* "Debut author Sonia Patel offers a unique perspective in Rani, whose punchy first-person narrative, peppered with early-'90s hip-hop references, Hawaiian, Hawaiian pidgin, Gujurati phrases, and her own slick rhymes packed with an empowering feminist message, commendably and strikingly stands out in the YA landscape." Booklist, starred review
* "A powerfully particular, 100 percent genuine character commands this gutsy debut." Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* "Sonia Patel sets her powerful debut novel in 1991, filling it with bygone rap references and an electric verbal blend of Gujarati, slang, Hawaiian pidgin, and the rhymes Rani crafts. Patel compassionately portrays Rani's entangled emotions, lack of self-confidence, and burgeoning sense of empowerment as she moves forward from trauma." Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "[Rani's] story will appeal to readers who prefer gritty, darker fiction without a pat, happy ending, and characters who don't always overcome their challenges but must face them repeatedly. A strong, unique choice for YA collections." School Library Journal, starred review
"You haven't heard this voice in YA before." The Globe and Mail
"Rani's environment leaps off the page in vivid and satisfying detail, from the winding roads and small shops of Moloka'i to the intricacies of '90s hip-hop fashion. . . . Author Sonia Patel is a psychiatrist, and her determination to portray Rani's response to trauma truthfully is unrelenting." BookPage
"Rani Patel's story spoke to me with power and intensity. I felt Rani's pain, but also her energy, determination and her hope for healing . . . Get it soon especially if you enjoy references to 90s hip-hop." Rich In Color
"This book is so amazing and incredibly well-written and unique, and there is no punch left unpunched. This book gutted me. Sonia Patel knocked it out of the f*cking park. Buy this book." Anderson's Bookshop
"Rani Patel In Full Effect by child and adolescent psychiatrist Sonia Patel is an extraordinary and deftly crafted novel that will have particular and special appeal to young readers ages 12 to 18." Midwest Book Review
"This book is an open wound. Sonia Patel does not sugar coat. . .heartbreak, sorrow, and patriarchy, the kinds of things intended to bend and break girls who rap. Girls like Rani. But Rani writes words. Words that go boom. And in Rani Patel in Full Effect, so does Patel." Isabel Quintero, author of Gabi, A Girl In Pieces
Rani Patel is a kickass, girl-power hip hop performer, but that's her secret life. As the daughter of Gujarati immigrants, she's been taught to believe that "husband is God," and has to live under their cultural norms on a remote Hawaiian island. Bustle “21 Best New YA Novels”
"ani Patel, MC Sutra herself, is so much more than a character on the page. . . . Rani shows us the power every girl has inside themselves to break the cycle of abuse and reminds us that self love is what frees us up to become the amazing beings we are." Cleaver Magazine
One of our favorite reads this fall is marketed for young adults, but make no mistake: Rani Patel in Full Effect will hit you just as hard, if not harder, than any "adult" title. The Riveter Magazine
William C. Morris Award for YA Debut Novel Finalist, American Library Association (ALA) Amelia Bloomer Project - Feminist Task Force, American Library Association (ALA) Best Teen Books, Kirkus Reviews
BookExpo America Editor's Buzz Selection, BookExpo America Top 10 Best Teen Book, Book Page Best Books, Multnomah County Library 50 Best Teen Books, New York Public Library Top 10 Teen Books, Texas Library Association (TLA) Best 20 of 2016, The Volumes Bookcafe Staff 15 Essential Novels Of The #MeToo Movement, Bustle
★ 10/01/2016
Gr 10 Up—On Molokai in the early 1990s, Rani Patel lives the life of the ultimate outsider. A quiet class council member of Indian descent whose relationship with her parents is deeply dysfunctional, she takes comfort only in hip-hop and rap. Her unrequited crushes on two local guys lead her into the underground rap scene, where she tests her skills as MC Sutra, but as she begins to forge an identity, her family and romantic relationships threaten to pull her under. Rani is a flawed character whose poor choices make her somewhat unlikable but also reflect a realistic reaction to her troubled family past—her mother ignores her, and her father sees her as a wife replacement (the book contains instances of incest). The teen seeks love and acceptance wherever she can find it, and through rap she is able to express her struggles and discover a community that embraces her unreservedly. The dialogue, which incorporates a bit of Hawaiian pidgin, Gujarati, and hip-hop slang, can require the use of the included glossary but enhances the understanding of Rani's place at the convergence of multiple cultures. Her story will appeal to readers who prefer gritty, darker fiction without a pat, happy ending, and characters who don't always overcome their challenges but must face them repeatedly. VERDICT A strong, unique choice for YA collections.—Marian McLeod, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT
★ 2016-07-02
Rani Patel, daughter of Gujarati immigrants, feels isolated for more than one reason on the Hawaiian island of Molokai in 1991.Readers first meet Rani as she shaves her head following her discovery of her father’s affair with a “barely out-of-adolescence homewrecker.” That this is the traditional gesture of a widow takes on ever greater significance as the story progresses. Her mother distant, her crush on the handsome, (mostly) Native Hawaiian Pono unrequited, Rani’s only comfort is in hip-hop and the rhymes she lays down—until Mark, a hot, older haole who works at a nearby resort and patronizes her family’s convenience store, shows some interest in her slam poems and in her. When, as MC Sutra, Rani’s invited to audition for hip-hop club 4eva Flowin’, she finds community—and complication. Rani relates her tale in an energetic, often wry present-tense account that effortlessly enfolds unitalicized Hawaiian and Gujarati as well as Hawaiian pidgin and hip-hop slang; import if not exact meaning should be clear to readers, and a glossary fills in the gaps. Rap’s political side is, like Rani, “in full effect,” as she takes on some of the traditions that have critically injured her family in electric slam poems. Author Patel is a psychiatrist, and a concluding note explains that although Rani’s recovery from incest is unrealistically speedy, it can stand as a model for victims. A powerfully particular, 100 percent genuine character commands this gutsy debut. (Historical fiction. 14-18)