Welcome to my review of Thirty Things I love about myself by Radhika Sanghani. I loved the premise of Thirty Things I Love About Myself. I was so excited to read it and delighted when NetGalley sent me the audiobook to review. But, unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as good as I was expecting. So let me tell you about it…
When Nina Mistry hits rock bottom – because no one plans to turn thirty in a prison cell – a tatty little self-help book finds its way into her hands. She doesn’t think she needs it; why would a strong, sensible Taurus like her go on a ‘life-changing journey’ to fix herself? But her inner journalist is curious. And by the time the sun comes up, she knows exactly what she needs to do . . .
‘This book will change your life . . . if you’re brave enough to let it.’
This will not be a journey for the faint-hearted, but whatever else Nina has messed up in her life, she’s never been afraid of a challenge.
’30 bold steps. One year.’
Her mother is – as always – appalled. Her brother is too depressed to care. The love of her life? He’s already moved on. And her friends . . . well, that’s another story.
But Nina has Nina.
And she’s about to find out if that’s enough.
‘It’s time for a brand new kind of love story. Are you ready?’
This is a gloriously uplifting novel for anyone who has ever had a self-worth wobble, or is watching someone they love struggle; it is for any woman who has ever failed and got herself right back up again, or whose life is veering a little off track!
We think it’s the book your best friend would recommend you start reading right now. And it might well make you radically rethink everything you know about love . . .
Radhika Sanghani is an award-winning features journalist, an influential body positivity campaigner and a 2020 BBC Writers Room graduate. Her latest novel 30 Things I Love About Myself – a warm-hearted story about a woman trying to find 30 things she loves about herself after hitting rock bottom – is out in January 2022. She has previously written two YA novels: Virgin and Not That Easy.
Radhika writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Elle, Guardian, Grazia, Glamour and Cosmopolitan; was recently featured in Italian Vogue as well BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and is a regular guest on Sky News and Good Morning Britain. She is also a TedX speaker on body positivity, a yoga teacher and runs a charity initiative with AgeUK fighting loneliness in older women.
You can find her on Instagram and Twitter.
The plot is a great idea. Nina Mistry is in her thirties and gets arrested after accidentally joining a protest. While locked up, the desk sergeant takes pity on her and gives her a book about fixing herself and living her best life. This is the book’s premise as we follow Nina through her year-long journey using the book as a guide.
I love self-help guides, people improving their lives and striving to be the best that they can be. I believe we can all improve, it’s a continuous cycle of small changes, so this was a perfect fit. I love that Nina has based her changes on a book. Still, it didn’t feel realistic that she would suddenly pick up a book and decide to change her whole life based on it instantly and work towards this for the rest of the year.
Nina lives at home with her overbearing mother, Rupa and her older brother, who is depressed. Nina is a freelance journalist and uses this book to find thirty things she loves about herself, which leads to a year of incredible highs and lows. Unfortunately, instead of her 30 years, Nina felt like a young 20-year-old through most of the book. She feels immature and naïve, and selfish initially; this did change towards the end, which was good to see and obviously part of her journey of discovery.
Nina’s mother is portrayed as conservative, uptight and overbearing. She is overly concerned about what others think of her and her family, especially how they are perceived in their Indian community. Nina’s annoyance with her mother is centred around her judgemental attitude and disappointment in her daughter. Still, instead of this being used to demonstrate an important message, Sanghani has chosen to turn her philosophy into a humourous trait which was disappointing.
The storyline following Nina’s brother was interesting and gave thought-provoking ideas about helping others with their depression. Still, it didn’t get too dark, but I wasn’t sure it realistically portrayed that journey particularly well either.
The book felt too long and drawn out for me. It could have done with being a little shorter. It felt like too many issues the author was trying to cover, which led to none being fully covered. For example, they dip into yoga, and Nina wants more brown people to teach it as yoga is an ‘Indian thing’. It felt too lightweight and not very well thought through. There was also a lot of repetition surrounding the theme of accepting your imperfections and loving yourself.
Overall, I enjoyed the idea of thirty things I love about myself more than the actual book. The premise is excellent. I love that Nina becomes more self-aware; she accepts her flaws and begins to get who she is. However, I felt it could have been more condensed, less rambling and more concise to produce a more rounded novel. Perhaps that could also explore some of the themes inside more and others less or just leave them out altogether.
I did love the idea of writing a list of what you love about yourself and a newspaper or magazine column encouraging this each month.
I did feel inspired by some of the ideas, like pushing outside your comfort zone. So many people feel stuck, and this book may be the push that inspires them to change something or try something new, which would be awesome. Still, it didn’t resonate with me, unfortunately.
| Title | Thirty Things I love about myself |
| Author | Radhika Sanghani |
| Series | N/A |
| Format | eARC |
| Page Count | 353 Pages |
| Genre | Women’s Humourous |
| Publisher | Review |
| Release Date | 20th January 2022 |
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