Gita Desai Is Not Here to Shut Up

by Sonia Patel

Overview

From Morris Award finalist Sonia Patel comes a sharply written YA about a girl grappling with a dark, painful secret from her past, perfect for fans of All My Rage and The Way I Used to Be.

It’s eighteen-year-old Gita Desai’s first year at Stanford, and the fact that she’s here and not already married off by her traditional Gujarati parents is a miracle. She’s determined to death-grip her good-girl, model student rep all the way to med school, which means no social life or standing out in any way. Should be easy: If there’s one thing she’s learned from her family, it’s how to chup-re—to “shut up,” fade into the background. But when childhood memories of her aunt’s desertion and her then-uncle’s best friend resurface, Gita ends up ditching the books night after night in favor of partying and hooking up with strangers. Still, nothing can stop the little voice growing louder and louder inside her that says something is wrong. . . . And the only way she can burst forward is to stop shutting up about the past.

“Funny, messy, gut-wrenching.”—Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593463185
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	09/10/2024
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	571,676
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Sonia Patel writes out of her experience as a first-generation Indian American born in New York and raised in Hawaii, an experience lushly and brilliantly explored in her debut novel, Rani Patel in Full Effect. Rani received four starred reviews and was a Morris Award finalist and a YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults and Kirkus Reviews’ Best Teen Books selection. Her subsequent young adult novels, Jaya and Rasa: A Love Story and Bloody Seoul, both received the In the Margins Book Award. Her short story, “Nothing Feels No Pain,” appears in the YA anthology Ab(solutely) Normal. As a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist trained at Stanford University and the University of Hawaii, Patel has spent over twenty years providing individ­ual and family psychotherapy to children, adolescents, and their families. She lives in Honolulu with her husband, and they have two adult children in college.

Editorial Reviews

07/08/2024

Informed by personal experience, as addressed in an endnote, this searing 1992-set novel by Patel (Bloody Seoul) explores the ways that prolonged abuse can shape behavior. Though her Gujarati-Indian immigrant parents would rather she get married than attend university, premed student Gita Desai is excited to start her freshman year at Stanford, where she plans to keep her head down and her grades up. But Gita doesn’t expect to befriend and attend frat parties with her across-the-hall neighbor Jane or beautiful model Marisol. Yet even as she immerses herself in college life, she’s distracted by memories of her and her beloved auntie, and of the man who abused them both. Gita’s family has always said “chup-re” (Gujarati for “be quiet”) when she tried to talk about difficult topics; now, she lacks the tools to make sense of her desires and struggles to speak up for herself in intimate situations. While Gita’s journey toward finding her own voice is plagued by male characters who—both intentionally and unconsciously—cause her physical and mental harm, bright spots in the form of her kindhearted older brother and supportive gay peer help to carry the burden. Ages 14–up. Agent: Victoria Wells Arms, HG Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Patel, whose own experiences inform this story, infuses Gita’s first-person narration with thoughtfulness and humor that make her growing confusion and self-loathing cut deeply. Thankfully, Gita’s friends are there to support her when she finally finds her voice. . . . A tough read that's worth the discomfort.”—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher