Customer Reviews

Skunk Girl

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Plot: Girl notices Hottie. Sometimes in these sorts of books, the heroine has an interest besides boys, but not really here. So you expect the book to be mostly about getting the guy. Usually, the formula for these books go: Girl notices Hottie. Girl comes up with some kind of scheme to snare the Hottie. Wacky misunderstandings result. Girl gains self-respect and winds up with a guy who is not nearly as hot, but more compatible. There are variations, but these kinds of books have been around forever. This is not that kind of book.

Nina, the heroine is likeable and sympathetic but passive. If you are expecting there to be some kind of hookup or drama, you will be waiting quite awhile. For example, there is a Queen Bee ordered straight from central casting, and she and the heroine don't get along, so you expect that there will be some kind of confrontation. Which there finally is - on page 176. Then there's the hookup which only lasts a chapter. I kept waiting for Nina to do something proactive instead of just pine after the Hottie. I waited in vain for her to sneak around behind her parents' back, or for her to confront her parents, or her older sister to drop a bombshell, like that she's a lesbian or is dating a white guy. Something, anything to put some drama in the story. By page 90 or so, I wasn't picky. To mix mediums, I wish she were more like the girl in the movie "Bend it Like Beckham," who was also a Pakistani Muslim teen (I think) and who defied her traditional family so that she could play on a women's soccer team. Books are not usually written about people who follow the rules almost all the time. If they did, there would be little drama and even less story. Teens of every ethnicity get embarrassed by their parents, feel their parents don't understand them, etc., etc. While reading about another culture is fascinating, there has to be something more to sustain the story.

I was excited to get a copy of this book, since there just isn't much fiction out there written from the perspective of Muslim American youth. And in that sense, the book definitely fulfilled its promise -- the author develops the character of Nina in a way that really pulls us in to the struggle she feels in wanting to fit in with her friends, while also trying to please her traditional Pakistani parents who are always comparing Nina to her "perfect" older sister.

So for me, the character development was great -- and truthfully, I think the book may be worth reading just for that alone -- but I just didn't feel like there was enough depth to the actual *story* to pull me along the way many books do. For me, there really isn't any one point during the book where I have any doubt that Nina will turn out just fine, and figure out how to find some happiness for herself. Truthfully, it felt a lot like the "cultural fiction" I remember being required to read in 7th-9th grade -- heavy on character, slow on plot.

High school is hard enough, but add on the pressure of being the younger sister of a "Supernerd" as well as the only Asian or Muslim in her class and it's no wonder that Nina Khan feels a little out-of-sorts. Though Nina loves and appreciates her parents, she wishes they would let her have more of a social life. Though they are very kind, her parents are pretty strict when it comes to things like dating. She's now allowed to date, nor can she go to parties or school dances. When her friends are out and about on Saturday nights, Nina's expected to stay home and study.

The majority of residients in their little town of Deer Hook, New York are white. Nina and her older sister Sonia, who is now at college studying to become a doctor, are first-generation Pakistani-Americans. Her parents both came from middle-class families in Pakistan. They are intelligent, confident adults who regularly encourage their daughters to stay true to their Muslim values.

Since first grade, Nina has found solace in her two awesome best friends, Helena, a vibrant, ever-cheerful redhead, and Bridget, a tall blonde who is usually clumsy yet extremely graceful on the ski slopes. Now juniors in high school, the three girls are as close as ever. While Helena and Bridget can date whomever they like, Nina can't bring up the nerve to ask out Asher, the new boy on campus. Her tongue gets tied around him, and she knows her parents would disapprove of her dating an Italian boy.

Nina's first person narrative is insightful and allows the readers to learn of (and relate to) the fears and worries which she can't vocalize. Similar to the chapter markings in Everything Beautiful in the World by Lisa Levchuk, each brief chapter in Skunk Girl bears a title appropriate to the events which take place in that section's pages. The book's title comes from the stripe of hair Nina has running down the center of her back - something that her crush sees, much to her mortification, because it starts at the nape of her neck.

This is yet another YA novel I will recommend to both teens and adults. This recommendation is not only due to debut novelist Karim's heartfelt writing, but also because the story takes place in the early nineties and thus will definitely appeal to readers who were teens at that time. (The music references will bring you back there in a second. At home, Nina listens to a Smiths mix tape; when the song Jump Around plays during a big party scene, it will start playing in your head, too.)

Highly recommended.

When you read this review, keep in mind that "Skunk Girl" was written by one of my best friends in the whole world:) I've read a lot of Sheba's writing over the years and I love her style which is so breezy and grounded.

I started laughing from page 1 of SG, and not just because of the Jolene and SAT antonyms and the fact that we're hearing a story about South Asian immigrant lives. Naturally, overbearing traditionalist parents and obsessive academic regimes are resonant themes with me, and it's great to finally get a window open in that house, but more so, the writing in SG is light and witty and humourous and the teenage protagonist, Nina Khan, is actually loveable, as the book jacket promises (prompts?).

The dialogue and pacing is great, and I found myself wanting to know what Nina was going to do or think next, even if it was just a tiny tumult versus a grand upheaval. Her two best friends are nicely depicted (though it took me some time to separate them in my head). I especially enjoyed her father's character.

SG was an absolute pleasure to read, and I SO wish it had been around 20 years ago when I was 15, and I wouldn't have been felt so much the only lonely hairy girl out there.

Young girls often feel out of place and different and this story is about a teen who has major cultural differences with her classmates. She can't do many of the things they take for granted but doesn't want to disappoint her loving parents by rebelling. The strong family values of the Pakistani Muslim community are very clearly shown.

