How would you fare in a test of friendship? How far would you go for your friends? Are you even a good friend? These are questions many youngsters (and perhaps oldsters as well) are often called upon to answer some time or another in their lives. In Subhadra Sen Gupta’s The Secret Diary of the World’s Worst Friend, these very questions are asked and answered.
Framed within the question of friendship, this young adult novel also examines social privilege and the complexities therein:
There is no doubt that we have a generation of kids growing up in air-conditioned comfort, ensconced in their bubble of entitlement, blissfully unaware of the battles most of their contemporaries have to overcome just to get basic education, not to mention food and shelter. It is also true that there are some excellent government schools churning out solid future citizens. And there is little doubt that, like [the protagonist’s] father, most of us do subscribe to the ‘better class of people’ concept. (Goodbooks.in)
Some interesting questions are asked in this novel by one of India’s veteran children’s authors. Read my full review at Goodbooks.in.
~PD