A review by charvi_not_just_fiction
That Thing about Bollywood by Supriya Kelkar

5.0

I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. I mean the premise seems fun but this book is so beautifully written and it explores so many important topics. I think it's incredibly important for children these days to know how to express themselves and that it's okay to be emotional. It's something I struggled with as well and it was just incredibly hard to see little Sonali suppressing absolutely every emotion she had. It was also lovely and heartwarming to see her go through the emotional journey thanks to Bollywooditis.

I think the Indian rep was so on point. I feel like in the Indian community particularly we are asked to hide our emotions and troubles from everyone to save face or just not embarrass ourselves. To show only our good lives. I love that this book tries to break those rules imposed on children. It shows how it creates a cycle of relationships where emotions are bottled up and repressed and it just ends up causing so much hurt to everyone involved.

The Bollywooditis was so fun to read about! What with all the references and the singing and dancing, it added lightness to a book that talks about such heavy things although I must say I was perpetually getting second-hand embarrassment, lol.

All in all this book really touched my heart and I would definitely recommend it to readers across ages!

TW: divorce, off-page death of grandparent