Secret Keeper

Secret Keeper

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3.95 of 5 stars 3.95  ·  rating details  ·  300 ratings  ·  93 reviews
When her father loses his job and leaves India to look for work in America, Asha Gupta, her older sister, Reet, and their mother must wait with Baba’s brother and his family, as well as their grandmother, in Calcutta. Uncle is welcoming, but in a country steeped in tradition, the three women must abide by his decisions. Asha knows this is temporary—just until Baba sends fo...more
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published January 13th 2009 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers (first published December 24th 2008)
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Kirby
Mitali Perkins is a wonderful writer and evokes India through smells, tastes and sounds, as well as through vivid visual descriptions. And Asha's (the teenage Benali girl who is the main character) fight to be less constricted in the 1970's brought back memories of my own teenage years and challenges during that time. The family relationships are wonderfully drawn, but this ended up being a hard book for me to review. This is no fault of the author but the reader: I don't think I fully understoo...more
Shivani
Set in the 1970’s, The Secret Keeper revolves around Asha Gupta tough life she lives at her father’s ancestral Bengali home which shows discrimination towards women. Even at the young age of sixteen, she has a dozen problematic issues eating away at her daily.

When her father loses his job in Delhi, he moves to New York in search of better opportunities. But he leaves his wife Sumitra and his two daughters back in India to live in his ancestral home until he finds a good job in America. This is a...more
Maggie Desmond-O'Brien
I really hate it when people tell me a book is going to break my heart. Not that I'm not guilty of saying it, but it seems like so much weight to put on a little ARC (or paperback, or even hardcover) of a book. It stops me from making real connections to the characters, because all readers may be self-flagellants, but nobody really wants to punish themselves. (If you do, I've got a job rec for you in the kitchens of Hogwarts. A good house elf is so hard to find.) So as many good things as I'd he...more
Janessa
The Secret Keeper is the story of sixteen-year old Asha, an Indian girl on the cusp of adulthood, who must move to her uncle’s home with her mother and her sister when her father leaves Calcutta to find work in New York. Asha feels acutely the injustice imposed on her by the cultural traditions that rule life in her Uncle‘s home. As a child she was given the freedom to pursue her own interests, whether they were viewed as masculine or feminine. Now she must accept her role as a traditional India...more
Deanna
Historical fiction 1970s, relationships between sisters and daughters/mothers, identity, marriage, Indian culture, friendship.

This is one of the best books I have read this year. I didn't want the book to end. This book reminded me of Keeping Corner that came out a couple of years ago.

Once Asha (who is 16) becomes a woman she must stop playing tennis and cricket, grow her hair out and wear sari's. This is difficult for her because her parents have treated her like a boy and then in one day they...more
Della
Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins.

Wow, just wow this one makes you think, and be appreciative for what we have here in the United States. The language is beautiful and the story is heartbreaking. The Secret Keeper is about a family in India around 1970. The father of the family loses his job and goes to America to try to find another one, leaving behind his wife and two daughters. The younger of the two, Asha is a very strong willed girl. While their father is in America, Asha her sister Reet, an...more
Raina
You think you know what to expect, and then you don't at all. I love how Asha's enlightenment is so realistic - there are traditional reasons for her feminism. I loved that it was set in such a rich time period and place, and the historical and geographical element is so fabulous and yet definitely did not overpower the story. I was totally shocked by the twist, and I loved the rich and realistic relationships. Perkins even fits in a realistic portrayal of depression before it was recognized! Th...more
John Parker
The Secret Keeper is a nice introductory piece for those wanting to explore the mysteries of the land that lies between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The form of the story is not foreign, but some of the conflicts that arise might not be so familiar to all readers. The idea of the next living male relative taking responsibility for the family is not totally unfamiliar. The basic story could be lifted out of this setting and put into another culture. The results could be the same, but th...more
Maja711
It was a great book!!
Asha and her family went through a lot together. Asha, the main character, decided that most of the problems or conflicts were her responsibility to fix!
She worked hard and lied, and even cut of her hair in order to fix her familys problems. She gave up the person she loved, and asked him to marry her older sister, which must have hurt her so bad!!
I think that Asha cared too much about other people and not enough about herself. She would literally give up anything for one...more
Mary Louise Sanchez
In 1970s India, two teen-aged sisters, Asha, the tomboy, beautiful Reet and their mother must go live with their father's family in Calcutta while their Baba seeks work in America as an engineer.

