Gita Desai Is Not Here to Shut Up

Name: Gita Desai Is Not Here to Shut Up
Brand: Penguin Random House
Availability: InStock
Author: Sonia Patel
ISBN: 9780593744802

Author: Sonia Patel

Narrator: Rukhmani K. Desai

Unabridged: 11 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Listening Library

Published: 09/10/2024

Categories: Young Adult Fiction, Social Themes

Synopsis

From the author of the Morris Award finalist Rani Patel in Full Effect comes a sharply written novel about a college freshman who has escaped her traditional Gujarati upbringing . . . but suppressed memories are starting to bubble to the surface.

“A tough read that's worth the discomfort.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Gita reclaiming her voice is worth the journey.”—Booklist

It’s eighteen-year-old Gita Desai’s first year at Stanford University, and the fact that she’s here and not already married off by her very traditional Indian American 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. But when two of the most popular girls on campus take her under their wing, starry-eyed Gita quickly loses herself in the intoxicating world of college parties and casual hookups. And with each new experience, flashbacks of childhood sexual assault—memories she had long ago buried—unearth themselves, unraveling everything she thought she knew.

The more Gita tries to navigate the confusing world of college and consent, the more she’s forced to face the heart-breaking truth of what happened to her. It’ll take a special kind of courage, plus help from her newfound friends, for her to burst forward and stop shutting up about the past.

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Stephanie on August 16, 2024

This book was an emotional rollercoaster, one that I could not get off and still cannot shake from my mind. It's that raw, real, powerful, emotional and moving. Gita is starting her freshman year at Stanford with all intentions of focusing on her studies so she can heal others as a doctor. But when......more

Goodreads review by Ashby on October 17, 2024

What an emotional ride Gita Desai is Not Here to Shut Up by Sonia Patel takes you on! Although this novel might technically fall into the Young Adult category, it’s anything but a light read. The book dives deep into real and difficult subject matter, dealing with trauma, family dynamics, and the of......more

Goodreads review by Haley on September 03, 2024

I need to start off with, I know Gita has dealt with and is dealing with trauma that has happened to her and she’s dealing with it in her own way. However, what I just can’t wrap my head around is a girl who has worked her butt off to do what she wanted, not listen to her parents, pushed off an arra......more

Goodreads review by Gina on October 29, 2024

Omg, was this book intense. It's set in the 90s when Gita is starting college and by chapter 2 she's already delved into voyeurism!! Gita is fun and quirky but this book definitely doesn't have much of a fun tone - Gita is both kind of losing herself in sexual encounters that she's usually barely con......more

Goodreads review by Shannon on November 03, 2024

This was a heavy book about living up to expectations, cycles of trauma, sexual abuse/rape, family secrets and soooo much more. Definitely recommended for older YA readers, this is an important, heartfelt book about the struggles one Desi college ed goes through when she gets raped and then goes dow......more

Quotes

“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

“This searing 1992-set novel by Patel explores the ways that prolonged abuse can shape behavior. . . . 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.”—Publishers Weekly

“Gita's naivete and repressed sexual desires lend themselves to an upbringing void of trust and open dialogue. Autobiographical in part to Patel's own story, many passages can be uncomfortable, but Gita reclaiming her voice is worth the journey.”—Booklist