I'm sorry, this book bored me to tears. I wanted to enjoy it, but from the opening line, I just felt really uninvested in the character. Ultimately, I thought the author's writing style was good, but this story wasn't for me.

An enjoyable read about a young woman in Mumbai who is determined to make her own choices on how to live her life. Rakhi is a former street child working as an office assistant at a struggling human rights law practice and living in one of the city's slums when she is befriended by Alex, the new Harvard-bound intern from Canada. Alex encourages Rakhi to apply to college programs in hotel management so that she can make more of her life and promises to help her with the applications in exchange for her showing him "the real India". The novel gives a good sense of what life is like in Mumbai and the obstacles to success that people in Rakhi's circumstances face when trying to achieve their dreams.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC.

Such Big Dreams was a devastating book about a young girl, with no one on her team, who works to build her life in a poor slum of India. Themes of independence, determination, and hope are roped through the pages. highly recommend.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of this novel.

Thanks to Netgalley, for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Rakhi is an orphan, who runs away from her abusive uncle at 7, and joins a gang of street children in Mumbai. They become her family, especially Babloo, the 9 year old leader of the gang. After an incident, Babloo is sent to a juvenile prison, but Rakhi is sent to a girls school, where she becomes a protoge of Madame Gauri, a human rights lawyer at Justice for All.

When the main part of the book opens, Rakhi is working at Justice for All as a "girl of all trades," making tea, running errands, and so on, and is trying to learn better language in hopes of getting a better job - perhaps even an education. She then meets Alex, an intern at the firm, inserted there at the behest of a washed up actress, looking to use Justice for All for publicity for herself and for her property developer husband. Alex leads Rakhi to believe that she can get an education and that he can and will help her.

Things get dramatic, when a huge fire starts in the area where Rakhi lives, an extremely poor area of Mumbai. Surprise, surpise - there are business interests just waiting to clear out the entire area for developent. At the same time, Babloo comes back into Rakhi's life.

I was riveted by developments in the book, and a lot of it came down to this - to what extent can she actually depend on any of these people who appeared to want to help her? Or will she have the courage to continue fighting and to continue to depend on herself?

This was a fascinating book, and I look forward to reading more books by Ms. Patel.

A really engaging debut! I don't read too much in this genre. but the author did an excellent job creating a compelling world! The characterization and growth of the main character Rhaki was very enjoyable and well done. I thought it was a bit slow at the beginning but it was definitely worth giving the chance as I really ended up loving it at the end!

Wow - this book! I powered through it in 2 days and I think it will stick with me for a while. Rakhi/Bansari is such a great character. She is a combination of savvy and naive. The book made me really feel like I was in Bombay, where I've never been before. There were times I could smell and taste the city. All the descriptions of getting around the city and the foods really brought me there. I don't want to ruin any details, but as I was reading, I couldn't imagine how the book would end, and then the ending was very satisfying, in a non-obvious way. And so nice to have a book centered on a woman where romance was not a focus. My only suggestion for the final book would be to have some kind of glossary of terms. I found myself looking up a lot of the words, and some I could figure out from context, but would have been nice to have right there. But the language was also helpful in getting the feel of the city and the story, so I wouldn't take any of those words out, even when I didn't understand them it added to my enjoyment.

This was a very good book. I’ve read several books set in India the last few years and find their stories and culture really interesting. But I hadn’t read a character like Rakhi before. I’ll leave it to others smarter than me to fully dissect the themes of the book, but I found Alex’s well meaning but complete naiveness was effectively balanced by the infuriating hypocrisy of Rakhi’s boss. I respect her anger since women are so often prevented from expressing it.

No spoilers but the story build to a very satisfying conclusion.

After starting “Such Big Dreams” by Reema Patel, I wasn’t quite sure if I could finish it. The novel takes place in India and there was a lot of slang words and Hindu terms/phrases used. However, I found the storyline interesting and decided to continue. I enjoyed this book and it was something I normally wouldn’t select. I thought the ending was a little ‘unfinished’, however overall still and engaging book.

I love a book with a good story that also sheds light on things I know nothing about. Patel has accomplished her mission here, and the reader is able to vividly imagine what it must have been like for the different characters of her tale. The story is based on events that really happened and it is eye-opening, making the reader want to know more and adding to the genre of books that describe Indian life for both the rich and the poor.
Corruption in government and among the rich? Seems to be a universal theme, but India certainly has its own culture around this. Any young person thinking of doing an "internship" abroad should read this book.

