Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Book Review

Weighed down by a really heavy book (both in terms of actual mass and content mass) called “The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton” (don’t ask me why I read such books), I was looking for a light read that would take off some of the weight these Ivy Leagues had recently put on my shoulders. That is when a friend suggested I read “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney. What a fun read the book was, leaving a welcome breeze of lightness in its wake. A novel in cartoons, this is the story of a little guy who will remind us of our childhood, the days we hated school, the days we loved school, the pranks that backfired on us, the crazy teachers, the parents who never understood, and the little siblings who were an eternal pain in the ass. There are school friends you would never want to be seen with, yet sometimes circumstances demand that you pretend they were your best buddies. This is a typical guy book, but that would strike you odd as keeping a diary is a girly thing to do. I love the way the author has intermingled writing with illustrations. There are every possible characters you would have come across as a part of growing up- strict parents who always favor the siblings (or so you think), siblings who will never let you alone, classmates who you know are not half as smart as you are, but who are always outwitting you for some unfathomable reason. And of course there is the forbidden cheese, which no one can touch. To say less is to say more, and to say more is to take away the pleasure of reading it. If you want to revisit memories of childhood, and have often felt being wronged by friends, teachers, parents, or siblings an integral part of your growing up, you must read this book. There are a series of books written by the same author about the same wimpy kid, and I am waiting to get my hands on them.

sunshine