Review of Kalayla
Posted: 01 Aug 2022, 04:56
[Following is a volunteer review of "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.]
Consider how you would feel if you were to find out that the most important fact that you believe in and hold on to in your life is only a big lie. And what more, if the liar is someone you trust and love very much. In reality, we often realize that a lie usually hurts much more than the actual truth. Kalayla is a fictional and humorous novel that covers the life of a young half-caste named Kalayla. Her mother, Maureen was disowned by her family and deserted by her only friend for going against their wishes to choose a partner outside their own race. Maureen who then saw how adamant her family were in forgiving and admitting her back even after the passage of so many years, decided to lie about their existence to her young inquisitive daughter Kalayla. This indeed silenced all of her inquisitiveness about her maternal family.
After the death of Kalayla's black dad Jamal, Maureen and her daughter decided to move into a new apartment. With her paternal relatives so far away, and her maternal relatives not even in view, Kalayla found a grandmother figure in a seventy-two years old Lena Manero, who was also their landlady. It wasn't just Kalayla alone who bonded with Lena, her mom Maureen as well. But Lena is so secretive, and seems to know alot about Maureen's past. Does Lena mean well for both Kalayla and Maureen? Will Kalayla eventually find out about her mother's deceit? What impact will finding out the truth have on her relationship with her mom? Find out for yourself in this thrilling novel.
Kalayla is a very humourous character, Lena as well. They both speak in a funny way to each other that I couldn't help most times but to chuckle whenever I was reading the narrative from their points of view. I must admit I really had a great time with this novel. The characters were so well developed, both the major and minor characters. I didn't have a hard time following the story up, as the author used a rare and commendable style of writing (that is, mentioning the names of the characters above each heading) such that it was easy to know from whose point of view the narrative was flowing at each point in time. I also enjoyed the suspenseful way the story was flowing. It was not easy to predict the next line of action of each character and there, lied the excitement and I just kept being pulled deeper and deeper into the book till its very last page.
I didn't like the fact that most of the major characters of the novel were so flawed. Kalayla for instance, was portrayed as a Smart mouthed rude girl. She also spoke and acted in ways I thought were too matured and extreme for a girl her age. I didn't also like the racial discrimination by Maureen's family. I was really agitated and felt they had crossed the line, when they disowned their own daughter for such a trivial issue as choosing a black skinned partner. There was a combined usage of profane, vulgar, slangs and obsolete words all through the novel, including a few violent scene/description, There was only a single case of a slight sexual description and one usage of a old-fashioned word. I found few typographical errors, hence my reason for holding back a star from my rating of this book. Therefore, I rate Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas 3 out of 4 stars.
I recommend this novel to lovers of fictional novels, also to young adults and those who are checking up for a good book to lighten up their mood. I assure you that Kalayla is just the right humor packed novel you need. I do recommend this book also to adults: parents, potential parents, single parents and non-parents alike. I bet you, that this book will provide you with helpful tips on how to handle your growing adolescents especially the difficult and heady ones.
******
Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Consider how you would feel if you were to find out that the most important fact that you believe in and hold on to in your life is only a big lie. And what more, if the liar is someone you trust and love very much. In reality, we often realize that a lie usually hurts much more than the actual truth. Kalayla is a fictional and humorous novel that covers the life of a young half-caste named Kalayla. Her mother, Maureen was disowned by her family and deserted by her only friend for going against their wishes to choose a partner outside their own race. Maureen who then saw how adamant her family were in forgiving and admitting her back even after the passage of so many years, decided to lie about their existence to her young inquisitive daughter Kalayla. This indeed silenced all of her inquisitiveness about her maternal family.
After the death of Kalayla's black dad Jamal, Maureen and her daughter decided to move into a new apartment. With her paternal relatives so far away, and her maternal relatives not even in view, Kalayla found a grandmother figure in a seventy-two years old Lena Manero, who was also their landlady. It wasn't just Kalayla alone who bonded with Lena, her mom Maureen as well. But Lena is so secretive, and seems to know alot about Maureen's past. Does Lena mean well for both Kalayla and Maureen? Will Kalayla eventually find out about her mother's deceit? What impact will finding out the truth have on her relationship with her mom? Find out for yourself in this thrilling novel.
Kalayla is a very humourous character, Lena as well. They both speak in a funny way to each other that I couldn't help most times but to chuckle whenever I was reading the narrative from their points of view. I must admit I really had a great time with this novel. The characters were so well developed, both the major and minor characters. I didn't have a hard time following the story up, as the author used a rare and commendable style of writing (that is, mentioning the names of the characters above each heading) such that it was easy to know from whose point of view the narrative was flowing at each point in time. I also enjoyed the suspenseful way the story was flowing. It was not easy to predict the next line of action of each character and there, lied the excitement and I just kept being pulled deeper and deeper into the book till its very last page.
I didn't like the fact that most of the major characters of the novel were so flawed. Kalayla for instance, was portrayed as a Smart mouthed rude girl. She also spoke and acted in ways I thought were too matured and extreme for a girl her age. I didn't also like the racial discrimination by Maureen's family. I was really agitated and felt they had crossed the line, when they disowned their own daughter for such a trivial issue as choosing a black skinned partner. There was a combined usage of profane, vulgar, slangs and obsolete words all through the novel, including a few violent scene/description, There was only a single case of a slight sexual description and one usage of a old-fashioned word. I found few typographical errors, hence my reason for holding back a star from my rating of this book. Therefore, I rate Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas 3 out of 4 stars.
I recommend this novel to lovers of fictional novels, also to young adults and those who are checking up for a good book to lighten up their mood. I assure you that Kalayla is just the right humor packed novel you need. I do recommend this book also to adults: parents, potential parents, single parents and non-parents alike. I bet you, that this book will provide you with helpful tips on how to handle your growing adolescents especially the difficult and heady ones.
******
Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon