How Opan Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life

by Kaavya Visanathan

Opal has spent her entire life being groomed for Harvard. She has the grade point average, the school activities, and the leadership roles. She has the answers to the questions she predicts will be asked at her Harvard Interview. Then they ask her the questions she has no answers for: What does she do for fun in her free time? Who are her closest friends? Then they tell her to try again after she can answer these questions.

Her parents make a plan....they immerse her in fashion, fads, tv shows, and make a schedule for the friends and kissing.

Funny book! The mom entirely cracks me up!

Quotes I like:

"Where's your skirt?" Dad asked puzzled. I automatically tried to tub the hemline down. "This is it, Dad," I said. He looked helplessly at Mom. "Meena," he said, "She can't go to school like that...can she? That's not a skirt, it's a belt!" Mom said patiently, "This is the way all the girls dress these days. If we want Opan to succeed, she needs to fit in." "Ok," said Dad, "Show 'em what you've got Opal!" (Love the double meaning...since dad definitely doesn't mean what's hidden by the skirt!)

"What makes you the authority on nonconformity?" I snapped. "In Africa, lions always eat the gazelles that decide to run in a different direction!"

Opal and her family stop at a fast food place to regroup after the failed Harvard interview. Opl stuffs donuts in her mouth as fast as she can. Her mom and dad are ranting. Then Opal chokes on a donut and the mom pounds her on the back shrieking. ....
"The couple at the neighboring table shot us dirty looks. 'Maybe they've just immigrated,' I heard the woman mumble. My mom frowned. 'What did they say?' she asked me in a piercing whisper. 'Nothing Mom,' I said. 'They were just talking about when the next bird migration would be.' 'Isn't it a lovely day?' Mom called out. 'Are you on vacation or your honeymoon?' The woman looked at my mom like she was completely deranged. 'Actually,' she replied, exchanging a glance with her companion, 'we're on our way up to Maine for a funeral.' I briefly shut my eyes. While my mom's English was almost flawless, she still had trouble understanding people who spoke with American accents. She refused to ask people to speak up or repeat themselves; instead, she had come up with two stock phrases-- 'there you go' and 'good for you'- that she used as responses to anything she hadn't caught. More often then not, neither response was appropriate. "Good for you" my mom answered her cheerily. The couple went pale and turned their backs. I gagged on another bite of donut!"