Skunk Girl

by Sheba Karim

Book Overview

If Nina Khan were to rate herself on the unofficial Pakistani prestige point system - the one she's sure all the aunties and uncles use to determine the most attractive marriage prospects for their... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374370117
• ISBN13: 9780374370114
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 231 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.9" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 14 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 9 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

Teen Angst With Several Twists

Sheba Karim lends equal parts humor and poignancy to Nina's story. In some ways, this has all the familiar points of YA fiction - Nina is an outsider and has a crush on a boy and is misunderstood by her family. Yet she goes beyond anything standard as Nina deals with living in the shadow of her perfect sister, her best friends branching out into new social territory, and her crush who...actually likes her. One of the most moving parts of the book is Nina's refusal to see that Asher goes out of his way to show her attention. Watching Asher choose Nina over mean It girl Serena is one of the greatest pleasures of this book. Nina is a memorable character because she doesn't just sit around and feel sorry for herself; regarding her hairiness, the line of hair down her back making her think she's a "skunk girl," she tries to bleach it only to come away with her skin lightened. In this, any teenage girl will be able to relate to her. She grapples with showing allegiance to her parents without letting them control, and thereby, ruin, her life. Karim makes her parents as overprotective as possible, and as a reader, I wanted Nina to defy them, but could also see clearly that they truly believed they were keeping her out of trouble, even if in the process they were also causing her to miss out on a lot of the fun of high school. When Nina muses that she wishes she were white, there is so much longing for a different kind of life in her, but her friend's boyfriend Anthony has an interesting answer that informs the rest of the book as Nina learns to appreciate her heritage without accepting wholesale the often bizarre to her rules of her family. An excellent YA novel that grapples with race, popularity, being a "good girl" and parental pressure, and yes, crushes.

Meet Nina

High school is hard enough, but add on the pressure of being the younger sister of a "Supernerd" as well as the only Asian or Muslim in her class and it's no wonder that Nina Khan feels a little out-of-sorts. Though Nina loves and appreciates her parents, she wishes they would let her have more of a social life. Though they are very kind, her parents are pretty strict when it comes to things like dating. She's now allowed to date, nor can she go to parties or school dances. When her friends are out and about on Saturday nights, Nina's expected to stay home and study. The majority of residients in their little town of Deer Hook, New York are white. Nina and her older sister Sonia, who is now at college studying to become a doctor, are first-generation Pakistani-Americans. Her parents both came from middle-class families in Pakistan. They are intelligent, confident adults who regularly encourage their daughters to stay true to their Muslim values. Since first grade, Nina has found solace in her two awesome best friends, Helena, a vibrant, ever-cheerful redhead, and Bridget, a tall blonde who is usually clumsy yet extremely graceful on the ski slopes. Now juniors in high school, the three girls are as close as ever. While Helena and Bridget can date whomever they like, Nina can't bring up the nerve to ask out Asher, the new boy on campus. Her tongue gets tied around him, and she knows her parents would disapprove of her dating an Italian boy. Nina's first person narrative is insightful and allows the readers to learn of (and relate to) the fears and worries which she can't vocalize. Similar to the chapter markings in Everything Beautiful in the World by Lisa Levchuk, each brief chapter in Skunk Girl bears a title appropriate to the events which take place in that section's pages. The book's title comes from the stripe of hair Nina has running down the center of her back - something that her crush sees, much to her mortification, because it starts at the nape of her neck. This is yet another YA novel I will recommend to both teens and adults. This recommendation is not only due to debut novelist Karim's heartfelt writing, but also because the story takes place in the early nineties and thus will definitely appeal to readers who were teens at that time. (The music references will bring you back there in a second. At home, Nina listens to a Smiths mix tape; when the song Jump Around plays during a big party scene, it will start playing in your head, too.) Highly recommended.

DIFFERENCES AND DEALING WITH THEM

Young girls often feel out of place and different and this story is about a teen who has major cultural differences with her classmates. She can't do many of the things they take for granted but doesn't want to disappoint her loving parents by rebelling. The strong family values of the Pakistani Muslim community are very clearly shown. A Muslim teen will find this book especially interesting. But any other teen who feels different in some way might also like reading it and get some direction from it. The book is very well written for the Young Adult age range and would be a valuable addition to a school library.

Good youth novel

This is an excellent youth novel for girls - with a twist. Nina has all the anxieties of most teenage girls, but she also has the strictest parents in the school because she is Pakistani. Her story touches on many issues faced by young American teenage girls such as her question, "Why [does] everything that's supposed to make you beautiful have to hurt so much?" Her ups and downs with best friends, mean girls, teasing boys, school work, and parental restrictions follow the typical cycle seen in many books of this sort. But the added frustrations she faces because of her cultural background could be enlightening to young adults. There are some excellent parts about decision making, responsibility, and self-esteem that make this a good book selection for public school libraries. Middle and high school teachers could use this book to teach decision making skills and cultural awareness. I would estimate interest and reading levels at about 7th grade and up.

I'd read a sequel!

Nina is an ordinary high-school student from Nowhere, America; normal, except that she's a Pakistani Muslim girl whose parents won't let her date, have sleepovers with her girlfriends once she's started menstruating, or wax the big stripe of hair down her back. The worst of it is that she's in love with Asher Richelli, who is dating her blond, seemingly perfect nemesis in school. But Asher seems to see something in Nina, skunk-stripe and all, and Nina begins to imagine a life without the restrictions of her parents - one where she gets to choose her own, perhaps non-Muslim partner and live free from the restrictions of her parents and culture. Will Nina break free from the desires of her family for her to be a good Pakistani Muslim girl? Does Asher, maybe, possibly, actually like her? And how will she stay close with her family as she navigates the changes of adolescence? This was a charmingly-written book that brought me back to my own high-school days of insecurity, angst, and above all, hopefulness. If you enjoy teen books but are tired of the shallow emphasis on boys, clothes, and lipgloss, and want a glimpse into a more realistic teen life, this is an excellent book for you.