/repetition for the book. It was difficult to get through, even with the lighthearted tone and the humor. (To Maulik Pancholy’s credit, though, some of the jokes made me laugh.)

Also, it was surprising to see OCD rep in this book! But from what I read, most of it was shown through compulsions and while the thought process behind those was on-page, I wonder if it was revealed to have bled into Rahul’s other anxieties as well.  (For instance, his entire “I have to be the best at something” mindset.) I kinda hope it did for accuracy’s sake, well-done OCD rep is so rare, especially in kidlit. 

Maybe I’ll pick this up at another time. The ending might make me cry, and I wonder how Rahul’s story and crisis will be resolved. But for now, I’m just not in the headspace for it.
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