Rakhi is a 23 year old woman living in a slum in Mumbai. After the death of her parents at a young age and running away from relatives, she meets and joins a group of kids who live on the street.  After a tragic incident forces her into a home for girls, she loses contact with her group of friends, but catches the attention of one of the board members, Guari.

Guari is a human rights lawyer/activist promoting housing rights for everyone. She offers Rakhi a job as an office assistant.  Even though she promotes independence and equality for women, she treats Rakhi more as a child and a servant.  When Rakhi decides she wants more from her life, Guari is offended, remind her of her place and her past, then fires her. This happens on the same night that Rakhi's slum burns down, causing her to lose everything at once. From this, she rebuilds her life and comes back stronger than ever.

This book did a great job of allowing Rakhi to evolve. The story was told in present tense, but most chapter had a small piece of the past. This beautifully filled in Rakhi's story and showing just how much she truly grew.  The author wants afraid to demonstrate how tough it is for kids on the street and just how fast they are forced to grow up. 

There were a lot of Hindi words in this book (obviously). Not speaking Hindi, I was able to understand the basic sentiments from the context, or was able to use Google translate, but a small dictionary of words would have been extremely helpful.

Overall, I give this book 3.5 stars.

This book was a realistic account of the ways in which hardships shape life for better or worse. It examines culture, government, relationships, and biases that while telling the captivating story of a young woman trying to survive in Mumbai. The cultural references helped to paint a picture of the rich Indian celebrations and way of life.

BOOK FEATURE

Such Big Dreams ~ Reema Patel

“…A splash of a debut,” Patel tells the story of Rakhi who lives in the slums of Mumbai working in the office for a human rights law organization, Justice for All, that is run by a lawyer that helped her after a haunting tragedy years ago.

Despite her meager life, Rakhi is bright and can hold her own, with sharp wit and fierce intelligence. When Bollywood star, Rubina Mansoor signs on as a celebrity face of Justice for All, Rakhi’s life changes and she must make some tough decisions in the name of power and ambition.

“…Such Big Dreams is a gripping story you’ll want to simultaneously race through at breakneck speed and slow down to savor every word.”

I find learning about other cultures and backgrounds to be enlightening and educational. I find it intriguing to see how others live, what their views of the world around them are, and how they are affected by these aspects. It is easy to take our lives for granted and to turn a blind eye from what we are not familiar with or may feel foreign to, which is just wrong to me. After being educated about other cultures, I feel somewhat of an understanding and connection when talking to someone from that culture, now knowing a bit more than I had before. What I especially appreciated with Such Big Dreams was the generational age range of the main characters. It changes the overall tone of a novel and I found this to be perfect for me at this time. It is easier to connect with the characters and the reading is easier and lighter.

Rakhi is an incredible woman who has such strong and positive attributes that have helped her be where she is today and will help her succeed into the future. Though she is still learning the English language, her interest and ambition coax her along, as well as her increased understanding of this new-to-her culture. Having Alex in her life has helped her more, and retrospectively has changed his life as well for the same reasons. Her rekindled friendship with Babloo brought about even more life changes for Rakhi, at the same time as her friendship with Alex takes a turn.

I liked the women empowerment at the lawyer’s office, the turmoil surrounding politics, and the energy created by the famous star and her involvement with the non-profit. That all added a fiction flair to the book, making it more enjoyable.

This debut novel offers a moving, smart, and arrestingly clever look at the cost of ambition and power in reclaiming one’s story.

This detail-rich read is a tour of the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Bombay. I felt like I was there. Rakhi is a very sympathetic hero, although it is hard to watch her struggle against such a tough world. All the signs point to things going wrong, from the moment Rakhi meets Canadian intern Alex. Watching events unfold is excruciating and compelling.

Reema Patel makes a powerful debut in Such Big Dreams. Focusing on Rakhi, a former street child in Mumbai who at age 23 a menial office worker living in a slum and beholden to her boss at Justice For All, an NGO led by and staffed by lawyers who work on a pro bono basis. By the time she was 7 Rakhi had lost everyone and everything, including her birth name, Bansari. Over time she is "rescued" first by a friend, then by the head of Justice For All, whom she thinks treats her like the daughter from whom she is estranged, and then by a Canadian intern whose family is part of the highest class. Over time, and at great personal loss, Rakhi realizes that all of these people have betrayed her and that she must trust herself to reach her dreams. The novel examines the meaning of 'the real India' as well as 'real people.' Although the ending is predictable, Patel's prose is riveting, resulting in a most satisfying novel. It forces serious readers to think about themself as well as about the ways in which they can meet their responsibility to help themselves and others. Highly recommended.

