Save Me a Seat Literary Review Blog

    Save me a Seat is a realistic fiction story written by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan. The story mainly revolves around 2 main protagonists; Joe Sylvyster, and Ravi Suryanarayanan. In this blog I want to explore some of the deeper cultural aspects, as it is not only written by 2 entirely different cultures, but also narrated. I would also like to highlight how knowing somebody else's perspective may be helpful in understanding the full situation.

    On his first day of school, Ravi (who recently moved to America from India) sees his homeroom, which is made almost entirely of white Americans, with only 1 other Indian-American, named Dillion Samreen. At first sight, Ravi instantly knows that Dillion is an ABCD, an “American-Born Confused Desi” (which pretty much means an Indian who acts “White”). Dillion is very popular, Ravi is sure Dillion wants to be his friend, as Dillion is repeatedly winking at him. During the first few hours of school, the teacher and other kids have difficulty understanding Ravi due to his accent, and other kids make fun of him behind his back. The teacher makes Ravi meet the special help teacher due to his English (even though Ravi speaks nearly perfect English, and speaks it better than his Tamil) during lunch. He is angry as he was wanting to spend lunch with Dillion. The next day, Ravi does have the chance to sit next to Dillion. At first, Ravi thinks Dillion is being friendly, but it turns out Dillion was not actually a friend to Ravi after all; he was not only humiliated by him in public, but also stole his items and made fun of him and made him eat beef (a sin for Ravi’s religion). Ravi is confused, and hides in the restrooms for the rest of lunch.

    Joe on the other hand, is a standard American boy who has been going to this elementary school since first grade. He was diagnosed with an APD or audio processing disorder, and has difficulty with loud situations. His initial interactions with Ravi aren’t very good, as he tries to become friends with him but Ravi seems uninterested. Throughout the first couple days of school, Joe sees Ravi is oblivious to the fact that he’s being constantly made fun of, and getting robbed by Dillion. Joe wants to help him out and be his friend, but feels that this isn’t possible. He is also, and has been for his entire time at the elementary school, constantly bullied and made fun of by Dillion.

    As the story progresses, both Joe and Ravi’s parents realize school isn’t going too well for them, and they both take a day off to have talks with their parents. After this day of reflection, they both feel more prepared for the next day, when a personal reflection project is due; everybody must bring in something that represents themselves. Joe brings a singular peanut M&M, representing how people can have more layers that initially meet the eye; as Joe says it: “Most people probably think there are only three layers in a peanut M&M, but it’s not true–there are four”, and Ravi brings a can of live leeches, representing that his family has come far to get where they are, and never give up. Dillion steals Joe’s M&M, and Joe temporarily feels hopeless, until Ravi takes an M&M he had gotten earlier and gives it to Joe. Joe knows Dillion is about to steal Ravi’s leeches by the way Dillion is looking at them, so he unscrews the cap and leaves Ravi a note: BEWARE! DO NOT TOUCH THE JAR! TRUST ME. JOE. When Dillion takes them and shoves him into his pants like he usually does when stealing, he gets a surprise. He crazily runs around like a “headless chicken”, and calls his mother to take him home early.

    In conclusion, Save me a Seat is a beautifully written book that is filled with cultural diversity. Its main 2 characters have significantly different cultural heritages, but also have many not initially apparent similarities, and overcome a common goal together to become friends and stop a bully. I would 100% recommend this book to anyone interested and I encourage people to check it out!

- Alex Caesar