Ellie Pillai is Brown

Product Information

Faber Members get access to live and online author events and receive regular e-newsletters with book previews, promotional offers, articles and quizzes. The message was really gracefully delivered and the music really made it a unique experience for me.

Christine Pillainayagam brings humour and emotion to her debut, Ellie Pillai Is Brown, in a feel good coming-of-age gem. A beautiful tale about how those around you, especially during your fragile adolescent years, can enrich your life, shape your ambitions and ultimately, provide the love you haven’t managed to give yourself yet. Maybe it's the new boy at school who makes her brain explode into rainbows every time she sees him (and also happens to be going out with her best friend), or maybe it's her new drama teacher, the one who seems to have noticed she exists. I think reading this book definitely opened my eyes to some of the barriers that POC have, and cultural differences/barriers that are faced, which people may not even think about. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.I particularly loved Tamil representation as well as the story of Ellie Pillai, and I look forward to future works from Pillainayagam. I did like the stronger focus on friendships, family and finding yourself, though the romance was quite sweet as well, and the integration of music into the story was definitely pretty interesting. The author, Christine Pillainayagam, has written a cracking debut YA book threaded through with popular musical references which I particularly enjoyed. It also confronts what it’s like for girls of colour living in pro dominantly white area particularly in terms of self acceptance and romance, which I found again very relatable. I loved Ellie's family, including her matriarchal grandma who was so much like mine, and seeing Sri Lankan Christian rep was wonderful.

I loved the fresh and original voice of this coming of age debut, approaching big themes with a light touch. The music references totally did it for me and my music geek heart, and the main romance lowkey gave me butterflies because it was adorable and built on connecting through songs and it just made me happy. My rating might change to a 2 star because honestly, I didn't really enjoy this as much as I wanted to but there are some things I appreciated.I also liked the supporting cast of characters that Pillainayagam has created in the book as they really enhanced the story.

There was a lot of good stuff here- Eliie has a really distinct voice and the topics discussed were great. Most days, Ellie Pillai is somewhere between invisible, and not very cool - and usually she's okay with that.uk - a diary of style moments and mid-life epiphanies, firmly rooted in her experience as a brown woman. Maybe it’s the new boy at school who makes her brain explode into rainbows every time she sees him (and also happens to be going out with her best friend), or maybe it’s her new drama teacher, the one who seems to have noticed she exists. This funny, heartfelt, true-to-life, coming-of-age page-turner fizzes with emotional energy and the power of music. Ross Welford introduces Time Travelling with a Tortoise, the sequel to Time Travelling with a Hamster, and a whole new time travel adventure! I do think I started to loose interest in the middle of the book - nothing attention catching was going on.