Review of Kalayla
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David Okutoyi
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- Latest Review: Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas
Review of Kalayla
[Following is a volunteer review of "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.]
Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas is an amazing book. The book is in such a way that the story is three-sided. This is a story of three beautiful ladies, one of whom is a little girl, Kalayla, her mother Maureen, and the old lady, Mrs. Lena Manero Barzetti. Maureen is Irish and her parents are so vested in giving her the kind of future that parents desire for their kids just to ensure their reputation remains intact and their power grows. Her mother has everything worked out, including the white guy that Maureen would get married to. This doesn’t really work out because Maureen falls in love with an amazing black man, Jamal. This is the kind of love that causes Maureen's mother to disown her for good and wants nothing to do with her. Actually, the whole family seems to want nothing to do with Maureen. All through her entire struggle, discrimination, and pain, her family doesn’t come to her rescue. Together with her husband, Maureen lives a nice happy life and is fortunate to have an awesome baby girl called Kalayla. After a while, Jamal dies in a crash and things are never the same for Maureen and Kalayla, but they slowly transition, and with the help of the old lady, Lena, life is a bit better and bearable, even for little Kalayla who is very mischievous, more of a loner and very abusive at first. The old lady becomes a friend to Maureen and more like a grandmother to Kalayla.
Kalayla has lots of positive aspects. For one, there are a lot of lessons I got to learn about discrimination and how it makes one feel. Maureen being a victim of discrimination for dating a black man undergoes a lot of pain and struggle, but she works her way around it and chooses to focus on things in her control. Her strength is impeccable, and this is the kind of strength that if anyone has, they may not be easily brought down or give in to society’s demands especially if they don’t agree with them. Additionally, the book was written in such a way that three different people gave their sides of the story and I could easily feel how they felt. This was an important lesson. It became clear that people don’t really see eye to eye and they can therefore be misinterpreted, misunderstood, or ignored because of the assumptions we make. For this reason, it’s clear that giving people room to give their opinions and thoughts is a commendable deed. Looking at the old lady, she underwent hell at the hands of her husband, and apparently, no one knew. Out there, everyone praised the guy and said he was a really good man. This is similar to life happenings. People do lots of evil to others but still, a bunch of other people praise them and view them as good people, maybe because they’ve only seen the good side. This showed me that speaking up would be a noble deed, yes the price to be paid may be hefty, but it is a relief to get stuff off your chest than keep it in for more than 30 years as Mrs. Lena did. There was a lot of humour in the book as well. All the three ladies are funny, especially Kalayla. That child might be an adult trapped in a small girl’s body. She really made me enjoy reading the book. Her way of reasoning is so funny and she is a smart-mouth. I was always scared she might get herself in trouble with that mouth of hers, and for the most part she actually did.
I didn’t see any negative aspects in the book. It had such an incredible flow and was very interesting.
As for the rating, I give Kalayla 3 out of 4 and that’d be because the book didn’t seem to be professionally edited. Some few sentences were a bit hard to comprehend, but either way, I got the whole story in my fingertips in the long run.
I would recommend the book to anyone who loves reading, anyone who enjoys a good laugh, anyone who’d want to really know what it’s like to be abandoned by family, or who just wants to hear and feel something different from the normal. I assure you this book has that and more. You will pause in the middle of it just to imagine how the different characters in the book are feeling at that particular moment.
******
Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas is an amazing book. The book is in such a way that the story is three-sided. This is a story of three beautiful ladies, one of whom is a little girl, Kalayla, her mother Maureen, and the old lady, Mrs. Lena Manero Barzetti. Maureen is Irish and her parents are so vested in giving her the kind of future that parents desire for their kids just to ensure their reputation remains intact and their power grows. Her mother has everything worked out, including the white guy that Maureen would get married to. This doesn’t really work out because Maureen falls in love with an amazing black man, Jamal. This is the kind of love that causes Maureen's mother to disown her for good and wants nothing to do with her. Actually, the whole family seems to want nothing to do with Maureen. All through her entire struggle, discrimination, and pain, her family doesn’t come to her rescue. Together with her husband, Maureen lives a nice happy life and is fortunate to have an awesome baby girl called Kalayla. After a while, Jamal dies in a crash and things are never the same for Maureen and Kalayla, but they slowly transition, and with the help of the old lady, Lena, life is a bit better and bearable, even for little Kalayla who is very mischievous, more of a loner and very abusive at first. The old lady becomes a friend to Maureen and more like a grandmother to Kalayla.
Kalayla has lots of positive aspects. For one, there are a lot of lessons I got to learn about discrimination and how it makes one feel. Maureen being a victim of discrimination for dating a black man undergoes a lot of pain and struggle, but she works her way around it and chooses to focus on things in her control. Her strength is impeccable, and this is the kind of strength that if anyone has, they may not be easily brought down or give in to society’s demands especially if they don’t agree with them. Additionally, the book was written in such a way that three different people gave their sides of the story and I could easily feel how they felt. This was an important lesson. It became clear that people don’t really see eye to eye and they can therefore be misinterpreted, misunderstood, or ignored because of the assumptions we make. For this reason, it’s clear that giving people room to give their opinions and thoughts is a commendable deed. Looking at the old lady, she underwent hell at the hands of her husband, and apparently, no one knew. Out there, everyone praised the guy and said he was a really good man. This is similar to life happenings. People do lots of evil to others but still, a bunch of other people praise them and view them as good people, maybe because they’ve only seen the good side. This showed me that speaking up would be a noble deed, yes the price to be paid may be hefty, but it is a relief to get stuff off your chest than keep it in for more than 30 years as Mrs. Lena did. There was a lot of humour in the book as well. All the three ladies are funny, especially Kalayla. That child might be an adult trapped in a small girl’s body. She really made me enjoy reading the book. Her way of reasoning is so funny and she is a smart-mouth. I was always scared she might get herself in trouble with that mouth of hers, and for the most part she actually did.
I didn’t see any negative aspects in the book. It had such an incredible flow and was very interesting.
As for the rating, I give Kalayla 3 out of 4 and that’d be because the book didn’t seem to be professionally edited. Some few sentences were a bit hard to comprehend, but either way, I got the whole story in my fingertips in the long run.
I would recommend the book to anyone who loves reading, anyone who enjoys a good laugh, anyone who’d want to really know what it’s like to be abandoned by family, or who just wants to hear and feel something different from the normal. I assure you this book has that and more. You will pause in the middle of it just to imagine how the different characters in the book are feeling at that particular moment.
******
Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas
