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A review by emtheauthor
Enter Title Here by Naomi Kanakia
4.0
I’m your protagonist—Reshma Kapoor—and if you have the free time to read this book, then you’re probably nothing like me
Reshma Kapoor has one goal (well, actually two goals): get into Stanford, and be the best. No matter the consequences and no matter the cost, she will be the best and she will beat everyone. She has been, for practically her entire high school career, despite the competitive school she goes to. But with incredible planning, hard work, and merciless threats, she has managed to stay on top. She'll be valedictorian, be the top of her class, and have all of her extra writing and awards to put on her Stanford application. She just needs a hook—something to separate her completely from the other applicants. And that hook comes when a literary agent emails to praise Reshma's Huffington Post article and says that if she ever writes anything else then to let her know.
Reshma sees her hook and she takes it. She lies and says she's working on a YA novel. The agent is thrilled and asks to work with her on it, so now Reshma has about twenty-seven days to write a novel. She makes a list of things she needs to do (make a friend, go to a party, get a boyfriend, etc) that 'normal' teens do that she hasn't wasted her precious time on. If she does all that and writes it down, she'll have her novel and her ticket into Stanford.
Easy, right? Reshma seems to think so. And in Enter Title Here we get the unedited draft of her novel—the novel she's basing on her experiences—and it creates a book unlike any I have ever read before.
First thing to mention is the style. I've read several books where the main character is actually writing it, whether in letter, novel, journal, or other written form, but I've never found anything quite like this. Reshma practically writes stream of consciousness except for the encounters she writes out like scenes, claiming that when she goes back through for edits—to make it 'pretty'—she'll delete all of her ramblings and ideas and turn it into a coherent novel. But for now, it's just a peek inside her savage mind via a Word doc, and wow...it's intense. She puts the word 'overachiever' to shame. And it's absolutely fascinating to watch how she perceives the world and how she approaches problems and other people, because it is nothing like anyone I've ever met, but we get a front row seat in her show. I loved trying to figure out how much of what she deduced from a person or situation was real and how much it got twisted in her narrative to fit the story she was telling.
Reshma is a brutal narrator. And kind of a brutal person. She's not really redeemable or even all that likable as a character, much less a protagonist, which is a direct contrast from about 99.9% of our YA heroines today (or at least what they try to be). She's blunt, driven, stubborn, cutthroat, and will do absolutely whatever it takes to achieve what she wants. It's kind of scary, honestly, which is a big reason why she has no friends. She isn't out to make friends. She's out to win. I'd like to say she has qualities that make her redeemable, but it's not like that. It wasn't like 'oh she's kind of a terrible person but she tries so I'll root for her anyways.' I don't like Reshma and I don't really root for her—maybe kind of respected her drive?—but somehow I couldn't put the book down and was kinda hoping everything worked out. I just had to know what would happen, how far she would take it. And she takes it dang far. Holy crap. This girl is borderline a monster. But there are hints of times when a hurting girl peeks out underneath the monster, even if Reshma herself doesn't realize it, and the contrast and psychology of her makes for a really compelling story.
The cast of characters are also diverse and add depth to Reshma's story, especially since we only get to see them through Reshma's eyes (which explains why the nicest girl was always portrayed as fake and venomous, and the therapist as spineless and supremely useless). I especially loved the dynamic between her and her parents—so complex and real—her 'fake friendship for the book but maybe kinda real friendship for life' with Alex, and her romantic endeavors with the boys she finds for her novel (but maybe for more, Reshma isn't sure because she's never had time to make relationships, let alone care about someone other than herself). The people all make her fight harder as well as question herself to the point of near self-destruction, and it's painful to watch at parts but I just couldn't stop.
And Reshma can't stop either. Her drive to end up on top is terrifying as it is oddly respectable, and it takes her places she never considered going before. I'd like to say that she gets her grand character arc where she realizes everything she's done wrong and sees the truth of life, and turns everything around...but that's not what happens. Reshma's story breaks all the rules, and I think that's what makes me love it most.
It's real, honest, and raw, and I enjoyed the refreshing angle of someone falling from greatness into madness without much redemption, and having to learn to settle with mediocrity.
