Girls Who Said Nothing and Everything

by Meera Vijayann

Meera Vijayann is a writer and essayist based in Kirkland, Washington. Her writing has appeared in Catapult, Forbes, Silk Road Review, Electric Literature and the Guardian, among others. She has received fellowships from Hugo House, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the Munk School of Global Affairs Public Policy. A staunch advocate for gender equality, she worked closely with the United Nations Foundation's +SocialGood community for several years to encourage young people to speak up against sexual violence.

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 31, 2025

Reviews

[Sridevi Nayak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Girls Who Said Nothing & Everything by @meeravijayann is one of those rare books that spoke to me. I felt like I was made to stand in front of a mirror!

I resonated with this book more deeply than I expected. So many of Meera’s childhood experiences felt uncannily similar to mine that I found myself pausing, annotating, writing tiny notes on margins as an ode to the author. Pages and pages had direct parallels between her emotional landscape and my own growing years.

The epilogue deserves a separate love letter. It is powerful, brave, and profoundly kind, an expansive, and universal one. I loved it so much that I actually read the epilogue soon after finishing reading a couple of pages. I held the book against my heart. It’s the kind of ending that moves you.

This book is also one of the best gifts I’ve ever received from a dear one — made even more special because I have a personalised, author-signed copy. Thank you Preetham Anna and The Bookworm for that! @preethambookworm
@thebookworm_blr

In the 11 chapters of the essay, Meera takes us through the tangled, tender, and often painful terrain of navigating self-discovery, shame, love, and longing within a dysfunctional family of the ’90s. She is candid, humorous, and unflinchingly honest in her storytelling. Through her, we see how deep generational trauma can run, what it takes to finally cut those cords. What it means to be from "backward class caste" and how she is determined to not lose her voice!

Her reflections on parental discord, the desire to be seen, loved, understood, and validated aren’t just personal truths. They are layers that exist in every human being, waiting to be acknowledged.

Powerful, and relatable, this book left me feeling understood in ways I wished before beginning it. Absolutely worth my time!

[Preez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this simple and easy read about a South-Indian girl.

[Pranjal Kulkarni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book uncomfortable to read, largely as it unearthed skeletons of some relatable experiences as a young Indian woman. That said, the work is exceptional in its honesty and vulnerability, if not in its writing. The book is a memoir, and the boldness of it deserves credit where it is due. But I expected more from the storytelling. I feel that the author missed the opportunity to narrate and for stronger writing, because the subject, 'Indian woman growing up in the never addressed Tier 2' was powerful enough to hold the reader. I don't know to what degree were the stories real/fictionalized. While the author revealed some very deep and personal memories from her past, the later chapters felt as veiled and rushed, where I personally would have wanted to find a friend through her words and journey. for the impact it had on me, I will compare it to the likes of Educated by Tara Westover or even Persepolis. But the impact is for its very personal relatability and nothing more.

[Mikami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was deeply nostalgic and took me back to my own boarding school days. It’s also incredibly thought-provoking, reminding us how often we take things for granted, surrender too quickly, or accept the world as it is, when every small voice actually has the power to create change.
The story explores grief, rage, and the confusion of growing up as a girl with “privilege,” while also making us question whether what we call privilege is simply a consequence of the bar being set painfully low.

[archana · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 and nothing else.