Monday, April 15, 2019

[Review] When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Rating: 4 stars

Published: May 30th 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:
Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?
Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.
The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?
Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.


I start off 2018 strong with my contemporaries! When Dimple Met Rishi is my first contemporary read for the year, and it definitely struck a chord with me, as a child of immigrant Asian parents.


I just got both of the characters, Rishi a little more than Dimple. Dimple is trying to find success in a career that's mostly made up of men, as well as steer clear of her mom's wishes to find an ideal Indian husband. However, she meets Rishi, who's the exact opposite in that regard, as he deeply cares to follow his parents' wishes to become an engineer and marry for love. 

I honestly don't understand why people don't like Dimple. She's headstrong and this may come off as rude, but she knows what's she after and she isn't afraid to tell someone off about it. Also if someone came up to you and told you that they were going to marry you, her reaction of throwing iced coffee in Rishi's face was pretty validated. She's struggling with the cultural clash of American vs. Indian values and I TOTALLY GET THAT. 

However she did kind of annoy me whenever she slut-shamed and judged Isabelle - one of the 'Aberzombies' she disliked.
Isabelle stood in front of Rishi, hands clasped before her as she fiddled with one of many rings she wore. Her booty shorts barely covered her booty. Wasn't she cold? It was foggy and damp outside. But Isabelle's midriff looked tanned and happy beneath the sheer white tank top she wore.
Rishi I related to on so many different levels. He loves drawing comic art, and even came up with his own character, Aditya. But he doesn't see the practicality of it and does engineering to make his parents happy - as he feels there is no middle ground. I feel like I've told someone this like a million times so it was like reading about myself. 

"I would love to do what you're doing. To immerse myself in the work, to think, breathe, eat, and sleep art. But that's how it'd have to be. See? There's no in between for me. I can't be an engineer and a part time comic book artist. It can't be a hobby. I love it too much, it means to much to me. It's like having a child, I guess. How I imagine that would be - all consuming." 
Even the relationship with Rishi and his brother Ashish reminded me of the relationship with my brother, too.

Dimple and Rishi's dynamic balance each other out, and I am here for that! But while the beginning was super duper strong, the end was more rushed. I've never really been to a long summer program, but I don't get how their relationship progressed so quickly, especially when she was so against him dating her from the beginning. 

A fun, cutesy, short read that's perfect for the summer! Though I read it in the winter haha. 

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