Book Review – Mirror Mirror
Book title: Mirror, Mirror
Author: Andaleeb Wajid
Publisher: Duckbill
Format: Kindle
ASIN: B093FZ43GQ
Blurb: Ugly cow. Miss Piggy.
Five years earlier, a friend’s nasty comment makes Ananya start hating her body. She decides to change into a new person-one who effortlessly fits into all kinds of clothes, who shuns food unless it’s salad, and who can never be called ‘Miss Piggy’-and to cut everything from her ‘old’ life, including her best friend, Raghu, for being the witness to her humiliation.
Ananya is on her way to becoming the Ananya of her dreams, but she’s still a work in progress.
One day, her parents announce that they’re expecting a baby (at their age!). To make matters worse, Raghu reappears in her life …
Andaleeb Wajid’s latest novel for young adults is a touching and funny story about a young girl’s journey to acceptance and self-love.
My rating: 4/5
Review: The story is about a teenage girl, Ananya, who discovers that her mother is pregnant. At the age of 17, she is embarrassed by the act of her parents. She tries hard to talk it out to her best friend and remains angry about this news. Her best friend, Nisha, cannot contain the excitement of a newborn baby. The backdrop is pretty great, in sync with the life of teenagers today. They have access to phones and are active on social media, whereas the 90’s kids had the bare minimum. I loved the plot as it spoke about the self-affirmation of a teenager. Aunty V and Raghu had their roles to play in shaping the story. In the beginning, I thought the story is about violence. Later in the plot, Esha’s hurtful words clarified the situation. It is one of the feelings that each one would have had during school or even college days. Sometimes we don’t realize that our hurtful words affect our friends, battling the same war as we are. I was astonished that Ananya’s parents were fine that she ate salad for the rest of her life. Omg! I wish every teenager has understanding parents to help them out of body shaming or any bullying for that matter.
The author has discussed the problems faced by teenagers quite remarkably. Since today we are concerned about social media image, we should take care of the generation we are raising. There is no suspense in the book, so it is fine to say that I am not revealing any plot here. I would like to recommend this book, since it is a short read and it discusses topics such as fat shaming, eating disorder, mental health issues, anxiety issues etc.
I would like to thank Penguin India for the review copy 
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