The Calcutta family controls the sisters and their mother,who suffers from despression. They are controlled even to the point where Asha can no longer play cricket or go outside alone. The only way Asha can escape is when she goes to the rooftop, where she meets her next-door neighbor, Jay--an artist. Wh...more
Miz Lizzie
An intimate view of life for women and girls in India during the politically turbulent 1970s. Asha, her older sister Reet, and their mother must go to live with their father's brother's family when their father is unable to find any work as an engineer in India. He goes to America, hoping to have his family follow him but events conspire against it. Asha is bright and ambitious but the lives and choices of women and girls are still largely limited and restricted by tradition. Asha forms a forbid...more
Jo Oehrlein
This is the story of an Indian girl who moves (with mom and older sister) to a different city to live with her grandmother and uncle's family while her father goes to America to search for a job. When he gets a job, he will send for the 3 of them.

Life with her father's relatives is not smooth. Her mother is subject to periods of depression. Her grandmother is not always easy to get along with. Her uncle is worried about money.

Her older sister is very beautiful and is much admired. She even gets...more
Anne Broyles
Perkins gives another beautifully-written book with characters readers care about. The rich details of place and culture underscore the deep emotions Asha, Reet and their mother feel at dislocation and grief. I loved the images of depression as "The Jailer"and a psychologist as "a mender of minds."

I did not find the ending to be satisfying, but given the theme of fairy tales and how Asha emphasizes that real life doesn't have a happy ending, I think this author choice was true to the story, the...more
Mandy
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Xiao Wen
At first, I got attracted by the title of this book. Secret keeper, what kind of person is that? Being a secret keeper is not easy, and sometimes not willing to be a secret keeper. I like this book because I am somehow similar to the protagonist, Asha, not our backgrounds, but that way that we keep our secrets. Asha loves to keep her secrets in her journal books, and I like to keep my secrets in a form of daily journals. Sometimes, secret keepers expect other people to understand them, but strug...more
GrammyGail
My love of books started when I was a child longing to make sense and live peaceably in a loving, but dysfunctional family. I loved my books where I became Jane Eyre, the persecuted but very good orphan, or the misunderstood witch of Blackbird Pond and of course who didn't want to be Jo March?
Mitali Perkins new book, Secret Keeper has the same lovely qualities of presenting the reader with a strong female heroine striving against the odds and overcoming and remaining true to herself. And Mitali...more
Medeia Sharif
Asha and Reet are two sisters living in India in the 1970's. They are opposites in that Asha is tomboyish and bookish, while Reet is so gorgeous that lovesick boys follow her around and throw flowers her way. Their father is in New York, looking to secure a job so that he can bring his family over to the States. In the meantime, Asha, Reet and their mother live with their conservative relatives. It's an uncomfortable living situation when Reet has dreams of freedom, playing ball, and becoming a...more
Lydia
I highly recommend "Secret Keeper" as an excellent multicultural YA novel. The writing is beautiful and engaging while still being informative.

Asha's father has left for NY since there are few jobs in India, and she, her mother and sister have been sent to Kolkata to live with her uncle's family. Perkins allows beautiful explanations of the dynamics of an Indian family who not only must deal with tough economic and political times, but also the renegade Asha.

