I heard about this book, when there was a controversy about the author. And I enquired about her and the book, seemed like, she had made a copy of some parts of her book from two other novels namely 'Sloppy Firsts' and 'Second Helpings', by Megan F. McCafferty. Infact it is this controversy that urged me to read this book.
Kavya writes about how a teenager, Opal, is brought up by her parents through out her life to get into Harward. She takes us through her life from when she was a kid to what she is now at school and what she wants to become. It is a hilarious novel, which forces us to ask some questions to ourselves.
Opal has had nothing else in her life, other than the getting into Harward. There is always a motive behind everything that she does, be it a social or school activity. She was basically a nerd who got rejected in her first interview at Harward, by the Dean Mr. Anderson who realised that Opal is just another girl who was academically very good, but never had a social life. The basic things that he asked her was, "Do you have friends?" and "What about romance, fun and parties?" She didnt have an answer to any of these questions.
As an answer to all these questions, Opal and her parents launch a plan or mission to acheive all these one by one. They were serious about being romantic, funny and having parties. This has clearly demonstrated how being serious can be funny.
The book has used many abbrevations like HOWGIH, How Opal Will Get Into Harward, and HOWGAL, How Opal Will Get A Life. It all looks funny during the course of the book. Opal's parents instructing her on what to do to look sexy and popular at school. They even select the guy who has to kiss Opal. But, all these plans go haywire when Opal meets Sean during a conselling session.
On the surface, the book deals with basic funny incidents that happen in life and school, but in a deeper sense, it tells you to do what you always want/love to do. The message is very appleaing and applicable to everyone in their life.
Characters to look out for in this book:
1. Sean
2. Kali
3. Dean Anderson
4. Prisicalla
Rating: 3.5* of 5
It is a must read for teenagers............
Monday, May 21, 2007
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life
by Kavya Vishwanathan
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1 comment:
the book wasnt worth the hype. not the plagiarism notoriety, but the largest advance paid to a teen or some such hype. both those factors led me to purchase a pirated copy of opal ( by then, the originals had all been withdrawn from the shelves and this was the only way to get my hands on one, other than ferreting out the owners pf the few copies that managed to be sold before the withdrawal).
read the book with great expectations which fell flat once i had read some way into the book.
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