A delightfully funny collection of essays by the Indian-American actor, Kunal Nayyar, who plays the loveable, sincere yet incurably dorky character Raj in The Big Bang Theory.
In this revealing book, Kunal Nayyar traces his journey from a nervous little boy in New Delhi who mistakes an awkward first kiss for a sacred commitment, gets nosebleeds chugging Coca-Cola to impress the other students at his all-boys school to the confident guy on the set of one of television's most-watched shows who one day eve gets to kiss the woman of his childhood dreams: Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years.
Throughout, Kunal introduces us to the people who helped him grow, chief among them his slick moustachioed father. From his father, Kunal learned the most important lessons of life: treat a beggar as you would a king. There are two sides to every story. A smile goes a long way. And, when in doubt, use a spreadsheet.
Full of heart, but never taking itself too seriously, this is a coming-of-age story about a young man trying to find his place in between cultures, growing into himself as a person and a performer, and of the many embarrassing incidents that somehow miraculously prepared him to land the role that would make his career.
Reviewing a memoir/auto-biography is just weird…it sort of blurs the line of the “don’t bring the author’s personal life into a review” rule that I have. How do you review a book that is solely based on a person’s life? I mean what if you hated it? Awkward….I suppose it’s a good thing I enjoyed the stories Kunal had to tell.
I used to watch Big Bang Theory during the first 3 seasons, but sort of fell out of love with it (for reasons I won’t touch on here). However I had two favorite characters, Sheldon and Kuthrapali, and while I know a bit about Jim Parsons I realized I didn’t know anything about Kunal. Yes, My Accent is Real is more of a collection of stories from throughout his life rather than an A to Z type novel, and it’s definitely a good selection! Each of the stories pin points an important part of Kunal’s life, for whatever reason, each injected with some humor and plenty of hindsight commentary. I loved getting to know more about each of the Indian festivals on a personal level, but I think my favorite section was his wedding. There is one chapter though that talks about his dad’s love of outdoor stores that got the biggest smile of me though.
It’s a fairly quick read, and most of the stories only last a few pages so it was pretty easy to breeze through it in a couple of sittings. It still feels weird to critique someone’s life story, but I will say it’s well written and Kunaal is really easy to relate to even if he is famous.
I’m glad I’m getting back into non-fiction, it’s been a long time since I’ve read so many in such a short period but it’s been a welcomed change so far.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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11 January, 2016:
Finished reading
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11 January, 2016:
Reviewed