What is fabulous debut novel from Patel! This diverges a bit from what I’ve read in the past. 2022 is all about that diversity though, y’all. The life of the main character, Raiki, is quite riveting. Raiki grew up on the streets of Mumbai, where she had to thieve and scheme in order to survive. This was alongside a group of other street children. She ends up in a girls home and then was rescued by a human rights lawyer. The story enfolds you at the jump. Between her current life as a tealady at the human rights nonprofit and the flashbacks of her childhood and how she got to living on the streets. My chief complaint is it really stalls in the middle. It slows dramatically and it got to be a chore to read it. It picks up again at the tail end. I throughly enjoyed learning some Hindi words (especially the naughty ones!) I look forward to reading more from this author. As her storytelling is funny, bold & raw!

I don't know or can't even pretend to know what like would be like living in India or in the slums of India. I do tend to believe that there is political corruption everywhere and that money tends to speak very loudly. This book definitely makes you think about such things. and while it might be taking place in another country that things are not really all that different from one place to the next.

Wow, what a fantastic debut novel!! This book was super enjoyable. I loved Rhaki’s character so much and enjoyed the blossoming of her character throughout the book. She was fierce and never gave up and despite all the obstacles, she stayed true to herself. This book is written in the present with flashbacks to the past, unraveling her story. This book takes you to India and within the book, you learn so much about the country and culture which I really enjoyed. I will definitely be reading any future books from Reema Patel.

Thank you Net Galley and Ballantine for an ARC of this book in return for my honest review.

You know when you're reading a book and a new character shows up and immediately you know there's going to be trouble and a mess and it'll get blamed on the protagonist? This is one of those books. I wanted Rakhi, a young woman living in the slums of Mumbai and working as a tea lady for an NGO, to find her own way up or out or to improve her own lot through her own actions, but it takes, instead, the betrayals and manipulations of two men and Rakhi's erstwhile mentor/boss for her to find her place in the world. Her lack of decision-making is frustrating, and is even more so when you realized that she's been trained her entire life to only take direction from other people, to her own detriment. Overall, a good read, and the ending, which is horrifying from the view of an anticapitalist like me, makes a tragic kind of sense, even as it's presented as positive.

I had never heard of the author before but gave the book an honest try. I could not get into the story at all.

As a first-time writer Remma Patel has written an interesting story set in the heart of Mumbai. We are giving an inside view of life on the streets from Rakihi, a young girl who runs away from home after the death of both her parents. She ends up living with a small gang and is forced to navigate life on the streets until there is a life-changing accident.
Her life takes an unexpected turn when she has an encounter with a famous human rights lawyer. In a sense, she is given a second chance at life and is given a job, responsibility, and working with the lawyers' organization that is dedicated to helping the underserved in India. Without giving the plot completely away, the story develops very slowly, and in a fairly predictable way. It drags at points, and only when we are close to the end does it pick up speed and the conclusion is not revelatory. There was a lot of potential here, and I think the story needed more help to get the reader through.

**received a copy for review.**

This book had a lot of potential. The author has a beautiful way with words but the story got mired in language and the dynamic character from the beginning lost her spark.

High praise for Reema Patel’s debut novel, Such Big Dreams. Patel is a gifted storyteller, bringing to life the streets of India and what it must be like to claw your way out of poverty, crime and unimaginable circumstances. The fact that the main character, Rakhi, still allows herself to dream after facing such challenges is a testament to humanity, proving that we are all the same, no matter where we live, no matter our trials and tribulations... we all just want the very best life we can possibly have and people in our corner to share our lives with.

This book was so beautifully written and the characters stay with you long after you finish it. My first book to read by this amazing author but cannot wait to read more! Highly recommend!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Rakhi has not had the easiest of childhoods. She currently works at a human rights organization. The organization is making many changes that Rakhi is unsure about. It will take all her strength to determine who she can trust. This was an emotional read.

Such Big Dreams was a real departure for me. I had not read a book about growing up in India. This is a beautiful story about a girl who grows up on the streets due to circumstances she could not control. She is plucked from an orphanage by a woman who runs a not-for-profit law firm and sees the potential in this young woman. A job is not the answer to all of her problems as she grapples with her past and the self-imposed and socially structured limitations of her future. It is a well told story, and a close look at growing up in the social system of India.