Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier July 9, 2009

Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier is about Dimple Lala, an Indian girl who has lived in New Jesery her whole life, with her slightly goofy but loving parents (they seem goofy in the way they are so earnest about everything). She feels like she doesn’t really fit in anywhere, being too American for her Indian family and too Indian for American teenagers. She wants to be more like her effortlessly popular and lovable blond best friend, Gwen. But what Gwen wants is to be more exotic and soon Dimple feels as though Gwen is stealing everything from her including her culture, her family, and the one boy she feels like she finally has a connection with, Karsh – the suitable not so suitable boy, the one her parents want her to be with and the one who understands how she feels about her culture and her photography. This book is very interesting, very humorous, and all of the situations feel very real and believable. It’s a very good coming of age story. I think it’s especially good because as she learns more about her culture through her parents and her cool cousin, Dimple realizes that instead of wanting changing herself, she realizes she likes who she is. (Loft Zoe)