"Such Big Dreams" by Reema Patel is a tremendous debut novel! I loved seeing how Rakhi grew as a person from the first page to the last. She is a character that will haunt me for months to come. This book packs a serious punch; it is raw and real and doesn't sugarcoat life in the slums of Mumbai and the corruption with which the city struggles. As a lawyer, I was particularly interested in the parts describing the shortcomings of the Indian legal system, especially how that system routinely allows human rights violations and unjustly punishes the poor.
Reema Patel is certainly an author to watch and I look forward to reading more from her!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced digital copy of this fabulous book, in exchange for my honest review.

What a powerful story. I loved getting to know Rakhi throughout this book. I enjoyed how the author told her story in the present and then included short flashbacks to her past when living on the streets of Mumbai as a child. I thought it was enlightening to read about Rakhi’s life living in the slums, it definitely helped give me a new perspective. I thought the story line was powerful and intriguing. The end definitely didn’t end up where I was expecting, but I love how the author tied up some of the storylines and wrapped up Rakhi’s story. This book had lots of sorrow mixed with lots of hope. I highly recommend!

Rakhi is an orphaned girl, living in the slums of Bombay and working as an office assistant in a nonprofit law firm. She has led a difficult life on the streets before she Gauri Ma'am found her at a girls' home and promised to help her. Rakhi has "such big dreams" but 5 years of working in the office at the beck and call of Gauri Ma'am, she is still no closer to moving forward. When a Canadian intern comes to work at the office, he offers Rakhi hope to one day go to college and maybe work in a hotel. But as luck would have it, for the poor and uneducated, it seems impossible. As the law firm is desperate for money, Gauri Ma'am has "big dreams" of her own and partners with a washed up Bollywood actress in an attempt to raise funds and awareness for her cause. But somewhere along the way, Gauri Ma'am looses sigh of what she's fighting for.

This novel explores what it means to have high hopes and the political conditions that can stifle those dreams. Through Rakhi, we learn of the grit it takes to survive on the streets a child and as an adult with no future prospects, always being left with broken promises. We learn of the corruption in the system that vows to help clean up the slums at the cost of destroying the lives of the very people they claim to want to help.

I enjoyed this novel, especially Rakhi's character. I wish there had been a little more background on Gauri Ma'am and why she singled out Rakhi as her "cause". The book started slow but then moved really fast near the end. All in all, this was a good read and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for this Advance Reader's Copy in exchange for an honest review. This book will be published on 5/10/22

I wasn’t really into this book. I had a hard time with it not holding my attention. I gave it 4 stars because parts were interesting. I am not sure I would recommend this book.

Such Big Dreams is an impressive debut from Reema Patel, I loved the idea of indeed big dreams but how dreams are unmet or out of reach for many due to inequities, the caste system in indeed, and experiences with poverty and slums. This book was for me a fast engaging read, one that afforded me insights into a cultural and country I admittedly know little about, and helped to highlight themes on systemic barriers from face in this country. What stood out for me though are timeless and well loved themes on friendship and recognizing the developmental significance of friendship, this was well written and well developed, and a theme on learning, which I love to see placed within a book about dreams, barriers to success, and disparities.
I am grateful for the chance to be immersed in themes that are well developed and universal to many readers while also having a book that centered universal topics within a country and culture, and set of systems, that are newer to me.

Such Big Dreams is a debut that follows Rakhi, an orphan, former street kid, and now office assistant to a social justice law firm. While it started out slow, the back half of this novel really excelled. There's the study abroad office interns who are all too familiar, a corrupt government, influencers who want to look like they care about charity, and a former friend whose betrayal stings. After reading Behind The Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo years ago, this felt like coming back to a familiar, yet changing Bombay/Mumbai. Though it felt a little like everything happened all at once towards the end, I was still so sucked in by the complex characters and the intricacies of the lives they led, as well as the setting that Reema Patel describes ultra-realistically. Really liked and looking forward to seeing what Patel does next!

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was slow to start and when it finally got going everything happened at a dizzying pace. It is definitely a debut novel and has a lot of good parts but if I'm honest, I found it unsatisfying and underwhelming.

Such Big Dreams by Reema Patel. Pub Date: May 10, 2022. Rating: 3.5 stars. In this stunning debut, the author explores many aspects of India through the eyes of a young female who is navigating whatever life throws her way. Rakhi works in a law office called Justice for All and comes from the slums as a street child and develops into a woman who is earning a paycheck, albeit a small one. The reader is exposed to poverty, the slums, the rich, social justice issues, culture and lifestyle of the country of India. Rakhi is fierce and has so much potential. She is the perfect example of grit, desire and intuition. I learned a lot about India through the eyes of Rakhi. I always appreciate novels that take me to a different time and place while at the same time educate me on a culture I know little about. Read this novel if you like cultural fiction with a side of determination. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

A nice read in that it was quick and the setting is unique. The main character is well written and developed, but the supporting cast leaves me a bit wanting. I can see this appeal to many readers in its uniqueness and it will be a hit. For me, I thought it could have been a bit more developed in terms of characters. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read.

