I Expected To Hate From Twinkle, With Love

So hate is a bit of a strong word. I didn't think I'd hate the book, but I didn't think I'd enjoy it very much either. I knew I loved Sandhya Menon because I admire the fact that she writes books about non-stereotypical Indian kids - I love that she's paving the way for other Indian authors to also write books about their own culture. That she's shown us that books about Indian kids can make it onto the NYT Bestsellers list. However, I wasn't the most in love with When Dimple Met Rishi, and I fully expected to feel the same feelings when reading this book as well. It may have started out that way, but my heart grew fonder of it as I went on reading. 

At the beginning, I encountered the same problems with this book as I did with Dimple. I found the main character, Twinkle Mehra, slightly annoying, and her problems unrelatable (at least to me). I'm sure her passive aggressive, clingy obsession with her best friend ignoring her in favor of the rich, popular kids is realistic - I promise I'm not being sarcastic - but personally, I couldn't identify. Again, that's just me though. Twinkle also had issues with her mother and her economic status. These are completely valid complaints, completely valid reasons to rebel against the world, but I found them a bit repetitive as Dimple dealt with the same issues in her novel. I eventually got over it, but it led to a lot of unfilmed booktube-worthy, mumbled commentary during my commutes while I was listening to the audiobook.

I think one of the big things Menon does in her book is keep her characters flawed and beautiful. The reader can tell pretty early on that Twinkle isn't quite the moral compass, and further into the novel, she kind of goes full on monster. I know Menon's books get a lot of flack for the flaws, especially since her main characters aren't only flawed, but also non-white; even so, the character flaws make the book. It can be a bit unnerving since the YA market is so filled with "perfect" characters, but I hope Menon continues to challenge readers by unflinchingly writing characters who make bad decisions.

The love interest, Sahil, was cute. Perhaps too cute for me, but I'm glad Twinkle liked him. That being said, I didn't really feel the romance between them. I felt like I was being spoon-fed the relationship, and there was a lot of showing rather than telling. I didn't feel the chemistry between the two - it was stated in the book and I took it at its word. The two were awkward and perfect for each other, but how it came out was Twinkle declaring out of nowhere that she suddenly found Sahil attractive for no reason, when nothing really even happened between them. Okay, Twinkle. I thought the dynamic between Sahil and Twinkle improved very much towards the end of the book, but the base of the relationship wasn't there, so I wasn't exactly swooning over the couple, although I was definitely invested.

Even though I started out muttering about how much this book annoyed me, I ended up really loving the story - the ending was a beautiful thing, and I definitely cried at the end of it all. Whereas the only thing I liked about Dimple was the culture, I really enjoyed reading From Twinkle, With Love. And thank you film classes for educating me well enough for me to actually recognize and love some of the female filmmakers Twinkle wrote letters to!