Fantastically descriptive, honest, and gritty, but with a lot of heart - I really enjoyed this debut novel. At times, I wished the main character Rakhi had been less naive, but I understand it was necessary to give her character room to grow. I also felt the moral / takeaways of the story felt a bit heavy-handed or too obviously stated at times, but overall, this is a skillfully written debut that really transported me into Rakhi's world beautifully.

Such Big Dreams is the story of Rakhi, on orphan in Mumbai who went from street child to office assistant thanks to a series of events precipitated by her friend, a fellow street child. At her office job, she meets Alex, a Canadian intern who helps her see what she is capable of and encourages her to dream bigger. I was expecting a depressing, Slumdog Millionaire type book, but instead the book focused on Rakhi's spirit, grit, humor, and intelligence. Although Rakhi's life in the slums is not easy, she makes a way for herself in the world and doesn't feel sorry for herself. I enjoyed learning about Indian culture, customs and foods throughout the story and could almost smell and see the city of Mumbai thanks to the author's vivid descriptions. Despite some poor choices on her part, I was rooting for Rakhi the whole time and enjoyed seeing her develop throughout the book. Overall, it was a well-written and inspiring book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an advanced copy of this book.

*3.5
Beautifully written, I enjoyed the lush and vivid descriptions that truly made me feel like I was elsewhere. It took quite a bit to hook me, nevertheless, I still appreciated the uplifting themes of perseverance and resilience. A solid debut.

Full review to come and rating may change!

Loved this beautifully written book. I felt like I was literally walking down the streets of India with the wonderfully depicted scenes and descriptions.
Thank you to netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Hi All,

It is a Book Date Monday! I am so excited to share that I received early access to this one.
Author: Reema Patel

Summary:
A savvy former street child working at a law office in Mumbai fights for redemption and a chance to live life on her own terms in this fresh, propulsive debut novel about fortune and survival.


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

Personal Review:
I enjoyed this one! If you want a book that will keep you reading, then this is the book for you. I appreciated that there was much consideration for all aspects of the life and outcomes. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review. Thank you!

After her parents died, young Bansari lived with her aunt and uncle. Her uncle became angry one day, and fearing a beating, she ran away. At the age of 7 Bansari is living on the streets of Mumbai. She changes her name to Rakhi and joins with others her age as they look out after each other. They beg for food and money from the foreigners and struggle to live. At the age of 12, a prank goes wrong and she and a friend severely injure a street vendor. They are captured and sent to juvenile detention. After finishing high school, Rakhi gets a job at Justice For All as an office helper. She lives in the slum. With such a hard life, can she survive?

Reema Patel has written a story about the difficulties of street life in India and the resilience of one girl. Rakhi has endured so much more more than the average girl living in Mumbai. With no true guidance, she is fortunate to have a job and a hut. As she watches the lives of others, she wants more in life. At the encouragement of one of the legal interns, she begins to dream of a bright future. That dream is snatched away and those she thought she could trust fail her. Will the latest setback bring her down? No, this is a story of resilience, perseverance, and reinvention and that’s exactly what Rakhi does.

This uplifting book will raise the spirits of any general fiction or women’s fiction fan.

Quickly grabs you and takes you to India, but I struggled to keep my attention on it. I had a hard time wanting to hang out in the book and will have to come back to it when I don’t have other books vying for my attention.

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book! I will be posting my review on social media, to include Instagram, Amazon, Goodreads, and Instagram!

Life in India as a poor woman would not be a life that I ever wanted to live. Rakhi survived the streets but is still not free to live the life she wants to live. She is working as an assistant at Justice For All, a human rights Organization, but she owes everything to her boss, One day a new assistant from Canada joins the office and Rakhi begins to see the possibilities of a new life ahead of her. However life in India is far from simple.

I really enjoyed this novel. I feel like I learned so much about India and the culture. I also was drawn to Rakhi and her struggles. The book alternated from present day to what her life was like as a child. The writing was engaging and was vivid enough to transport me to India. A great debut book by this author and I will definitely read more of her books in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine/Random House Books and Morgan Hoit for this advance copy.

India has a population of nearly 1.4 Billion people. When you are in a major urban area, it seems that each person is out in the streets with you. Nowhere is that more true than in Bombay/Mumbai. You have never before experienced true chaos until you spend time on the streets of Mumbai.

If you are a non-native you will feel a mixture of amazement, appallment, and abject fear. If you are fortunate, you will have the privilege of being accompanied by a guide who will help you navigate - both literally and figuratively. Reema Patel is such a guide. Patel’s stunning debut “Such Big Dreams” will bury itself deep in your mind and soul. Rahki’s journey from orphan, to abused foster child, to homeless street urchin/petty thief, to reform school, to being rescued to get a second (first?) chance. It will make you hope and cry.

