There's Something About Sweetie

Eating was so fraught when you were fat: If you ate something unhealthy, thin people would say it was no wonder you were fat. But if you ate something healthy, they'd roll their eyes, laugh, and say, “Yeah, right.

This book comes from a good place but ultimately failed to be compelling to me. It falls under “doesn't mean it's good just because it's diverse.”

The whole body positivity element sort of missed the point because the author kept beating a dead horse with how good Sweetie was at running and everything else she did. It's like she was trying to make up for her being fat by making her perfect in every way.

The insta-love was too much for me. Sweetie fell in love on the spot from his sad eyes in a picture and he was smitten instantly despite claiming to having been in love and heartbroken by this other girl, so much that his entire life was imploding, just the night before. Caring about them as a couple was hard because I didn't find it convincing. They were just the main characters and they were meant to fall in love. It was so obvious I was reading a plot device.

Sweetie's abuse by her mother was absolutely heartbreaking to watch and was addressed and sorted out in an unsatisfying manner. I won't stand by this kind of abuse, it should never happen. Love is universal and her mother's behavior was anything but loving (Also looking at Samir's mom here). Considering mental health is a almost universally taboo, I'm not surprised this kind of thing gets brushed off.

Also not a fan of how, when it came to dating, “American” girls (presumably white) were ALWAYS the bad influences, in contrast to Indian-American girls who were always good and pure and everything that's best in the world. It reads Indian = good. Non-Indian=Baaad. Very narrow-minded kind of thinking. It's not a good look to bring down other cultures down just to make yours look good. Are westerners more carefree sexually? Yes. Does this make them horrible human beings? No. People come in all types of personalities and behaviors regardless of culture. There are more tasteful ways in which cultural differences can be brought up. One can be proud of their own culture while accepting that other people were brought up and choose to live differently and they don't deserve to be stigmatized for it.