Kamala Khan is having the typical high school experience of a first generation child of immigrants. At least the one that I have seen represented through My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Aziz Ansari in Master of None. As a grand daughter of immigrants, I got to experience the food and the holiday traditions, but otherwise had the typical middle American and middle class childhood.
However, I strongly identified with the experiences of the characters in this book. I don’t usually like to relive high school. It wasn’t terrible or amazing, it just was. I can’t even stand to rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it feels like going to a high school reunion. So I was reluctant to read another book about another teenager. but this is pretty good.
She is caught between honoring her parents values and traditions and envious of the perceived freedom of the white kids in her American high school. One night she defies her parents, sneaks out of the house and well, everything changes.
Kamala is great. She is every teenager, struggling to define herself. But she is also straddling two worlds and learning from both. Adding superpowers to the mix only serves to highlight the ordinariness of her experiences while creating a little bit of drama. I don’t know why she has to be in high school. I guess everything, even being touched by gods and acquiring superpowers needs to be seen through the lens of first kisses, first drinks and prom. Maybe I am most looking forward to Dr. Strange because there won’t be a high school math quiz anywhere near that origin story.
Ok stepping back from my old lady curmudgeon self to talk about what the book gets right. Honoring your parents and wanting to be obedient while still having to discover your own path. I hope that her parents are let into her secret in later issues and actually get to support her in being successful.
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