Mohit Parikh's Blog, page 5

A truly humbling review in Indian Express

"On April 23, 1998, Manan Mehta, 15 years and three-quarters old , finds proof that evolution has not passed him by and that puberty, as the rest of world experiences it, has begun for him as well. It is a momentous occasion even though he is still quite short for his age, his voice hasn’t even begun to crack and everybody treats him like a child. With his body changing slowly but surely, Manan’s mind is racing with ideas about the world around him, school, biology, his family and Hriya, the...

Love you, Eckhart!

Thank you for giving me a second life!

An excerpt of Manan appears in The Bombay Review

‘Is that you, Manan?’ Taiji’s voice from behind the window of her bedroom.

Has she been waiting there to pounce on him? ‘Yes, Taiji.’

‘Tauji is calling you.’

‘In a minute, Taiji.’

Quickly he hides behind the veranda pillar and then crawls on all fours into the side alley. Here, under the shadow of the porch and out of Taiji’s sight, and away from those idiots inside. Tauji is calling him – so what? Why should he answer their calls? He is a full, complete human being, not a toy, not a massage mach...

I like Sakaal Times' review of Manan

'Manan by Mohit Parikh is a charming story based in the late ’90s. The protagonist Manan is a teenager who is just getting acquainted with puberty. He cannot wait to grow up.

The story takes you through the everyday life of the 10th grader. The lectures in school, the street food outside school, friendship and all other nuances of a teenager’s life – Manan has it all to take you on a nostalgic ride. For a debutant, Mohit displays some noteworthy detailing skills and that makes it very easy fo...

Review in HT Brunch

'Read it for a trip back to the 90s' - HT Brunch

Review of Manan in The Sunday Tribune

"GROWING pains of an adolescent boy is the subject of Mohit Parikh's Manan. For a boy who harbours an inferiority complex for being short, the onset of puberty is like the trump card that will set his game right. Jubilant as the first signs greet him, he awaits with unabated breath the signs of growing up, changing voice and all other things that come with puberty. Mohit Parikh has been published in Identity Theory, Out of Print Magazine, Burrow Press Review and The Bombay Literary Magazine,...

At Pune International Literary Festival

With Anjum Rajaballi and Pubali Chaudhuri, on 'Difficulties of Adapting Screenplays from Novels'

Asian Review of Books reviews Manan

(from the website)

7 October 2014 — Mohit Parikh’s debut young adult novel, Manan, is full of introspection and awakenings of both a physical and psychological nature. Protagonist Manan, fourteen years old, is at the top of his class but remains one of the smallest students among his male peers. But at the beginning of the book, Manan has just made a thrilling discovery:

…today, oblivious to everyone, there is a hair standing tall inside his shorts: a single hair, long, black and shiny. Sprouti...

Jim Luthra's Blog: Book Review: Manan by Mohit Parikh

Jim Luthra's Blog: Book Review: Manan by Mohit Parikh: "The best thing about the book was that it was light and simple, it explained everything well and stood to the point. There was humor, pain, awkward moments and total fun."

Another lovely review of Manan, by LiveMint

LiveMint describes it as a "charming tale of growing up in an Indian city in the 90s"

Here's the link to the review: http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/5tvlimit4QdpplDtpGnNdJ/Young-Lit--Manan.html

Once again, pasted below in full without permission :)

We have been there, done that. This, in large part, is the draw of Mohit Parikh’s debut novel Manan, which gives a realistic account of a few significant days in the life of a teenage boy, growing up in an Indian city in the 1990s. 
A late bl...