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Bicycle Dreaming
Bicycle Dreaming
Paperback
Published January 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Mridula Koshy
8 books67 followersMridula Koshy is the author of If It Is Sweet(Tranqubar Press), a collection of short stories. If It Is Sweet won the 2009 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and was shortlisted for the 2009 Vodafone Crossword Book Prize.
She lives in New Delhi with her poet-schoolteacher partner and three exceptionally wonderful children.
She was many other things before she became a writer: a cashier at a Kentucky Fried Chicken,swap-meet sales clerk, backstage dresser at fashion shows,waitress who set a table cloth on fire, polisher of silverware in the back room for many months afterward, writing adviser, a professional advocate of multiculturalism (it was the late 80s), a painter (not of the fine arts variety), receptionist at a law firm (fired for losing phone calls), collator of tax forms, union organizer, community organizer, reading fairy at the library.
She lives in New Delhi with her poet-schoolteacher partner and three exceptionally wonderful children.
She was many other things before she became a writer: a cashier at a Kentucky Fried Chicken,swap-meet sales clerk, backstage dresser at fashion shows,waitress who set a table cloth on fire, polisher of silverware in the back room for many months afterward, writing adviser, a professional advocate of multiculturalism (it was the late 80s), a painter (not of the fine arts variety), receptionist at a law firm (fired for losing phone calls), collator of tax forms, union organizer, community organizer, reading fairy at the library.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 17, 2021
I really wanted to like this book. I did. But I failed. :-(
‘Bicycle Dreaming’ was an interesting pick for me as there isn’t too much YA in Indian fiction. But the problem with this book is that it wanted to tackle everything: relationships, young romantic love, poverty, inequalities. Koshy writes beautifully and I love her intuitive understanding of a teenager’s mind. Yet, and this is just me, I couldn’t quite read the book in any flow.
Maybe, it’s just my mind. It’s hardly the book’s fault. Some books just don’t speak to us because we aren’t ready to be spoken to. Kind of like life.
Also: That cover? What were the publishers thinking?
‘Bicycle Dreaming’ was an interesting pick for me as there isn’t too much YA in Indian fiction. But the problem with this book is that it wanted to tackle everything: relationships, young romantic love, poverty, inequalities. Koshy writes beautifully and I love her intuitive understanding of a teenager’s mind. Yet, and this is just me, I couldn’t quite read the book in any flow.
Maybe, it’s just my mind. It’s hardly the book’s fault. Some books just don’t speak to us because we aren’t ready to be spoken to. Kind of like life.
Also: That cover? What were the publishers thinking?
April 21, 2016
This is a great story for middle school readers. The plot is engaging as are the characters (although I feel ambivalent about the protagonist Noor for some reason). The story revolves around Noor whose father is a kabadiwalla and for much of the story she wants to follow in his footsteps, albeit because it would mean she'd be able to ride a bicycle. As we learn about the various difficulties that befall her family, we get some interesting insight into the life of the kabadiwalla and learn how hard it can be--how many pressures one faces from so many different directions.
July 12, 2016
Reads like a breezy bicycle ride (what I imagine that would be like, rather): wind in the hair, savouring the sights. Noor is like one of us. She has dreams that must bow down to reality, she has flaws, she is real. The story starts slow but picks up pace as you read and then draws you in and does not let go until the end. Lovely and full of heart.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews