How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got in

By Kaavya Viswanathan

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316059889
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

I don't know why people are complaining, this book is great!

I really don't get why people are complaining about the way this book was written. As a 17 year old, i love this book! I could relate to it so well, the pressures of trying to find yourself, get into college, and get a boyfriend. I don't think that it was written poorly. It might not be the high intellectual story you might expect but it is one of my favorite books in the world. Its hilarious, heart warming, and completely relatable despite the wacky characters and outlandish plans. I HIGHLY recommend this book to all high school girls. And the plagrisim thing, I've read both books and I for sure prefer this story!

Very Entertaining!!

This book was so fun to read. The author did a great job describing her characters and keeping her readers entertained. I laughed out loud so many times that I was turning heads at my son's soccer practice! Not only did I enjoy this book, but my daughter loved it as well. It was a great story about the trials and tribulations of those super-sensitive teenage years.

Despite plagiarism scandal, still a great book at heart

After hearing all about the scandal and controversy surrounding this book, I decided to pick it up and read it myself. Even though it had been pulled off the shelves I was lucky enough to find the last copy at Strand's website (for a whopping 12 dollars--lucky me). I had heard about the plagiarized passages, and the only thing that tainted the book for me was reading and recognizing those passages and knowing that they weren't the author's own. Still, if you look beyond the plagiarism allegations, the book is a great book. It is funny and heartwarming, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone (or at least anyone who loves the teen chick-lit genre into which this book fits) who is able to get their hands on a copy of it. The book is told in first-person narrative by miss Opal Mehta herself. After the Dean of Admissions at Harvard (her and her parents' dream school since she was born) tells her that she needs to find a social life, her parents scrap the HOWGIH (How Opal Will Get Into Harvard) plan they've followed for her whole life and make a new plan--HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get A Life). Trading in textbooks for Jimmy Choos, she undergoes a total makeover to achieve the three goals of HOWGAL--get popular, get kissed, and get wild. Several hilarious incidents later, Opal starts to realize that underneath her Frederic Fekkai highlights, she is still Opal Mehta. This book tells a story of being true to yourself and realizing what you really want, and it is definitely a great story.

Brilliant, Charming, Witty and Timeless

It's Legally Blond in reverse--a super-serious straight-A student turns popular girl to get into Harvard--courtesy of real-life Harvard sophomore Viswanathan, making her much-touted debut. At her Harvard early admissions interview, Opal Mehta, an NRI (or "Non-Resident Indian") from suburban Woodcliff, N.J., is told that Harvard is looking for "young people who want to live and experience life." Opal, in turn, tells her extremely involved, hilariously drawn parents Amal and Meena, who come up with a plan complete with acronym: HOWGAL--How Opal Will Get a Life. It includes getting a Frederic Fekkai haircut, amassing a designer wardrobe and cracking the Haute Bitchez clique--with the complete O.C. on DVD as prep. While Opal's first steps falter, she is soon trading clothes and lip gloss with the trendy elite. But disaster follows success: not only does Opal end up kissing Sean, the object of another of the Haute Bitchez' affections, but her Treo falls into the wrong hands, à la Harriet the Spy. It's all very chick lit--girl gets problem, gets Prada, gets over it--but it's a lot of fun, and Viswanathan's eye-rolling intelligence shines through on every page.

Sweet and fun

I read this book because I saw on a website that it had a similar plot to Carrie Pilby, only younger. I see the similarities and both are funny books. While Carrie Pilby was about a genius girl who graduated from Harvard and finds out she has to get a life and stop being so studios, Opal Mehta is an Indian high school student who realizes she has to loosen up to _get_ into Harvard and not just study. (Maybe shes Carries younger sister! The book starts with Opal going to her Harvard interview and when the interviewer asks abot pleasre reading, she can't think of any. (Alot of us can relate, it was hard to have time senior year.) Opal realizes she needs to be more well rounded She also wants to get coser to Jeff Akel the student council president. She comes up with HOWGAL (How Opal Will Get A Life) to get a life and get into Harvard. She also has FLIRT (flatter laugh etc) In the process of trying to be come looser she also becomes more human. Her mother tells her that everyone likes to be complemented and flattered, and it is a good lesson for everone to learn. She talks to poplar girls who tease her abot her virginity and she finds ways to spend more time with Jeff. She can't forget what FLIRT stands for because its on her Treo! This is a sweet and funny book I recommend to all ages.