I picked this book as part of the Library and the South Asian Challenges I am doing. I did not realize this was a chick-lit book until after I finished reading it and looked at the ‘Red Ink’ symbol on the cover! This goes beyond regular chick lit books.
Vina, the girl most likely to, is someone many of us can relate to – her struggles, her need to impress (herself, her family, friends, and colleagues), her aim for perfection, her relationships with her parents and friends.
As she nears thirty and her biological clock is ticking, after various failures of her own to find ‘the one’, she even takes the help of her parents to find a ‘suitable’ boy for her who turns out to be not so ‘suitable’ after all. A scandal at work that could risk her career tops it off, like bitter icing on a badly made cake and she has to face the truth of herself as she sits in a psychiatrist’s office at an appointment made by well meaning friends. She realizes there is no pause button in life. As she recalls her nani’s (maternal grandmother) words of wisdom to listen to her instincts, to what comes from within (jo undher se aatha hain), she comes to the conclusion that she is the only one who can think her way back to herself (her confident, happy 4 year old self). She is the girl most likely to – find herself.
This book has humor and depth intertwined bringing you smiles and giving you thoughts to ponder. The characters are realistic and the many elements of life and especially family that is part of being Indian made me smile. Brought to mind a popular saying we have “you can take the man out of India but you cannot take India out of the man”
A smile – “Some women believe that to compete with a man, you must essentially become one. But then again, some women refuse the epidural…Why would I want to be hairier, lonelier and more confused than I already am?”
A thought – “So I choose to aim for improvement rather than perfection and to appreciate the effort as much as the results”
For more smiles and thoughts, go ahead and read Girl Most Likely To.