Rated 4.3/5 for Reshma's style, voice, and story, and for daring to be different
Reshma Kapoor has one goal (well, actually two goals): get into Stanford, and be the best. No matter the consequences and no matter the cost, she will be the best and she will beat everyone. She has been, for practically her entire high school career, despite the competitive school she goes to. But with incredible planning, hard work, and merciless threats, she has managed to stay on top. She'll be valedictorian, be the top of her class, and have all of her extra writing and awards to put on her Stanford application. She just needs a hook—something to separate her completely from the other applicants. And that hook comes when a literary agent emails to praise Reshma's Huffington Post article and says that if she ever writes anything else then to let her know.
Reshma sees her hook and she takes it. She lies and says she's working on a YA novel. The agent is thrilled and asks to work with her on it, so now Reshma has about twenty-seven days to write a novel. She makes a list of things she needs to do (make a friend, go to a party, get a boyfriend, etc) that 'normal' teens do that she hasn't wasted her precious time on. If she does all that and writes it down, she'll have her novel and her ticket into Stanford.
Easy, right? Reshma seems to think so. And in Enter Title Here we get the unedited draft of her novel—the novel she's basing on her experiences—and it creates a book unlike any I have ever read before.
First thing to mention is the style. I've read several books where the main character is actually writing it, whether in letter, novel, journal, or other written form, but I've never found anything quite like this. Reshma practically writes stream of consciousness except for the encounters she writes out like scenes, claiming that when she goes back through for edits—to make it 'pretty'—she'll delete all of her ramblings and ideas and turn it into a coherent novel. But for now, it's just a peek inside her savage mind via a Word doc, and wow...it's intense. She puts the word 'overachiever' to shame. And it's absolutely fascinating to watch how she perceives the world and how she approaches problems and other people, because it is nothing like anyone I've ever met, but we get a front row seat in her show. I loved trying to figure out how much of what she deduced from a person or situation was real and how much it got twisted in her narrative to fit the story she was telling.
Reshma is a brutal narrator. And kind of a brutal person. She's not really redeemable or even all that likable as a character, much less a protagonist, which is a direct contrast from about 99.9% of our YA heroines today (or at least what they try to be). She's blunt, driven, stubborn, cutthroat, and will do absolutely whatever it takes to achieve what she wants. It's kind of scary, honestly, which is a big reason why she has no friends. She isn't out to make friends. She's out to win. I'd like to say she has qualities that make her redeemable, but it's not like that. It wasn't like 'oh she's kind of a terrible person but she tries so I'll root for her anyways.' I don't like Reshma and I don't really root for her—maybe kind of respected her drive?—but somehow I couldn't put the book down and was kinda hoping everything worked out. I just had to know what would happen, how far she would take it. And she takes it dang far. Holy crap. This girl is borderline a monster. But there are hints of times when a hurting girl peeks out underneath the monster, even if Reshma herself doesn't realize it, and the contrast and psychology of her makes for a really compelling story.
The cast of characters are also diverse and add depth to Reshma's story, especially since we only get to see them through Reshma's eyes (which explains why the nicest girl was always portrayed as fake and venomous, and the therapist as spineless and supremely useless). I especially loved the dynamic between her and her parents—so complex and real—her 'fake friendship for the book but maybe kinda real friendship for life' with Alex, and her romantic endeavors with the boys she finds for her novel (but maybe for more, Reshma isn't sure because she's never had time to make relationships, let alone care about someone other than herself). The people all make her fight harder as well as question herself to the point of near self-destruction, and it's painful to watch at parts but I just couldn't stop.
And Reshma can't stop either. Her drive to end up on top is terrifying as it is oddly respectable, and it takes her places she never considered going before. I'd like to say that she gets her grand character arc where she realizes everything she's done wrong and sees the truth of life, and turns everything around...but that's not what happens. Reshma's story breaks all the rules, and I think that's what makes me love it most.
It's real, honest, and raw, and I enjoyed the refreshing angle of someone falling from greatness into madness without much redemption, and having to learn to settle with mediocrity.
Rated 4.3/5 for Reshma's style, voice, and story, and for daring to be different