Language: R (134 swears, 17 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Struggling to live up to her strict Bangladeshi parents’ rules and expectations, Karina dreams of being able to live her own life and make her own choices. When her parents leave for 28 days, Karina wears the clothes that she wants, breaks her 5:15pm curfew, starts fake-dating a boy, and tastes the freedom she’s always wanted. Will these 28 days of reprieve sate her need for freedom or make it impossible to go back to letting her parents control every decision?
I was in agony reading this book because the emotions are so real. Karina struggles with shoulds and with knowing what she deserves. Her Bangladeshi culture says one thing and her friends say another – thoughts in line with American culture. These clashing cultures inside Karina manifest as a desire to have positive relationships with her parents while still being happy herself. Her agony was also mine because there isn’t one right answer. No one can tell Karina how to live her best life in this scenario because only she has to live with the consequences of those decisions, and I have been there. Karina laments about why she has to choose between her parents’ happiness and her own when what she really wants is both. In an ideal world, she could have both. But we don’t live in an ideal world.
Karina and her family are Bangladeshi; Nandini is Indian; and Cora is half Chinese, half French. Mia and Tina are described as Black, and Ace and the rest of his family are described as are white. The mature content rating is for mentions of drug use, partial nudity, and innuendo. The violence rating is for jokes about murder.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
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