William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist–Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) • Best Fiction for Young Adults–Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) • CCBC Choices–Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) • Amelia Bloomer Book List–American Library Association (ALA) • TAYSHAS Reading List–Texas Library Association (TLA) • BEA Young Adult Book Buzz Pick
In 1990s Moloka’i, Hawai’i, sixteen-year-old Rani is fully present as MC Sutra, whose lyrics say “Call my solution a female revolution / retribution in the form of rhyme electrocution,” but her life is in shambles.
Almost seventeen, Rani Patel appears to be a kick-ass Indian girl breaking cultural norms as a hip-hop performer in full effect. But in truth, she’s a nerdy flat-chested nobody who lives with her Gujarati immigrant parents on the remote Hawaiian island of Moloka’i, isolated from her high school peers by the unsettling norms of Indian culture where “husband is God.”
Her parents’ traditionally arranged marriage is a sham, and her dad turns to her for all his needs—even the intimate ones. When Rani catches him with a woman barely older than herself, she feels like a widow, and—like the widows in India are often made to do—she shaves off her hair.
Her sexy bald head and hard-driving rhyming skills soon attract the attention of Mark, a hot older customer about the same age as her dad who frequents her parents’ store. When Mark makes his move, Rani goes with it and finds herself working with 4eva Flowin’, an underground hip hop crew. And with Mark, she finds herself doing other things she’s never done.
Rani ignores the red flags. Her naive choices look like they will undo her but ultimately give her the chance to discover her strengths and restore the things she thought she’d lost, including her mother.
"Though suffering is at the core of this debut novel, it's also about living through pain by harnessing what brings happiness. And the dip into '90s nostalgia, not to mention the awesome Rani persevering and conquering as MC Sutra—but more important, as herself—makes reading all the slam poetry well worth it."—New York Times
