Cliquer sur une vignette pour aller sur Google Books.
Chargement... Maya Runningpar Anjali Banerjee
Aucun Chargement...
Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. I was really enjoying this book until the author used what I thought was an unnecessary literary device. [SPOILER] When the "wish" she makes to Vishnu didn't turn out to be a dream, well, it irritated me. Up to that point I was starting to really like the charactor Maya. This book made a bunch of teen fiction lists and it's still worth a read even if it annoyed me personally. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Maya, a Canadian of East Indian descent, struggles with her ethnic identity, infatuation with a classmate, and the presence of her beautiful Bengali cousin, Pinky, who comes for a visit bearing a powerful statue of the god Ganesh, the Hindu elephant boy. Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
Discussion en coursAucunCouvertures populaires
Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)303Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Social ProcessesClassification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
Est-ce vous ?Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing. |
Be careful what you wish for.
I read children’s and YA books because I have nieces and a nephew for whom I buy books. I had high hopes for this children’s book (ages 10 ). I expected some valuable lessons on being true to yourself, the meaning of true friendship, the importance of family, and the stumbles we all suffer on our road from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. Banerjee does include such lessons, but they are delivered in a rather heavy-handed way. Midway through the book, the very realistic story takes on a fantasy element that seemed forced. A skilled writer can incorporate magical realism or fantasy in such a way that it is totally believable and furthers the story. Not the case in this book. The second half of the book just stretches credulity too far and left me completely dissatisfied. I can’t imagine that any of the children I know would buy into it either.
I feel that people reading this review might want more detail on what I felt was wrong with the book …
Maya’s statue comes alive and grants her wishes … she is instantly taller, more developed, without braces or pimples, has a modern feathered haircut, a totally new wardrobe, parents who give in to her every desire, and a boyfriend who is completely devoted to her (in fact, he quickly becomes a stalker). By the time she realizes that she no longer wants all obstacles removed from her path, Pinky has returned home with the statue. Maya goes to India to track down Pinky and the statue so she can have Ganesh reverse the spell. Pinky has traded the family heirloom (a solid-gold statue with diamonds for eyes) to a shopkeeper for a beautiful silk sari. Maya actually steals the statue and runs into the woods where she spends the night praying to it and crying. When she returns to her family no one blames her for stealing, or staying out all night, and she and her father begin the journey back to Canada. The statue does come alive again briefly, but before she knows whether her world will return to the way it was she spontaneously gives the valuable statue to a boy on the train who needs a heart operation. When she gets back to Manitoba and is in the car with her parents she simply tells them that what she wants is for them to be back to normal. And VOILA … they are her usual parents again, and she is skinny, with braces, and her hair in ponytails. No, this isn’t just a dream sequence … and that’s the problem with the book. I simply couldn’t suspend disbelief.
( )