Reshma Kapoor is an Indian-American senior at a prestigious Silicon Valley high school where, as she says, "...I'm its number one student. Not its smartest student. Not its most beloved student. But, by the numbers, the best." To say she is not beloved is an understatement. "Once people meet me, they start to hate me." Reshma is aware but mostly unconcerned about how her drive to succeed has trumped any kind of meaningful relationships. She will stop at nothing--including lawsuits--to get where she wants: namely, Stanford University, then medical school, then a lucrative career. Seeking a hook that will lift her above the country's 31,000 other valedictorians, Reshma decides to acquire a literary agent and a book deal for a novel using her own manufactured life as material. To be able to write such a book, she needs to check some typical American girl things off her list: make a friend, go to a party, get a boyfriend and have sex. After blackmailing her drug dealer (she compulsively pops amphetamines to study) to be her friend and choosing a nice Indian guy who has a crush on her to be her boyfriend, not surprisingly, the trouble begins.
Many high school readers will recognize the intense pressure this ruthless anti-hero feels, if not her over-the-top manipulations. Moments of poignancy when one almost feels pity for Reshma will alternate with horrified awe at her cold-blooded grit. Rahul Kanakia's inventive, radically original debut Enter Title Here is not for everyone, but it will be fiercely loved by many. --Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor