Teen Fiction: Born Confused

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BOOK: Born Confused
AUTHOR: Tanuja Desai Hidier

SUMMED UP:
Spot-on experiences that ring true for any second-generation teenager in America through the eyes and camera lens of Dimple, an ABCD ("American Born Confused Desi") with a blonde best friend and parents who provide her with love, samosas, love, a "suitable boy" and love.

MY 1.5 CENTS
At times, it felt a little long (413 pages) to me, but it is totally worth it. Lots of light shed on the Indian culture too.

COOL EXCERPTS:

So not quite Indian, and not quite American. Usually I felt more along the lines of Alien (however legal, as my Jersey birth certificate attests to). The only times I retreated to one or the other description were when my peers didn't understand me (then I figured it was because I was too Indian) or when my family didn't get it (clearly because I was too American). And in India. Sometimes I was too Indian in America, yes, but in India, I was definitely not Indian enough.

I LOVE the way Hidier sums up this film student's entire character in the following short dialogue:

-So, uh, how's film school?
-You couldn't imagine. To be immersed in your metier 24/7, to be liaisoning with people of nearly equal artistic aptitude - it takes rad to a whole new level.

He pronounced metier and liaisoning and, oddly, aptitude, as if he were speaking French. I didn't think he was French though, not even French-Canadian. What the frock was I saying? He was from Jersey.

I laughed a lot while reading this book, but when Dimple goes home after smoking a joint and first sees her parents? THIS had me rolling on the floor:

-High! my parents yelped in unison.

I was stoned. Frock.