Patel captures the essence of Bombay in a most powerful way, from the sprawling slums where survival is a day-to-day proposition to the palaces of the rich who live off the exploitation and virtual slavery of the lower castes. The lines are not meant to be crossed in any but the most controlled manner. When they do, danger is sure to follow. Tragedy can occasionally be averted with the right combination of wile and connections.

Needless to say, life is not fair. Bribery and corruption are rampant at all levels. Every living situation is precarious - literally capable of disappearing before your eyes from one day to the next. There are some who care about these inequities, and a very few who are willing to genuinely do something about them. Gauri Verma is one of those few. She’s not perfect, but she is perfectly drawn.

Thank you, Reema Patel, for adding to my wonderment of India - its people, culture, and potential. “Such Big Dreams” goes to the top of my recommended list for those looking for something more than the “Slumdog Millionaire”/Bollywood version of the world’s largest democracy and one of its most innovative and important.

Thank you to McClelland & Stewart Books and NetGalley for the eARC.

Reema Patel’s debut novel, “Such Big Dreams,” presents an eye-opening view of “the real India” through her strong character study, dialogue and depictions of everyday life. The story opens in 2011, with 23 year-old Rakhi, an office assistant for an NGO, Justice For All. Going back in time, we see her as an eight year-old orphaned runaway who hooks up with a gang living on the street led and protected by a nine year-old, Babloo.

The head of the NGO, a lawyer who champions human rights, gave Rakhi a job, cell phone, a second floor room in a hutment in one of many of Mumbai’s slums. She also got the landlord to protect this single woman from the other dwellers. The lawyer, Gauri Ma’am, is always reminding Rakhi of her place. Patel takes us into Rakhi’s mind so that we know her thoughts and how angry she feels.

A washed up actress, married to one of Mumbai’s richest developers, convinces Gauri Ma’am to take on her rich Canadian nephew, Alex, as a summer intern prior to his going to Harvard and also to make her the spokesperson for the organization which is in dire financial straits. Alex, who is very naive, befriends Rakhi, helps her with English and keeps pushing her to better herself by applying to college in exchange for Rakhi showing him the real India.

As the story develops we see the underbelly of India, the poverty, the graft, the caste system at play at its worst, the gangsters and the power of the rich. Rakhi faces many moral dilemmas in addition to truths that are very hard to bear. She finds her voice and is able to reach within to find her true self. We find ourselves with her on her journey. Kudos to Patel for taking us there.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and Netgalley for the gifted ARC.

Such Big Dreams transports us immediately to the visceral, bustling streets of Mumbai in the not-distant year of 2011. Our protagonist, Rakhi, is decidedly maudlin, and slogging her way through her officewali chores is the only ambition in her carefully unremarkable life. Rakhi has a past - one filled with adventure, horror, and unforgettable bonds - that she tamps down in favor of her dull, safe present. With the arrival of a Canadian intern at the human rights charity where she works, Rakhi is steered towards the possibility of different kind of future. But when her past comes knocking, Rakhi must decide once and for all who she really is.

I was gifted a digital ARC of this book, and I found myself sneaking a few pages here and there for days while I read it. While not much action actually happens in this book, the character development is sublime. I feel as though I know Rakhi, as closely as a friend, and yet I was consistently surprised by each side of her that was unfurled throughout the story. I also enjoyed the ending, which (no spoilers) could very easily have taken the "lazy" direction that was set up. However, Rakhi's character deserved a more complex and honest ending, and I was pleased that she got it.

<i>Such Big Dreams</i> is Rakhi's story--from a young orphan living with abusive family, to living on the streets of Bombay, to working as an assistant in a law office. It is a story of poverty, hardship, and overcoming, fraught with tragedy and hope.

The story is told mostly in the present: Rakhi is an assistant at a law office. The business owner, Gauri, is a well-known social justice lawyer. For Rakhi, Gauri is part benefactor and part disciplinarian. Rakhi feels gratitude for and resentment toward Gauri--Gauri helped lift her from destitution by providing a job and place to live, but at the same time, she treats Rakhi as less-than and someone to control.

When a Canadian, Harvard-bound student, Alex, joins the law office for a summer internship, he and Rakhi kindle an unlikely friendship. While there is an obvious power imbalance, Alex fires in Rakhi a self-belief that she has never tapped into. Rakhi starts to dream of a future. The future itself is vague, but it is clear that Rakhi does not want to be bound to Gauri for the rest of her life.

