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There's a reason Opal Mehta needs to get kissed, get wild and get a life.
Right after she was born, her Indian immigrant parents, Amal and Meena, began implementing the HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get into Harvard) plan.
Opal's now 16 and as far as she's concerned, her worst-case life scenario would be to settle for Yale. But Opal, the straight-A student, is so busy with the school recycling program and the Science Bowl team that she has just one friend, her cat, Mr. Muffty.
When she goes to Harvard for her early admission interview, she gets the shock of her life. The dean of admissions tells her she needs to become well-rounded, make friends and "experience being young."
If Opal Mehta needs to get a life, she can certainly take lessons from her creator, debut author/smart girl Kaavya Viswanathan. A sophomore at Harvard, Viswanathan snagged a two-book, $500,000 contract from Little, Brown at the tender age of 17. Opal Mehta, which has a first printing of 100,000 copies, has been optioned by DreamWorks.
It's clear that Viswanathan has a life, but how does Opal get one? By implementing the HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get a Life) plan. Using the same ingenuity that went into HOWGIH, her dad creates Excel documents that include Conversation Starters with Popular Girls and Essential Party Songs.
Mom buys The O.C. on DVD and all the essential teen movies, including She's All That and Drive Me Crazy. Dad makes slang flash cards and encourages Opal "to get jiggy."
Hell-bent on learning everything about popular culture, Opal scours teen magazines and Vogue so she can debate the merits of Seven vs. Citizens of Humanity jeans and tell the difference between Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.
Mom even leaves encouraging notes on the fridge for Opal: "Out to pick you up some new high-volume mascara. Your principal called. He said you cut class and were seen getting into a Range Rover with the popular girls. We've never been so proud of you."
Is this any way for a girl geek to get a life and get into Harvard?
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed is a hysterically funny train wreck of a story littered with mean girls, drunken parties, bad boys and enough chandelier earrings to light up the Harvard lawn.
I'll bet you a copy of Laguna Beach: The Complete First Season and a gold lame Miu Miu bag that you won't read a sweeter, funnier, more charming book this year.
How Opal Mehta Got Kissed,
Got Wild and Got a Life
By Kaavya Viswanathan
Little, Brown, 310 pp., $21.95
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