Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Chic-Lits

Chic-Lits are there for a reason. When you dont want to indulge in the characters, immerse in the storyline, entangle your thoughts with that of the authors.. you grab a chic-lit. These books are a light read, you can start and finish them in a day or hours. The two reasons are sufficient for me to have picked up
  • Hope in a Jar - Beth Harbison
  • How Opel Mehta Got kissed, Got Wild and Got a life - Kavya Vishwanathan
Now i forgot to mention that one of the reasons i like reading chiclits are for the cheesy factor. Like when you watch Alaipayuthey or Pretty Women - there is a very high quotient of cheesiness but also the story is well told. Likewise, the literature shouldnt suffer because it falls into the category of Chic-lit.


Hope in a Jar by Beth Harbison is definetly better of the two. While she wrote the famed shoe addicts series, this one is not very engrossing. And why is it that one of the protagonists are always fat and finding secret ways to lose weight and failing at it miserably. Somebody change the scene and set a new tone. I have never gone to high school in america but from the movies and books i have read, it seems more scary than hell. Friends break up in high school and make up when they are 40.. nice but too late. Worth a read once but if you find something else, please move along. No love is lost in this one :)

How Opal Mehta Got kissed, Got Wild and Got a life by Kavya Vishwananthan. If you think you have heard about this author or book somewhere, you are right. This article is an interesting read compared to the book itself. So help yourself.

American Indians or ABCD's as we refer to them are definetly a confused generation. They suffer in their social life but excel in academics. They are smart but not cool. Opal Mehta definetly fits this streotype and when Harvard almost rejects her for the lack of social life(duh?),she strives to get cool and chic. The parents draw elaborate plans(with pie charts, flowcharts and flash cards) and get their dear daughter to even kiss a guy(american ofcourse). Anything for Harvard that is. While i laughed my heart out watching Bend it like Beckham where indian parents are stuck in the British lifestyle, i can hardle grin at how the Mehta's plan and plot. It isn't funny and definetly not realistic(i hope so).

I wonder why Kavya had to plagiarise her work, am sure most of us could come up with this book if we put pen to paper. For each one's own, but if you want to know what not to do with your kids you can read through this one.

5 comments:

~S~ said...

You forgot to mention Sex and the City. That would be the epitome of all chick things and oh, how much I loved it.

Meera said...

@k: u won't beleive it but I had typed satc instead of alaipayuthey and changed it for local flavor ;)

Bharathy said...

Not sure whether you read Chetan Bhagat's books..
If you do...I want your review abt his 'Two states'..pls :)!

ARUNA said...

Lol ABCD's r really one confused category!!!

Arch said...

Hey Meera, didn't know you had a book blog... nice... well I haven't read "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed..." yet, but ya I sure have heard a lot about the book and the author thanks to the media... And I do agree with you on the cheesy aspect of chic-lit stories.... they are ideal light and feel-good reads... I recently read "Something Borrowed" by Emily Giffin and I liked it a lot... Looking forward to seeing more reviews from you...

- Archana