Title: The Marvelous Mirza Girls
Author: Sheba Karim
Publisher: HarperCollins
Publication date: May 18, 2021
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Summary
When her mom gets the opportunity to live in New Delhi for a year, Noreen jumps at the chance to go with her. She thinks that a gap year between high school and college is just what she needs to jump start her writing again. Plus, going to India might help to bring her closure after the death of her aunt.
What Noreen doesn’t expect is to fall in love when she’s there. From the moment she meets Kabir, she knows that they have a unique connection. He takes her to magical places in India, connecting her to her culture. However, when a scandal strikes Kabir’s family, they have to examine their own relationship. It is something that will last? Or is it just a summer fling?
Review: The Marvelous Mirza Girls
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for sending me an advanced copy of this book to review! It’s being pitched as Gilmore Girls meets New Delhi, which seems like a fitting description. Even though I’ve never watched Gilmore Girls. It’s filled with humor, love, and family.
The beginning of this starts out on a great note. We’re immediately introduced to Noreen, and her voice throughout the story is one of the best aspects of the book. She’s funny, and is trying to write her own sitcom. There are pieces of it throughout, which helps to balance out some of the darker moments of the story. These sections were definitely some of my favorite aspects of the story!
That being said, the plot kind of loses itself halfway through the book. What begins as a journey for Noreen to work through her grief changes into something else entirely, and we lose that beginning journey. I wish that was threaded through the story a bit more, as I think it would help to connect some of the aspects of the plot.
Some of the issues included in the book felt a little too heavy handed as well. There’s a lot of talk about the #MeToo movement, but Noreen never really takes a side. This could have been really powerful if it was connected to Noreen’s connection to her aunt, but most of it fell flat.
Despite the flaws, I still enjoyed all of the culture that Karim infuses into this story. That combined with Noreen’s humor really saves the book. I will say this is definitely for older YA readers, as it almost reads more New Adult at times.
All in all, I would definitely read this book for the culture and humor! Even if the plot gets a little lost.
3/5 stars
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