This debut novel follows a young woman's journey from surviving the unforgiving streets of India to an assistant for a human rights law office in Mumbai.

Sadly, the struggles of underprivileged communities are not unique to India, it's good to know more about the adversities and the lack of opportunities poor people face in order to empathize and to help make upward solutions available.

In this story, we witness the experiences and disappointments of transactional relationships as Rakhi ventures to find real connections, redemption, and a safe space in the world on her own terms.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Ballantine for an advanced copy of Such Big Dreams for my unbiased evaluation. 3 stars

Reema Patel’s debut novel, ‘Such Big Dreams’ is an immersive book that takes an unflinchingly honest look at systemic inequities and cultural norms. Through protagonist, Rakhi, the reader is given a glimpse at what growing up orphaned in the slums of Mumbai looks like, and what barriers to economic growth are present.

Told in first person present tense, with flashbacks interspersed throughout, this novel takes a little while to ramp up. But once it does, you won’t be able to put it down. This is a great read for someone who wants to broaden their horizons and experience a culture different than their own. And there are achingly universal elements that will speak to all, regardless.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Fantastic debut - Patel really brings to life the character of Rakhi, and her life in India. Rakhi is a child of the streets of Bombay, and has clawed her way up - just a little. But then Alex, the handsome intern from Canada arrives, and starts to convince Rakhi that she is underestimating herself, that she could go to college. But perhaps others ideas of what your life should be don't always match with your own ideas or expectations? Every character in this novel is ambitious in one way or another, and it's up to the reader to decide what type of person that makes each character.

"Rakhi is a twenty-three-year-old haunted by the grisly aftermath of an incident that led to the loss of her best friend eleven years ago. Constantly reminded she doesn't belong, Rakhi lives alone in a Mumbai slum, working as a lowly office assistant at Justice For All, a struggling human-rights law organization headed by the renowned lawyer who gave her a fresh start.

Fiercely intelligent and in possession of a sharp wit and an even sharper tongue, Rakhi is nobody's fool, even if she is underestimated by everyone around her. Rakhi's life isn't much, but she's managing. That is, until Rubina Mansoor, a fading former Bollywood starlet, tries to edge her way back into the spotlight by becoming a celebrity ambassador for Justice For All. Steering the organization into uncharted territories, she demands an internship for Alex, a young family friend from Canada and Harvard-bound graduate student. Ambitious, persistent, and naive, Alex persuades Rakhi to show him "the real" India. In exchange, he'll do something to further Rakhi's dreams in a transaction that seems harmless, at first.

As old guilt and new aspirations collide, everything Rakhi once knew to be true is set ablaze. And as the stakes mount, she will come face-to-face with the difficult choices and moral compromises that people make in order to survive, no matter the cost."

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book and read it quickly. The author's descriptions brought me back to India and its poverty, caste system, turmoil, overcrowding, danger, uniqueness, color, and vivid culture. Rakhi, the main character, is tough and very likable, with a subtle sense of humor and determination. Rakhi's story of growing up on the streets and turning her life around to make her way is filled with hope, resolve, and justice.

"Such Big Dreams" is a moving story about ambition, identity and survival from debut author Reema Patel. For fans of Adunni in "The Girl with the Louding Voice", you will find another unforgettable character in Rakhi, a woman fighting for her dreams and her place within the corruption and oppression in India. Simultaneously inspiring, heartbreaking and hopeful, "Such Big Dreams" shows us how a clever, tenacious former street child finally decides it’s time to live life on her own terms.

The story is told from Rakhi’s perspective and it only takes a few pages to fall in love with her spunk. She’s funny and sharp and although she keeps a lot of it to herself, it makes her more of an underdog character you’ll be cheering on. All the characters in the story are complex and well written—even the more loathsome ones. While there is a lot of humor involved, it is also uncomfortable because of the way so many treat Rakhi—taking advantage of her status, thinking she is a project for them to better or simply looking at her as a “peon” living in the slums. It makes her willingness to finally stand up for herself all the more compelling.

One thing I really enjoyed was the educational aspect to the story. There are portions of it that are loosely based on actual events and it’s like looking through a new lens in many parts of the book. Patel weaves in the corruption and moral compromises at every economic level that characters in the story make in order to survive within society. We get a great dose of Indian culture and terminology. Plus, we get a reality check when we see Rahki’s perspective of people who think they are helping her when they are actually contributing to her oppression.

There are parts that will break your heart. I especially loved the theme of friendship and what tragedies it may take to realize the people who love us most may not be the ones making the biggest show of it.

Ultimately this is a story about survival and Rahki’s determination to take back her power. By letting go of the things she once held dear and finally living life on her own terms, we get the story about one woman’s inspiring fight for redemption. 4.5 stars