What I MEANT . . . the Book Review

I absolutely loved "What I Meant..." by Marie Lamba, it was one of the best books I have read. It was just so real, all of it, a good reality shaker. It had the main character, Sangeet, struggling with herself mentally, friendship drama, high school crushes, spurts of teenage rebellion, family fights, and that all important perfect antagonist. This book had it all! Also I found it amazing how Marie Lamba used Doylestown as the setting for the book!

What I mean by the book is just so 'real' is that it separates Sangeet's life perfectly into family trauma and high school drama, which always happens at our age. And Sangeet struggles to keep both in balance. But instead her best friend ends up thinking she's a self-centered jerk for dumb reasons that are unexplainable but somehow always make sense to girls. So her best friend, Gina, ends becoming Goth and hating Sangeet and acting terrible towards her. Next the guy she has a crush on seems to keep playing with her emotions, one minuet he acts interested, and the next he's not. And once he asked her out he wound be a jerk spring $45 dollars on her for a concert ticket, even though she didn't see the concert when she went looking for Gina who was running away, and he abandoned her on the subway just to see the concert. Finally, Sangeet's friend Dalson ends up crushing on her, and she doesn't know how to let him know she isn't interested. It was all so real how it happened, I could actually see it all happening. It was so real, I couldn't help but wonder if Marie came up with the story when she was in High School. And we haven't even got to the family trauma...

When I read about Sangeets Chachi I couldn't help but be impressed, she was the perfect antagonist. Chachi had come to live with Sangeet and her family when Sangeet's uncle died, and ever since Sangeet's family life had gone down the pipes. Sangeet caught Chachi strealing from her family, and Chachi had always managed to frame Sangeet, and because Chachi was the adult, Sangeet's parents always believed Chachi over Sangeet, when she would try to tell them she was innocent and Chachi stole. And her mother thinks Sangeet's bulimic, because Chachi keeps telling her that Sangeet is stealing the junk food and then throwing it back up, when in reality Chachi's the one stealing the food. I felt so bad for Sangeet because she kept getting in trouble, and Chachi always wormed her way into her life. And in the end Sangeet proved that she was telling the truth. I think adults need to read this book to remind themselves that just because they are older that does not mean they fully know our lives. And everyone has to deal with a Chachi at some point, and this book is a real nice reminder that everyone eventually gets through it.

The way the book was set in Doylestown was my favorite touch. I could actually see the places where Sangeet went in my mind in great detail because I have been there before. It also put a nice spin on the story and made seem even more real! It was so cool living in the same exact town as the main character! IT was real inspiring

"What I Meant..." By Marie Lamba is the perfect book for curling up an a rainy day because it's entertaining and real! Also I loved the ending because instead of the usual everything returns to normal and everything is happy again. It was a positive ending but everything got shook up, Gina never became friends Sangeet again, Sangeet is over Jason, and Chachi left. Everything changed, just like in real life, and it changed for the better.

Writin By Nicole Tanner