There are shorter glimpses into Rakhi's years living on the streets. The reader knows that a tragedy has befallen Rakhi, splitting her from her best friend and protector, Babloo, but it isn't until much later in the story that those details are revealed. These peeks into Rakhi's history help to build a picture of how difficult her life has been. As the pages go on, Rakhi's strength and resilience build.

As the book went on, I got more and more into the story. It took a little bit to hook me, but once I was there, I was so curious how Rakhi's life would turn out. It is easy to root for her. Despite her challenges and missteps, Rakhi is a likable protagonist. And while each calamity seems worst than the last, Rakhi's story feels completely plausible. It reminds me of non-fiction stories I've read of women in third-world countries; when their foundation crumbles, they rebuild, and when it crumbles again they rebuild again. Recommended.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rakhi is a twenty three year old former street child now working as an office assistant in a not-for-profit law office. After being picked up during an altercation as an adolescent, she was sentenced to a convent that afforded her a high school education as well as other opportunities not usually extended to street children. While she lives in a Mumbai slum, she does not have to beg for her meals. Her boss portends to treat her like a daughter, yet the class distinction is obvious everywhere. A new male Canadian Intern is very interested in her past and in all things Indian. He befriends her and encourages her to show him the “”real India”. His hosts are his wealthy relatives who are very upper class. Sometimes Rakhi reminded me of Adunni, in The Girl With the Louding Voice. The difference is that Adunni aimed high and remained optimistic. With Rakhi, there was a sense of inevitability, and inability to raise above the class, especially as seen by others. I enjoyed this book very much, and would love to read more from this author. I do wish a glossary of the Indian terms could have been included.
#SuchBigDreams #NetGalley

“Such Big Dreams” is a debut novel by Reema Patel. In this book, the main character is a 23-year-old woman named Rakhi, who had lived on the streets for years when younger (we learn this in flashback stories) and now works as an entry office worker. Rakhi is learning English, something that is hoped to improve her lot in life. Rakhi’s past and present come to a head as the story progresses.

Let me start off by saying that my knowledge of Indian culture is very limited. Knowing about a place isn’t the same as having experienced it first-hand. I found myself consulting online sources a bit during the reading of this (and be careful looking up some of the Hindi words; I would’ve liked a dictionary in the back of the book). Additionally, while reading this book I kept wondering “Is this going to be like a Satyajit Ray movie with a not so happy ending?” This book has a satisfying ending.

I found myself engrossed in the present/past stories of Rakhi - and for some reason I kept thinking “this would make a good show.” The writing is vivid, giving enough of a description to place the reader in the different places without going into precise details. I found the scene where Alex, an intern at the place Rakhi works, describes the well rebuilding to be so true (I heard something similar from a former Peace Corps member once). I also liked the conflict between Alex and Rakhi - he wants to help her, but doesn’t really understand what she needs (in fact, the big final scene between Rakhi and her boss I felt was excellent and well presented regarding ongoing college costs that Alex seemed to be unaware or just didn't think about). I liked how Rakhi made life happen, opposed to let life happen around her. Rakhi isn’t perfect - and she acknowledges that - but I think in the end, she’ll survive. I also liked the Author’s Notes regarding how she came up with the story. I give this book a 4.5 rating and would read another book by Ms. Patel.

I was very interested to read this story to learn more about the culture in India. Following Rakhi’s journey was interesting and insightful, and at times just plain heartbreaking. Overall, this was a rich and deeply moving, character-driven story that held my attention throughout. Really well-written and beautiful.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

I liked Rakhi, the main character here. But, the writing felt stiff and stilted (perhaps the first person just hammered too loudly) and I lost interest without finishing this one.

This is a powerful and moving coming into oneself story about twenty-three year old Rakhi living in India. The writing is well done and I learned a lot about Indian culture. I loved the details about Rakhi’s progression with the English language. All her heartache and misfortune made my heart hurt for her, but the moment on the beach was absolutely perfect. I loved the ending, even though it isn’t what I expected, it was definitely the way Rakhi’a story should have wrapped up.

Such Big Dreams
by Reema Patel

Is a wonderful written story!
The story flowed so well, and it's so fresh!
I finished this book in a handful of hours. Its seriously a good read.
Written with such brilliance, this novel kept me engaged and engrossed from the first moment.
Author Reema focuses tightly on the character development.
Rakhi, I just loved her character. Strong, Go Getter attitude, smart!
This book has some really funny parts, and some really heart breaking and tough parts. Overall, probably one of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

Ballantine Books,
WoW! Thank you so much for this wonderful widget.

Fiction fans will devour this new smart novel. I however want to read more fiction first so that I can get a feel for the genre. I can then appreciate this new novel more that way. As the premise sounds good and promising.