How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got A Life

Title: How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got A Life

Author: Kaavya Viswanathan

Publisher: Time Warner 2006 (First)

ISBN: 978-0-7515-3742-0

Pages: 314

A notable work from a young Indian student at Harvard, published when the author was just eighteen years old! This young adult novel portrays the travails of an Indian girl named Opal Mehta whose ambition was to secure to get in to Harvard, but was rejected on the first attempt because she was not having a social life. The book presumably contains biographical perspectives, as the similarities between the author and the lead character is unmistakeable. Both are of Indian origin, have doctor-parents with the mother abandoning her practice for mentoring the child and so on. Written in an easy going style and effortless narrative, the work is thoroughly enjoyable. Beyond revealing the life and ambitions of a typical girl which are tightly controlled by her parents, it also sheds light on the stereotypical identities some students have to assume, to be known as ‘cool’ to their school mates. Opal Mehta’s social life is also planned in detail by her parents, with flow charts, to-do lists and check lists and she is only allowed to execute the details like an automaton.

The Mehtas’ plans at socialization go awry because of some inevitable bunglings in its performance. Instead of becoming the star attraction of the school, Opal turns into the laughing stock as her plans and check lists are mailed to every student by a jealous friend. She withdraws into her shell and through selfless sacrifice of own interests, wins the heart of some of her friends back. In the end, all is well as she is admitted to Harvard and solves the Fermeculi formula, which was said to puzzling the physics community for several decades.

Though the novel is good to read and neatly structured, it met a tragic death in the U.S. at the first publishing itself. Critics observed too many similarities between her work and those of Megan McCafferty, Salman Rushdie, Sophie Kinsella, Meg Cabot and Tanuja Desai Hidier. Her book was pulled from publication after the plagiarism was revealed. Her book and movie deals were dropped. Only because the novel was not part of her academic work, Harvard took no action against their student. Kaavya apologized and said any similarities were ‘completely unintentional and unconscious’. She accepted the accusations and justified that she was having a photographic memory which might have prompted her unknowingly to copy parts of the works. From comparisons produced in Wikipedia, it is obvious that her work was heavily indebted to Megan McCafferty, whereas the other comparisons are weak and somewhat stretching the imagination a bit too much.

The work also gives out a peep into the social life of the American Indian community. Having no roots on the soil, they try to imitate the festivities and celebrations at home in their adopted homeland, by throwing extravagant parties and superficial merrymaking. The author portrays a community which is rich and socially accepted by their white neighbours. No incidents of discrimination or sub-par treatment is given, while at the same time omitting all mention of African-Americans. It is curious to note that Opal Mehta doesn’t come across any black person in her life, as if they don’t simply exist! The book comes from an author hailing from an upper middle class community who doesn’t find the need to look past her comfortable social background. In that sense, it may be said to be a hyped-up portrayal of an expatriate family with designs to project it as a life worth emulating.

As an aside, the death of both of the author’s parents in a plane crash in June 2011 would have been heartbreaking for her.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star