Shine, Coconut Moon

Samar, or Sam as she calls herself, is a coconut. That is, someone who's brown on the outside but white on the inside. Her mother only helps contribute to Sam's disconnection to her heritage. She's abandoned her parents and their old-fashioned lifestyle and hasn't even allowed Sam to meet her grandparents. But it's not like Sam cares. She has her own friends, a cute boyfriend and a modern life to keep up with. Then everything changes with the tragedy of 9/11. Because of 9/11, atrocious acts of violence were committed against those who appeared different. In the novel, these acts begin to nudge Sam into discovering her heritage. And then a man in a turban shows up, a man that Sam has never met before. It turns out that he's her mother's brother. Her uncle. And he's there to teach her about her Sikh heritage. Becuase of her mother's attitude towards her parents and their religion, Sam is forced to seek answers in secret. Her uncle takes her to visit a gurdwara, or a Sikh temple. He reconciles her with her grandparents. As violence affects her more personally, with teenage boys attacking her uncle and the gurdwara being set on fire, Sam begins to question her existence as a "coconut." And all the while, Sam has to connect the person she was with the person she is becoming. She has to deal with the evolving relationships of her friends and her boyfriend and see who really loves her for who she is. My sister and I both face the opposite problem that Sam did. Our parents adore "our" culture and are constantly pushing us into it. It was refreshing to read about Sam's quest to find her culture, rather than "abandoning our culture and becoming white" as our parents eloquently claim. (RR1: Yes, they are indeed a wee bit unstable. ) Sam's mission to discover her heritage and her family is provoked and yet plagued by 9/11. Sam's (and the other characters') takes and reactions to 9/11 seem realistic and it is interesting to see the reactions of Sam's friends and the reaction of other "colored" people. Having lived in Canada, the upheaval of 9/11 was to a much lesser degree, to the point where (disregarding the news), people mostly seemed to forget about it. Thus, reading about it in Shine, Coconut Moons was an eye-opening experience and seeing it through a teenager's eyes was intriguing; it made the event seem only that much more real. A+ for the plot. The entire cast of characters in the novel are also extremely well done. As the main character, Sam plays her role wonderfully. She's easy to relate to (with issues that all teens face, on top of her desire to discover her heritage) and dynamic. Sam's mother also plays an integral role and she plays it well. The funny bit about it all was, at times it was easier for me to relate with her mother rather than Samar...hmm. Sam's uncle was the guide for Sam in her mission to find her family and culture, a role that he took on well. However, he was a more static character, despite his importance. Sam's best f

I found SHINE, COCONUT MOON, to be a timely, relevant work which while targeted to teenagers, will definitely appeal to anyone confronting issues of self-identity, cultural identity and/or social marginalization. The author, exploring issues of identity and social otherness, in a post 9/11 context, manages to aptly present these sensitive hot-bed issues in a noteworthy manner and most importantly, from varying character perspectives. What I find most essential about this book is that it does a really good job of subtly encouraging the reader to examine / rethink one's preconceived notions about difference. This book, if taught in schools, could be a great teaching tool with regard to consciousness-raising. I loved it, for me, it was a positive and cathartic reading experience - I wholly recommend it.

The only thing Samar has ever known about her Indian heritage is that she is a Sikh, but that never made a difference to her. However, things change when a man wearing a turban is waiting outside her front door days after September 11. The man claims to be Samar's uncle and wishes to reconcile with Samar's mom, who cut off all ties with her family years ago, and get to know Sam. Now, Samar wants to learn as much as she can about her heritage. Being Indian American myself made me especially excited when I received this book in the mail through Simon Pulse It (although I am not a Sikh like Sam). I have mixed feelings with Shine, Coconut Moon. First of all, the book is set in 2001, but Meminger made several references to things that did not exist back then. For example, I loved how she stated that Sam and her best friend Molly watched Project Runway on DVD when the show did not air until 2004. There were also references to MySpace and Facebook which were not created until 2003 and 2004 respectively. These are small details, but how hard is it to see when these things were created before including them in the novel? The references also made the 9/11 plotline seem forced at times. Throughout most of the novel, I felt that Meminger just added the 9/11 backdrop to give the story a bigger meaning. However, for the last 50 pages or so, the 9/11 backdrop actually worked! Unfortunately, it was too late for it too work completely. Luckily, there were good things about the novel! I liked how the novel focused on a Sikh during 9/11. Not everyone realizes that Muslims were not the only ones tormented after 9/11. I also really enjoyed Meminger's writing. She clearly expressed Samar's thoughts. There were several quotes that I really liked. Here is one of them: "If we give them a chance, people could surprise us. Maybe if we didn't make up our minds right way, based on a few familiar clues, we'd leave room for people to show us a bunch of little, important layers that we never would have expected to see." Overall Shine, Coconut Moon was an average read, but Neesha Meminger has the potential to be an amazing author, and I look forward to her next novel.

Samar, known as Sam to most everyone around her, is a seventeen-year-old Indian-American. Except that aside from her name and her complexion, Sam isn't really Indian--she's completely assimilated; and that's how her mother wants her to be. Sam has never known any members of her family other than her mom until soon after September 11th a turban-wearing man shows up at her doorstep. The man turns out to be her mother's younger brother--the uncle that she's never known. The recent events have led Uncle Sandeep to reach out to Sam and her mom and it turns out that his sudden appearance jumpstarts a wave of curiosity in Sam. She immediately starts to question everything she's known about her family--are her mother's parents really as bad as she claims? What's it like to be a Sikh? An Indian? And whatever happened to her father? Learning about herself and her history is new territory for Sam, and for those closest to her. Her best friend Molly doesn't seem to get it; her mother is steadfastly against it; and her sweet boyfriend Mike is not acting like the guy she's always known. I really liked this. Sam is an ordinary teenager having to face identity questions and issues that most teenagers have to face; but because she has known nothing of her culture, it is definitely more intense for her. Trying to figure out who we are is difficult at any time, but especially for a seventeen-year-old girl whose main problem before 9/11 was when she was going to go all the way with her boyfriend. Well-written in that it's a fast read, but leaves the reader with many questions about her own identity. Good book.