A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena! Unflinching story of a fearless girl! | My Plate Review

A GIRL LIKE THAT by TANAZ BHATHENA

Publisher: Penguin Random House

ISBN: 978-0-143-44301-8         

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 378

Rating: 4/5

Difficult and amazing – These are the two words I would choose for A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena!

I sat down to read this pretty debut novel with an amazing cover to lookout for a badass girl character which was described as a troublemaker ~ outspoken student. The girl by all means proves to be labeled and called as being a misfit in the society. Come to read of the first scene itself and you shall be intrigued. Tanaz Bhathena – You have beautifully opened the book with a scene where the two main characters of the book are dead and describing all about it!

To come to terms with A Girl Like That, I would just call this book as thoroughly unflinching, disturbing and yet amazing in its own way! It is difficult as a girl to read through a story where the character is passed through so much of misogyny, mentally depressing situations, religious and moral policing, rape culture and labeling at every step. The abuse, bullying and continuous policing towards the societal norms left me with pages which kept on breaking my heart again and again.

Tanaz’s ability to craft the scenes and specially the characters of Zarin and Porus talks a lot about how polished her writing is! It becomes almost impossible to NOT get attached to the characters -- even difficult to leave. And of course finding some Urdu amidst the set-up of the story, which is mostly in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), adds in a lot of intriguing reader moments.

Zarin, the main character, has lead a tough life being an orphan, while facing a lot of physical abuse, self-destructive choices ruled because of the depression she lives through and mostly the willingness to live with her choices despite of the uncanny situations that she is constantly put to. Her struggles and ways of dealing with everything around her surprises at every step.

It’s a three-dimensional story bringing out the mysteries of what resulted into the death of a girl whose death scene the reader laments in the first few pages itself. The book brings out the darker side of today’s life where people are constantly given a sense of freedom and yet policed to express their choices completely. The situations that the girl goes through is weaved beautifully by the writer and so without any doubt the title seems to be as labeling to!

Incredible writing, fine craft and of course pretty impressive work by a debut novel writer. Would really recommend this book for a heart breaking story that proves to be an eye opener too! Looking out for more work by Tanaz!

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A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Difficult and amazing – These are the two words I would choose for A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena!

I sat down to read this pretty debut novel with an amazing cover to lookout for a badass girl character which was described as a troublemaker outspoken student who by all means shall prove to be a girl which is labeled and sent out messages of being a misfit in a society. But come to read of the first scene itself and you shall be intrigued. Tanaz Bhathena – You have beautifully opened the book with a scene where the two main characters of the book are dead and describing all about it!



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