A Muslim teen will find this book especially interesting. But any other teen who feels different in some way might also like reading it and get some direction from it. The book is very well written for the Young Adult age range and would be a valuable addition to a school library.

This reminded me of Goddess for Hire, by Sonia Singh, in the way the author described her family. For that matter, anyone who enjoyed Moonstruck or My Big Fat Greek Wedding may enjoy this YA novel, written from the first person perspective of a Pakistani American high school girl. I like to read first person stories, especially if the heroine or hero is somewhat witty, and I enjoyed this book.

About five pages before the end the author started to tidy up pretty quickly, and I thought, "Oh, no; the end's coming too quickly," and then it happened. The end seemed rushed and the heroine's enlightening seemed moralistic, but overall the book was a good read. I recommend it for any age.

This is a coming of age story with the main character being 16 year old Nina. Nina is going through the normal stages of teen angst and is also of Pakistani descent. Her parents do not allow her to date and unfortunately she is falling for a new classmate. Nina's older sister Sonia, who is now in college, is perfect so she has the pressure of following in her footsteps. And to top it off, Nina has a dark, hairy stripe down her back, hence the book title. This book started off great; I liked Nina's view on how she tries to navigate two cultures - her American culture and her Pakistani culture. She ends up rebelling against her Pakistani culture but then grudgingly comes to appreciate it. This book was good but fell flat at the end.

Sheba Karim lends equal parts humor and poignancy to Nina's story. In some ways, this has all the familiar points of YA fiction - Nina is an outsider and has a crush on a boy and is misunderstood by her family. Yet she goes beyond anything standard as Nina deals with living in the shadow of her perfect sister, her best friends branching out into new social territory, and her crush who...actually likes her. One of the most moving parts of the book is Nina's refusal to see that Asher goes out of his way to show her attention. Watching Asher choose Nina over mean It girl Serena is one of the greatest pleasures of this book. Nina is a memorable character because she doesn't just sit around and feel sorry for herself; regarding her hairiness, the line of hair down her back making her think she's a "skunk girl," she tries to bleach it only to come away with her skin lightened. In this, any teenage girl will be able to relate to her.

She grapples with showing allegiance to her parents without letting them control, and thereby, ruin, her life. Karim makes her parents as overprotective as possible, and as a reader, I wanted Nina to defy them, but could also see clearly that they truly believed they were keeping her out of trouble, even if in the process they were also causing her to miss out on a lot of the fun of high school. When Nina muses that she wishes she were white, there is so much longing for a different kind of life in her, but her friend's boyfriend Anthony has an interesting answer that informs the rest of the book as Nina learns to appreciate her heritage without accepting wholesale the often bizarre to her rules of her family. An excellent YA novel that grapples with race, popularity, being a "good girl" and parental pressure, and yes, crushes.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Its different and is about teenagers but stays away from tons of teen angst. However, I found the writing to be a bit shallow. I wanted more depth from the characters. The story was nice, but I didn't really see it being motivated by the characters at all, it just kind of happened. In the end this is a subtle book about prejudiced and sacrifice, which I feel could have been punched up a bit. It was a good read however, I just wanted more.

Sheba Karim's debut novel is a healthy mixture of flirting, crushes fulfilled and thwarted, embarrassing moments in the cafeteria, and annoying conflicts with overly controlling parents. What makes SKUNK GIRL somewhat different is its protagonist: a 16-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl living in a cloistered upstate New York town, population 11,250. And while many of the problems she faces are similar to those of her privileged white peers (grades, boys, parental pressure), her perspective is vastly different.

Although Nina Khan hasn't been to Pakistan (she makes her first pilgrimage toward the end of the book), the strict traditions of her heritage are always present. Unlike her best friends, big-mouthed Bridget and rosy-eyed Helena, she isn't allowed to date. Or go to parties. Or wear flashy clothes. Or do anything besides study hard, think about studying hard, and follow in the footsteps of her clean-cut and brilliant, Harvard-attending older sister, Sonia. Even though Nina loves her parents, sometimes her life feels like a prison sentence.

And then there's Asher Richelli, the transplant from Pisa who has captured the eyes and thoughts of every girl at Deer Hook High --- including Nina's. When she's not worrying about how to please her parents or how to get the dark, coarse hair to disappear from her upper lip, arms, legs and back, Nina's mind is completely preoccupied with how to get Asher to like her. Or why that would never happen in the real world.

Although Nina's obsessive talk gets a bit old at times (but what teen obsession doesn't?) and the way it all shakes out in the end seems a bit too "evolved" to be true (but isn't that what readers will probably hope for in the end?), there are many elements of SKUNK GIRL that are vibrant and one-of-a-kind. Karim's descriptions of Pakistani dishes are especially mouth-watering, and her depictions of Nina's tittering relatives and family get-togethers are hilarious and endearing. The pressure to date (and eventually marry) a "good Pakistani boy" while remaining a responsible Muslim girl (who knows her place) is felt and delivered in a non-oppressive way.

Readers will get a kick out of a story featuring a character whose background may be nothing like theirs, but who is someone they can relate to all the same. They'll appreciate --- and maybe admire --- Nina's sense of humor about her predicament, and they'll root for her in her quest to win Asher's heart. The jury is still out on what the future will hold for Nina (and for those like her). But if what Karim has written thus far is any example, she'll probably be fine.

--- Reviewed by Alexis Burling