Rani Patel in Full Effect

Rani Patel in Full Effect

Sonia Patel

2016, Cinco Puntos Press

9781941026496

 

Fiction

 

ranipatel

 

Reading Level: HL590L

 

Interest Age: 15-18

 

Annotation: Indian-American teen Rani Patel uses hip-hop to cope with the serious issues in her life.

 

Plot Summary: Rani Patel is an Indian-American teenage girl growing up on the island Moloka’i in Hawaii. She lives with her traditional Gujarati Indian parents, and they are the only Indian family on the island. She loves hip-hop and spends most of her time working at her family’s convenience store and restaurant. When she catches her dad cheating on her mom, she is devastated by the betrayal. She shaves her head, as Gujarati widows do. As she and her mom deal with the fallout, Rani is also dealing with the flirtations of an attractive older man who comes into the store. Rani copes with all of this by becoming her alter ego, MC Sutra, and writing raps.

 

Critical Evaluation: There are a lot of things I liked about this book. I loved the references to 90s hip-hop, though I’m not sure how much that will resonate with today’s teens. I really appreciated the fact that Rani was Indian, and the significance of her Gujarati culture. There aren’t very many YA books with South Asian protagonists, and Rani is not remotely stereotyped so I felt like she was good representation. Since she lived on Moloka’i, there were also elements of Hawaiian culture in Rani’s life, and she had a lot of Hawaiian friends and acquaintances. That is another minority group I haven’t seen represented much, so I appreciated that as well. Rani is also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. I feel like it is important for people to be aware that this is a problem, and for those who have experienced it to know they are not alone. Rani is clearly affected by this in her family and relationship interactions. She is also abused and assaulted by Mark, who she trusted just as she had trusted her father. I think it’s important that these kinds of things are represented in literature, because they are sadly not uncommon, and people should be aware and do as much as they can to help in these situations.

I thought that Rani’s raps were good, but I wish they were more complete. Most of the time there would be a verse, then a part where Rani would say something like “then I did two more verses,” then another verse. It feels almost like the author couldn’t think of anything, but I find that hard to believe considering how good the existing verses were.

At times I felt like the book was a little rushed. It seems like a lot happened in too little space, but it isn’t that short of a book, so I’m not sure why it feels like that. Overall, I would recommend the book despite its problems.

 

Author Biographical Information: Sonia Patel grew up on Moloka’I in Hawaii. Currently she practices psychiatry on Oahu. She has written two young adult books.

 

Ties to Curriculum Units: none

 

Booktalking Ideas:

  • Discuss how music helps Rani cope with her problems
  • Discuss how Rani and her mother gain confidence and agency

 

Challenge Issues: Sexual content, sexual abuse and assault, violence, alcohol and underage drinking, smoking, substance abuse

 

Challenge Defenses:

  • Mention awards the item has won or been nominated for
  • State the library’s collection development policy
  • Reference the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights
  • Provide rationale for the item being in the collection
  • As a last resort, offer the patron a “Request for Reconsideration” form

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