How 'Opal,' 'Princess' compare
Parallels between Meg Cabot's ''The Princess Diaries" and Kaavya Viswanathan's ''How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life"
''The Princess Diaries," p. 127:
Meanwhile, Paulo was picking up chunks of my hair and making this face and going, all sadly, ''It must go. It must all go."
And it went. All of it. Well, almost all of it. I still have some like bangs and a little fringe in back.
''Opal Mehta," p. 57:
The whole time, Frederic (I wondered if anyone dared call him Freddie) kept picking up long strands of my hair and making sad faces. ''It must go," he said. ''It must all go."
And it went. Not all of it, because after four inches vanished, I started making panicked, whimpering sounds that touched even Frederic's heart . . .
''The Princess Diaries," p. 128:
And it is sort of hard when all these beautiful, fashionable people are telling you how good you'd look in this and how much that would bring out your cheekbones . . . And I kept telling myself, She's only doing this because she loves you . . .
''Opal Mehta," p. 58:
In my defense, it was hard to be uptight and prickly while surrounded by beautiful, fashionable people all telling me how good I'd look in that shade and what this color would do to enhance my cheekbones. And I kept telling myself, it was all for HOWGAL. Harvard was worth it.
''The Princess Diaries," p. 129:
Well, I for one will not stand for it. There isn't a single inch of me that hasn't been pinched, cut, filed, painted, sloughed, blown dry, moisturized. I even have fingernails.
But I am not happy . . . Because I don't look a thing like Mia Thermopolis. Mia Thermopolis never had fingernails. . . . Mia Thermopolis never wore makeup or Gucci shoes or Chanel shirts or Christian Dior bras. I don't even know who I am anymore . . . She's turning me into someone else.
''Opal Mehta," p. 59
Every inch of me had been cut, filed, steamed, exfoliated, polished, painted, or moisturized. I didn't look a thing like Opal Mehta. Opal Mehta didn't own five pairs of shoes so expensive they could have been traded in for a small sailboat. She didn't wear makeup or Manolo Blahniks or Chanel sunglasses or Habitual jeans or La Perla bras . . . I was turning into someone else.
