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When Dimple Met Rishi (Dimple and Rishi, #1)

Sandhya Menon

Start date: June 1, 2017

Finish date: June 30, 2017

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Aug 04, 2017 Kathryn rated it did not like it

Shelves: ya, ya-realistic-fic

I wanted to love When Dimple Met Rishi. I really did. I mean, romantic realistic fiction with two Indian leads rather than the standard, generic white couple? SIGN ME UP. TAKE MY MONEY. ALL OF IT. But here’s the funny thing about storytelling, to be an exceptional book you actually have to write an original plot.

When Dimple Met Rishi starts with a promising premise: two college-bound, Indian-American teens meet at a summer app design program. Their parents have already arranged their marriage. I wanted to love When Dimple Met Rishi. I really did. I mean, romantic realistic fiction with two Indian leads rather than the standard, generic white couple? SIGN ME UP. TAKE MY MONEY. ALL OF IT. But here’s the funny thing about storytelling, to be an exceptional book you actually have to write an original plot.

When Dimple Met Rishi starts with a promising premise: two college-bound, Indian-American teens meet at a summer app design program. Their parents have already arranged their marriage. The catch? Rishi is fully aware of this fact BUT Dimple is not. Boy meets girl. Jokingly declares his matrimonial intentions…….girl throws iced coffee on boy’s head. That’s where the ingenuity ends.

When Dimple Met Rishi tries so hard to convince readers it’s different. It’s alternative. It isn’t like all those “OTHER” teen romances. But here’s the rub: it is. Inserting two Indian-American teens, then calling it a day doesn’t cut it. When a story is desperate to renounce the Rom-Com label, it actually has to back that shit up ON. THE. PAGE. When Dimple Met Rishi calls itself unique, then proceeds to follow the blueprint for Every. Single. Rom-com. Ever. Made.

First, we have Dimple. Dimple who’s Not Like Any Other Girl because she rejects her parents gender expectations and refuses to wear makeup--which, BTW, is mentioned soooo many times it’s ridiculous. Dimple’s workin' the whole emo teen “my parents don’t understand me” bit. She believes they want to transform her into a Dutiful Indian Daughter. And Dimple is anything but. Because…..repeat it with me now: She’s NOT. LIKE. ANY. OTHER. GIRL. Forget marriage and babies, she wants FREEDOM. Problem is: all this “not like any other girling” doesn’t make for an interesting character, Dimple simply comes across as uptight, rude, and pedantic.

What’s worse: the consistent attempts to shove Dimple’s sparkly, shiny, special unicorn-ness in our face degrades other women in the story. Seriously, Every. Other. Girl. in the book is portrayed as vapid, slutty, and unintelligent. Is this supposed to make Dimple’s manic pixiness shine brighter? Because…..NO. Celia, Dimple’s friend and roommate, is characterized as a ditzy, sex-crazed Valley Girl with poor judgment. For the entirety of the book she’s either sexting, pushing sexy clothes on simply-dressed Dimple, complaining about her endless boy problems, or hooking up with inappropriate people. Isabelle, the only other female featured of similar age is given the same treatment. Really, book? That’s the best you can do? Celia and Isabelle exist to prop up Dimple. They serve no legitimate purpose. And really, that’s what I find most frustrating. Celia, because she engages in stereotypically female pursuits like shopping and socializing, is depicted as vacuous. Make-up hating, plain-clothes wearing, fuck marriage Dimple is “better” because SHE’S NOT LIKE ANY OTHER GIRL???? Translation: traditional feminine behavior=bad. That’s sooooo problematic on multiple levels.

Rishi’s character is thankfully better. Unlike Dimple, Rishi has embraced his Indian culture. He perceives his parents traditional hopes, not as a millstone, but a blueprint. Familiar, comforting. Rishi is the 2 parents, 2 kids, and a dog guy. A romantic. Read: the complete opposite of Dimple. But what I love most about Rishi is his warmth. The man is like a golden retriever. Loveable and charming.

“You guys have such interesting names.”
The way she said “interesting” made it clear she meant “weird.”
Rishi looked up, feigning confusion, “You guys? You mean people at Insomnia Con? Because I haven’t noticed that.”

Even when throwing shade, Rishi is STILL a gem. He’s smart, intelligent, and endlessly patient.

But Rishi alone cannot save this book. For a story that ostensibly values originality, while eschewing the insta-love trope, When Dimple Met Rishi is a fill-in-the-blank rom-com. There’s the opposites attract couple featuring a lead that’s (again) Not-Like-Any-Other-Girl. You have the meet-cute, stereotypical makeover moment when self-described plain, Not-Like-Any-Other-Girl finally discovers how effortlessly GORGEOUS she is, epic dates complete with visits to high vantage points, and an airport scene. There’s even a TALENT SHOW. A talent show at a tech workshop. WTF??!! But don’t worry because ain’t nobody puttin’ Dimple in the corner. She’s gonna have the Time of Her Life.

And that time means apparently ignoring Insomnia Con completely. Because love, y’all. Dimple is purportedly career-driven, yet as soon as she starts dating Rishi there’s nary a mention of programming. Instead Dimple devolves into an empty-headed, shell of her former character (which I didn’t like either, but you know….consistency). Her determination and drive are replaced with….fluttery, floofy, giddiness. Sugar and spice and everything nice. A scowling girl no more, she now “smiles up from under her eyelashes.” WTF and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH DIMPLE???!!! It’s like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Actually, that might have been a better plot direction.

It gets worse. The tropey-tropeness abounds. Fellow caucasian classmates are all Rich and…...OBNOXIOUS. We’re talking straight from a John Hughes flick evil. Why one of them wasn’t named Blane or Stef I’ll never understand. MISSED OPPORTUNITY, PEOPLE. These “Aberzombies,” (so dubbed by Rishi) utter cliched frat-boy phrases such as: “bro, that was epic” while designing a talent performance consisting of bikini-clad women prancing on stage. Because being rich and obnoxious wasn’t enough. Let’s make them misogynistic dicks, as well.

Other characters get equally bad treatment. To sell Dimple & Rishi: The EPIC!LOVESTORY, randos are compelled to spout ridiculous statements like: “you guys are just, like, fated to be together, y’know?” Tell me, WHO TALKS LIKE THAT???? Even their poor TEACHER is subjected to this torment: “What I notice in a majority of these is a sense of easy camaraderie. As if your spirits are already friends.” THIS IS THEIR TEACHER. Why is he commenting on their relationship??? That’s not a thing. Period. And “spirits are already friends?” What sage-infused, new age hell did he crawl out from??? Just….MAKE. IT. STOP.

This is a book that condescendingly refers to “insta-love” and then proceeds to have its main characters fall in it. Smugly considers itself “not-like-any-other-teen-romance” yet embraces every rom-com trope. Loudly proclaims “girl power” while portraying 2/3rds of the featured females in a negative light. Just because it’s a rom-com wrapped in a guise of Indian-American culture doesn’t make it fresh and new. And I love a good rom-com as much as the next person. But even if you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. ...more

167 likes · Like · see review

May 27, 2017 Annalise rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

**Disclaimer: Copy received from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

Whew, where do I start with this one? I loved it.

When Dimple Met Rishi has been on my must-have releases of 2017 since I first heard of this book. This is the story of Dimple, an aspiring coder, who finally convinces her parents to let her go to Insomnia Con, a 6 week programme for coders, before she heads off to Stanford in the autumn. What Dimple doesn’t know is that her parents have only let her go ...more

7 likes · Like · see review