Product Description

The story of nine-year-old Meena, the daughter of the only Punjabi family in the Midlands' mining village of Tollington. The novel provides a vision of British childhood in the 1960s, a childhood caught between two cultures, each on the brink of enormous change.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44988 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From the Publisher
Special edition of this bestselling classic, to tie in with the release of a major new film of Anita and Me. The film stars Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kathy Burke and Meera Syal herself.

About the Author
Meera Syal is a writer, actress, playwright, comic and novelist. She wrote the screenplays for the films Bhaji on the Beach and the multi-award-winning My Sister Wife. Her TV work includes 3 BBC hit series, The Real McCoy, The Kumars at No 42 and Goodness Gracious Me. She scripted the musical Bombay Dreams, which opened this summer in London. Anita and Me, her first novel, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize.

Customer Reviews

compelling cultural cookery........A must read......
As someone that grew up in a small rural village in the countryside in the 70's and 80's, this book brings a lot of memories flooding back. Although not from an asian family, there were many comparisons to be made, as where we lived we were "different" to those around us at the time. This work is a masterpiece of playing on the readers childhood memories, our perceptions of things as they were when we were kids, and also tackles some serious issues surrounding racism, the clashes of cultures and how precarious childhood friendships really are....
Syal's incisive wit is very evident in this work, in a very amusing, laugh out loud on the tube manner, her hidden "comebacks" on things such as the name of some paint, how culturally bereft some people are and the odd in joke in Punjabi (thanks to my translating friends!) and oh yes the farting belching grandmother over from India really do make this work a very enjoyable read.........

To be honest, if books like this were being read in schools today, then the world would be a better place maybe? This is readable by people of any age to be honest....

An absolute must read.........Meera, if ya reading this, a sequal please?

As for other comments about the ending from other reviews, i personally believe once again its very apt......

M

Very Resonant!
This is a very amusing, accurate and clever insight into life as a child in the seventies. I feel that Meera Syal captures exactly how it felt to be an Indian family member in a predominantly white neighbourhood, yet still maintaining the fears, experiences and changes that many girls have to tackle as they approach adolescence. I read "Life is not all Ha Ha Hee Hee" and felt a totally different angle is needed to approach Anita and Me to appreciate the richness of the author's writing in both novels. Money well spent on this novel I think!

Stunning and laugh out loud!
I read this at fifteen and was totally stunned- I love how the 10 year old narrator sees her world and has a unique take on seemingly mundane events of her life! It also made me laugh out loud- Syal in her writing, knows how to have a laugh. In reference to the reviewer who taught this in his class- if any book is taught in a classroom people are inevitably going to find fault with it- this shouldn't detract from how worthwhile this book is. The story as a whole works very well and rather than the main character seeming being too old for her age- what struck me is how the author paints such an accurate picture of a ten year old- who sees the world without the moral scruples of an adult- she falls prey to the normal temptations children succomb to and is a refreshingly honest antidote to the usual "innocent-bystander" way many books narrate childhood. The decisions she makes and the way she deals with her life is just an example of the way kids have more insight than adults give them credit for. Its entertaining, thought provoking and funny. If you have any imagination and a sense of humour you'll love it. Im just sorry Im not reading it again for the first time.