I read this book because it came in my "read out of your comfort zone" box from Quarterly.com.

The writing got muddled for me a few times in this one but I think that's ok because it tended to mirror the main character's confusion about her place in life.

I thought it painted a full picture of the complexities of teenaged friendships, experimentation with alcohol, sex, drugs and the strangeness of realizing that your parents are fully realized people on top of being your parents.

I liked the glimpse into South Asian culture and the whole ABCD storyline.

My biggest complaint is that I think the characters are a bit too young. This takes place the summer between junior and senior year of high school and I think it all would have made more sense if it was between high school and college.

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Born Confused
(Born Confused #1)
by
Tanuja Desai Hidier


I am not sure why I picked this book up (except I liked the cover). I did not know it was YA and while it had the topics of YA, it did not really read like one. The dialogue and way topics were covered were well-written.
I enjoyed learning parts of the Indian culture and to get inside the head of a young Indian American.
The characters were also well-done. The best friend (Gwyn) of the main character (Dimple) is a obnoxious jerk that does not appreciate Dimple. While this can be overdone in YA, it is important because flaws make a character realistic. And in the end Ms. Hidier does a good job of handling the relationship between the two.
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Everything with her parents, her cousin, and Zara made me cry. Hell, I'm crying right now. I'm not gonna stop crying ( )

I remembered reading this book when I was in high school, and I was thinking about it again and decided to give it another go. I got so much more out of it this time around. I have been reading tons of blogs, about cultural appropriation and privilege, and picked up a lot that I didn't when I read it 10 years ago--I hardly even understood how awful Gwyn was back then, for example. It was also funny to see the things going on that Dimple was not yet aware of, but were crystal clear just from the little details and dialogue. Kavita and Sabina, for example. Kavita's coming out scene almost moved me to tears, actually, because her nervousness and then relief and giddiness at having done it and been accepted were so palpable.

The imagery was very imaginative and rich (if a tad heavy at times), and I really felt like I was inside Dimple's head. The scene where she smokes pot had this crazy surreal quality that made me feel like I was right there with her. And her family is so wonderful that I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall in their house--her parents are heartbreakingly sweet, and Kavita so loving but also the perfect cool older cousin. I loved how Dimple grew to see them all as human beings with flaws and stories of their own, which is a big part of growing up.

The huge glaring flaw in all of this was definitely Gwyn. Even putting aside her absolute cluelessness, the exotification of her best friend's culture (and family!) and all the cultural appropriation and insensitive comments, she is the worst, most horrible friend. I could not understand why Dimple thought she was so amazing. Everything she did was incredibly selfish and self-centered. Yeah, her backstory is tragic and she's jealous of Dimple's loving family. But all she did was interrupt Dimple, encroach on all her boundaries, condescend, and undermine her at every opportunity to try to make herself look better by comparison. Eating all her best fries, showing up in the exact same outfit (in a smaller size) on purpose, not telling Dimple about Karsh's birthday, completely ignoring her best friend any time there was a boy around. I was really glad when Dimple finally confronted her and they had their big fight, but then felt like it was undermined in their big reconciliation scene, when Dimple decided she had also been a bad friend and apologized first. The only redeeming thing Gwyn did was have the magazine use Dimple's photos (thereby letting Dimple gain recognition for her photos). "Letting" her have Karsh didn't even seem that generous to me, since she could tell the whole time that Karsh was into Dimple and only gave up when she had exhausted everything and still couldn't win him over. I think the book would have been much stronger if their friendship had been allowed to come to an end, since all of Gwyn's cultural insensitivity and undermining of Dimple was very glossed over so that they could reconcile.

Anyway, aside from that I really enjoyed the book and will probably read the sequel when it comes out. I want to hang out with Dimple and her family a little bit more. ( )

Loved it. It combined the feeling of not-belonging because the protag is an "American Born Confused Desi" with the pure emotions of being a teenager and searching for something. There was a lot of good stuff about cultural appropriation and identity, and some gorgeous, gorgeous, poetic prose. There's a sequel out that I'm looking to get my hands on soon.

(Provided by publisher) ( )