Thank you to Perkins for including a...more
Juliette Lachica
When I first heard about this book, I thought "well it can't be that bad,right?",so I started reading it and I really liked it. It is about a family that lives in India. There are two sisters, and one of them,(Asha,writes in this diary, that her dad gave her, and the diary is called s.k.(which stands for secret keeper.) She has three of them and in each one she writes about something specific. One is for school, the other is about her feelings, and in the third one she writes about how mean and...more
Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!*
I liked it! :) It was sad, and I thought it could have had a tighter ending. But it was a compelling story with a great protagonist. It was good.
Cathy
Set in the 1970s during a tumultuous period of Indira Gandhi's rule, two sisters, Asha and Reet, must go to their father's ancestral home in Calcutta while their father goes to New York in hopes of finding work as an engineer. There they are at the beck and call of their Uncle, Grandmother and Auntie. Worse, Asha has had to stop playing tennis and cricket since her period began. The house is suffocating as they must stay inside day after day. When money begins to get tight, Uncle tries to marry...more
Laura T.
I really enjoyed the simple premise of this book. Asha, the main character, her sister and he mother go to live with he father's relatives in Calcutta when he leaves to look for work in America. Ma has some pretty severe depression issues and Asha takes it on herself to take care of her mother and older sister. I thought Asha was strong character, something they expain in another area of the book but she seems to have very lttle faith in her mother or sister. She took it upon herself to keep her...more
Catherine Yezak
Apr 11, 2009 Catherine Yezak rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Teens and Teachers
This was an awesome book. It deals with two teenage girls and how their lives and dreams are forced to change due to circumstances in India in the mid 70s. It deals with poverty, living with an extended family, and maintaining a sense of self and pride. Even the male characters add depth to this story. The great thing about it is that the villain is actually the circumstances the characters face and the changing socio, economic, and political times. There really isn't a person who is bad, just t...more
Abbey Smith
Wow. What an amazing book. Mitali Perkins does an unbelievably great job of telling this story through the eyes of a little girl who has WAY too many secrets for her age. She experiences loss, devastation, misfortune, family turmoil and many kinds of abuse -- using her journal as a "secret keeper" for her inner-most thoughts. This story really broke my heart, but also made me realize how fortunate we are to live in the United States. I realized, through the eyes of a young girl, the true realiti...more
Carolynne
Delightful novel about Asha, her sister Reet, and her mother, who in 1974 move in with Asha's father's family when their beloved Baba emigrates to the U.S. to find better work. Asha hides out in the roof to record her experiences in her "Secret Keeper," her diary, and meets reclusive next-door-neighbor Jay, who becomes her dearest friend and an escape from the restrictions of life with her Grandmother and Auntie. When the whole family's welfare is threatened, Asha makes a shocking decision that...more
Sally Kroon
Asha and her older sister Reet must move into their Uncle's home in India after their father leaves to find work in America. Living with their uncle, aunt, grandmother, cousins, and a mother who hasn't been herself since their father left, leaves the girls with a huge change in expectations and rules. Reading this book gave me a lesson on traditional Indian life, including the roles expected of males and females and how life is dramatically different for both. The ending of this book was somethi...more
Sandra
Asha and her mother and sister move in with their father's brother and family while Baba is away in America forging a life before he sends for them. A classic coming of age story in a not so classic setting of India in the 1970's. Asha is not only a girl growing up to adult hood, but she is also an India girl growing up under strict cultural mores and tradition.

Told in a lyrical slow-paced fashion, Perkins is able to impart lessons of sacrifice and survival without getting tedious or boring.

Fina...more
Sana Haque
A beautiful story about family, love, and sacrifice. Asha , Reet, and their mother move to their uncle's while their father tries to find a engineer job in America. They think the stay will only be for a couple of months; sadly hit by bad news their stay becomes longer. And during the stay relationships are made with love and anger. Through Asha's voice i realized sometimes you have to make sacrifices for those you love and while making these sacrifices there is hope for better things to come al...more
Rachel
I usually don't give plot summaries but I am including this one after my review because it gives a good idea about what the storyline is about and will hopefully hook you into reading this wonderful book. Perkins writes about India in the 1970's with all the political and societal complexities that comes with it. Her depection of India is lovely, the smells, the atmosphere, etc. translates very well into written words. This is a heartbreaking story, but it really does capture the essenence of be...more
Lawral
The best part about this book is the descriptive language that Perkins uses throughout. Everything is so lush and easy to feel or visualize. At the same time, she doesn't coddle her readers, most of whom aren't familiar with 1970s Indian dress and customs; she does not go to great lengths to spell everything out. Because she lets you kind of figure things out for yourself as you go along (with the help of a glossary of Indian words at the back of the book) there were no obtrusive info-dumps to p...more
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Secret Keeper (Hardcover)

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Mitali Perkins was born in Kolkata, India, and immigrated to the States when she was seven years old. She's written several books for young readers, including BAMBOO PEOPLE, RICKSHAW GIRL, MONSOON SUMMER, and SECRET KEEPER. Mitali maintains a website (mitaliperkins.com) and blog (mitaliblog.com) where she chats about books between cultures. Follow her at twitter.com/mitaliperkins.
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