Review of Kalayla

[Harsimran Kaur 5]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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A moving story about family and motherhood, Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas revolves around three characters. Kalayla is 11 years old, biracial and somewhat of a loner, but that has never stopped her from being herself and doing what she wants. Lena is 72 years old and lives across from Kalayla. Despite being successful and self-sufficient, she is haunted by her past. The memories of her dead twin sons plague her every day. Her relationship with her other two sons has also grown distant. Kalayla’s mother, Maureen, used art as a coping mechanism to deal with her own family and trauma until her husband dies. Now she is left alone to raise a rebellious child with no support system until she meets Lena.

When Kalayla and Lena cross paths, Lena sees her as an opportunity to redeem herself by taking care of the girl, whose mother is always busy working two jobs. Kalayla is foul-mouthed and left on her own devices most of the time, and that is why Lena decides to help her out before she got herself in any huge trouble. However, when Kalayla finds the truth about her family, it turns her world upside down. What do you do when everything you’ve ever believed in comes tumbling down? The story is about discovering that family is not always blood-related, and sometimes you find your people when you least expect it.

Lena and Kalayla's relationship was the thing I adored the most about this novel. Despite their age difference, they always turned to each other for help. They had different views about things, they often had small fights but they cared about each other deeply. They always had a sarcastic banter. It was a found family novel which I like. Maureen’s POV sheds light on racial injustices and what it means to marry a black man as a white woman. Despite making many mistakes, she grew from them which made me like her character a lot. I also liked Lena’s best friend, Carlotta. She was a champ. Lena’s past was nicely handled. It was evident that she cared about the mistakes she made with her sons and tried to redeem herself through Kalayla. She has to be one of the strongest women I have ever read about, she struggled in her marriage but she didn’t let that stop her from being on the top and independent. I enjoyed that the novel was character-based rather than plot-based. It was funny and emotional at the same time. Watching Kalayla grow as a person with Lena's help, who loved and cared for her as a grandma, was satisfying and heart-warming.

The pacing was the one thing I didn’t like about it. It was all over the place, important parts were often rushed and unnecessary parts were really slow. Like it took a long time for Kalayla to find the truth about her family, and I wished we saw more of her instant reaction and feelings.

The synopsis promised a touching character-based story, and it did not disappoint. It was a moving and beautiful story set in 1999 about race, abuse, family, motherhood, and what it means to be biracial. In the end, I rated it 3 out of 4 stars. I just found the pacing to be really frustrating.

This is a book I would recommend to someone who enjoys character-based novels with lots of family drama. This one would be especially appealing to mothers. Trigger warnings for domestic abuse, emotional abuse, death of a child and death of a spouse.

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Kalayla
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[mirzamyname]

Lena sounds like an amazing character, can't wait to check this book out.

[sainigurleen14]

That sounds like a deep book.

[Harsimran Kaur 5]

Lena sounds like an amazing character, can't wait to check this book out.

She really is an amazing character, she had so much character depth!

[HARNEET SINGH CHANNA]

tales of young and old lady

[Gursanjam Singh]

The story seems to be a perfect combination of all the emotions of life. Very eager to read this novel now . Thank you for your wonderful review @@Harsimran Kaur 5