The Most Precious Substance on Earth by Shashi Bhat
☆☆☆
.PDF, 266 pages
Expected Publication: August 24th 2021
By Penguin Random House Canada - McClelland & Stewart
About the Book:
Nina, a bright, hilarious, and sensitive 14-year-old, doesn’t say anything when her best friend begins to pull away, or when her crush on her English teacher intensifies. She doesn’t say anything when her mother tries to match her up with local Halifax Indian boys unfamiliar with her Saved by the Bell references, or when her worried father starts reciting Hindu prayers outside her bedroom door. (“How can your dad be happy when his only daughter is unsettled?”) And she won’t speak of the incident in high school that changes the course of her life. On her tumultuous path from nineties high school student to present-day high school teacher, Nina will learn difficult truths about existing as a woman in the world. And whether she’s pushing herself to deliver speeches at Toastmasters meetings, struggling through her MFA program, enduring the indignities of online dating, or wrestling with how to best guide her students, she will discover that the past is never far behind her.
My Review:
About the Book:
Nina, a bright, hilarious, and sensitive 14-year-old, doesn’t say anything when her best friend begins to pull away, or when her crush on her English teacher intensifies. She doesn’t say anything when her mother tries to match her up with local Halifax Indian boys unfamiliar with her Saved by the Bell references, or when her worried father starts reciting Hindu prayers outside her bedroom door. (“How can your dad be happy when his only daughter is unsettled?”) And she won’t speak of the incident in high school that changes the course of her life. On her tumultuous path from nineties high school student to present-day high school teacher, Nina will learn difficult truths about existing as a woman in the world. And whether she’s pushing herself to deliver speeches at Toastmasters meetings, struggling through her MFA program, enduring the indignities of online dating, or wrestling with how to best guide her students, she will discover that the past is never far behind her.
My Review:
Nina is a fourteen year old student, who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the late '90s. She has an on-line "boyfriend" in his forties and loses her virginity to her English teacher...or did she? She is also Indian, plays in the school band and very intelligent. I really liked that Nina was smart, funny and had strength throughout the story.
This book was very well written and I loved reading about the younger Nina, after that it began to be a little too slow moving for my liking. I felt the chapters were a little disconnected and didn't know where one ended and another began...they may be because I was reading a .pdf of the book. I did enjoy reading about all the '90s fads as my boys were growing up then. I also loved reading about all the different literary moments. All in all a fairly decent read about coming of age, growing up and moving on.
Disclosure:
Thank you NetGalley, Shashi Bhat and Penguin Random House Canada - McClelland & Stewart for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.
#MostPreciousSubstanceonEarth #NetGalley
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