Ellie Pillai is Brown

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I think reading this book definitely opened my eyes to some of the barriers that POC have, and cultural differences/barriers that are faced, which people may not even think about. I know it’s a YA book but I feel like some of the slang used was a bit unrealistic and a bit of a stretch. Ellie finds expressing her true emotions very hard, but by using music she can express her feelings more openly. A warm hearted read that really perfectly captures what it feels like to be a teenager: it's a real whirlwind of emotions and complexity. Maybe it's the new boy at school who makes her brain explode into rainbows every time she sees him (and also happens to be going out with her best friend), or maybe it's her new drama teacher, the one who seems to have noticed she exists.

We understand that she is desperate to be her authentic self, but how can she do this without upsetting her family and friends? Ash lernt man kaum tiefer kennen und Ellie ist zwar teilweise ganz nett, manchmal aber auch etwas impulsiv und leicht unsympathisch. Ellie is very much a dramatic teenager (shocker) and every time I was about to judge her for it, I remembered what I wrote in my diary back in 2011 and figured I was not one to talk. I loved that the reader was able to experience Ellie’s character development in such a personal way as we get access to her thoughts.There was a lot of good stuff here- Eliie has a really distinct voice and the topics discussed were great. A draggy mid part with unnecessary dialogues/scenes (think it could actually be less than 400 pages? Her friends are cool, but she’s not that girl, in fact most of the time she goes about her life invisible to the rest of the school. It follows a Sri Lankan-English girl named Ellie Pillai, who is navigating the stresses of school and shifting friendship dynamics, which become even more complex when a new boy starts at school and she falls for him despite him being with her best friend.

It's not often you find South Asian rep in YA fiction, and I could definitely relate to some elements of Ellie's experience. The friendships were also very cute and very high school like, which made me feel nostalgic at times. I won a giveaway copy of this ages ago and I knew I’d enjoy it, so I have no idea what took me so long, but I know myself well (at least in terms of books! I know when I was growing up there weren’t many YA books that represented POC and different religious backgrounds, so I think the fact that YA fiction is more diverse these days is amazing, and so beneficial to so many children/teens/young adults. The way it did turn out, though, was for the record the way I wanted it to be, and I’ve heard there’s going to be a sequel so I will absolutely be reading that so I can see some more of these characters.

She also uses the book to showcase her own talents as there is a downloadable album with tracks reflecting the chapter themes throughout the book, accessible by scanning the liberally spread QR codes.