Publication Date: 13th June 2023
Genre: Contemporary YA Romance (Indian)
3.5 Stars (rounded up)
One Liner: A decent debut; got its flaws but nails the rep.
Madhuri Iyer’s senior year is full of struggles, according to her mother. Her horoscope says it, after all. But Madhuri is determined to prove things wrong. She doesn’t believe in stars and birth charts, and there’s no way she would have her happy-ever-after with her first boyfriend.
Arjun Mehta is Madhuri’s best friend and neighbor. He believes in stars, love, and destiny and is pretty much the opposite of Madhuri. When she asks him to be her experimental boyfriend, Arjun knows he can’t say no, even if it hurts him.
However, as Madhuri realizes her feelings for Arjun, she has to decide if she’ll admit that horoscope predictions are true or ignore everything to stick to her opinions.
The story comes in the third person POV of Arjun and Madhuri in alternating chapters.
My Thoughts:
This review will have a different structure, as I have too much to say. Let’s get started with what I like.
• Racial Bullying and Culture
I love this book for one of the major themes it deals with- micro aggression and everyday racial bullying Indians (Hindus) face online and offline as immigrants. Things are hard for first and second-gen immigrants as they need to balance their culture and the society they live in.
Will you be proud of your culture, or hate it for being bullied? It’s time we stopped considering our culture as the reason for bullying and lay the blame on the right place, the bully with a superiority (& inferiority) complex.
While the book does good justice to the Indian-Hindu rep and racial bullying, it doesn’t explore the concepts in depth. Yeah, this book is for YA readers, but they are the ones who need to know how to assert themselves and stop being defensive every single time. Still, it establishes the trauma of being bullied for belonging to a different culture.
I love the bits about Bharatanatyam and Arangetram and how the traditional dance eventually helps the MC get back to her culture. A 14-year-old I know is giving her Arangetram this month in California, so I can only hope she continues to assert her cultural identity no matter what bullies say.
• Hindu Rep (I refuse to call it South Asian)
I’m always wary of books by NRI authors as they tend to fall into two categories- keyboard activism or OTT stereotyping. Both rely on establishing harmful tropes about the culture, religion, and people that feed bullies. Fortunately, this book belongs to the third category that presents a more balanced view.
Madhuri and Arjun show two ways of handling their identity in a foreign land. While Arjun decides not to care about others and be comfortable following his culture, Madhuri hates everything Indian/ Hindu because of the bullying.
Raina is at the next level, of course. She is super comfortable in her skin and flaunts her identity with pride. Iyer parents are typical first-gen immigrants but align more with their culture (though they want the American dream for their daughters).
The rep is easily the best part of the book. I hope the author continues to explore the impact of society and how kids learn to hate themselves and their identities because they would rather blend in with the rest.
• Subplots and Family Dynamics
This gives mixed results as there are elements worthy of discussion but not all of them are handled well. Arjun’s relationship with Iyer Aunty and her role as his substitute mother is wonderful. Their scenes together are easily the best in the book.
But Arjun’s relationship with his mother or the absence of his father (divorce) pales as we get only the surface-level treatment. Though we can see Arjun’s pain of not getting his mother’s love, we don’t really know what his mother thinks. She ends up more as a plot device than a parent (which kind of suits her role).
In quite a few places, the writing relies on an assumption that readers already know these issues so they’ll understand. While readers indeed understand the topics, they cannot form an emotional connection with the characters unless the situation is re-established in the right context. Arjun and his mother’s backstory needed more details to create an impact.
• Characterization
This is the weakest part of the book. The main characters are teens, and they do act like one. That’s expected. However, the reader needs to root for them. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to like Madhuri. Arjun is a sweetheart, probably a little too good, but at least it makes sense with his abandonment issues. He would rather settle for scraps of affection from Madhuri than demand everything, as he isn’t sure he is worthy of being loved.
TBH, I tried very hard to give Madhuri a benefit of doubt. But that girl is so mercurial (and not to mention self-centered) that I wanted to knock sense into her head multiple times. It gets difficult to support someone you don’t even like!
I feel the issue is with execution. The idea of Madhuri and what she turned out to be in the book don’t align. She is supposed to be a coconut (borrowed from a friend) with a hard exterior and a vulnerable heart. However, most of the time, she comes across as selfish and entitled. Things get worse in Arjun’s POV as some of his mentions of Madhuri’s behavior are outright toxic. Too many red flags here (wonder how the editor missed this something this vital), and I can’t wish for them to be together. While Madhuri redeems herself in the end, the damage is done.
However, Josie, Madhuri’s friend, is very well-etched. She’s the kind of friend one would want to have, especially when living in another country. Liam, Arjun’s friend, is good too, but there isn’t enough of him. Josie steals the show many times. This further affects Madhuri’s character arc and makes readers feel she doesn’t deserve Josie or Arjun.
• Romance and Tropes
The fake-dating trope is rather fun to read (when done well). Here, the foundation for the trope itself isn’t that great. Still, I wanted the romance to be more organic. It doesn’t matter if Arjun is already in love with Madhuri. The relationship can still process naturally. The whole ‘chemistry’ thingy doesn’t hit as it should. Awkward is fine as it suits the age group, but here it is wobbly and messy.
As someone who knows how hard it is to allow characters to romance each other on paper (and not try to control them), I can empathize with the author. That’s the reason I don’t write this genre.
Furthermore, the writing tends to be clunky, and the time jumps are hard to follow. Mine is an ARC, so I hope some of these issues will be corrected in the final copy. The STEM FMC rep is cool, though it could have been better.
To summarize, Kismat Connection is a decent debut that handles some themes well but doesn’t deliver its best. It should work better for the target age group (hopefully).
The author is young and has enough time to learn and strengthen her writing. I hope she works on it. Her plot is endearing and cute. The execution needs a lot more effort. (Am I being liberal with my ratings? Absolutely. It’s not often that the Indian rep in a book makes me happy.)
Thank you, NetGalley and Inkyard Press, for the eARC.
#NetGalley #KismatConnection
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