Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat

My Ratings:
Vocabulary:  *****
Ingredients: *****
Satisfaction: ***** 
Lexile Level: N/A (I would say it is around 800HL-1000HL)
Genre:  Romance, Psychology
My Opinions: Romantic plot line? Yes. New idea? No. Did I like the book? Yes. This again is another Bollywood type of plot line in which we have the hero falling in love with the beautiful heroine. 

It all starts on the basketball court. Riya is from a rich, upscale lifestyle who loves basketball and disapproves of the luxurious lifestyle. Madhav is from Bihar, a poor and worn down state in India, who was recruited to play basketball in St. Stephen's College. After meeting on the court during tryouts, they start hanging out together. Madhav wants more from Riya, but she sees him as a immature and naive little boy who knows nothing of love. Riya only wants to be friends with him, nothing more.

Things become more tense once Riya gives Madhav an invitation to her wedding, but Madhav refuses to go. Instead, he returns home to help his mother and the school she was running. It was in poor condition and it needed to be fixed. The Bill Gates Foundation reached out to Bihar and told Madhav if he could convince the committee during their tour in India, the school would receive a $25,000 grant. The only catch was he needed to do this in English. Madhav does not know English very well. Also, he is still recovering from the Riya-episode.

The plot picks up its pace when he sees Riya once again in Bihar! (crazy right?) In the midst of preparing for the committee presentation, Madhav once again gets tangled in a relationship with Riya (oh, not again...). It seems like it is fate to have met her again, but will it end differently?

I do have to applaud Bhagat for diverging from the cliched Bollywood romantic plot line because this story is about more than love. It is also about a man growing up and adapting to different cultures and languages as he even travels to America in search for Riya. Best of all, this book shows the importance of never giving up.

This is a great book for those interested in cultural differences and is appropriate for young adults and above.