Review of Kalayla
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Review of Kalayla
Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas is a fiction book that will barely go out of style. It revolves around the lives of three women: Kalayla, Maureen, and Lena, who battle with different real life issues. The protagonist is the 11-year-old Kalayla. She is introverted, rude, and untamed and lives with her single mother Maureen. Lena is a 72-year-old widow and is the proprietor to Maureen’s house and opposite door neighbor. The main themes are racism, loss and grief, relationships, and Gender Based Violence.
Maureen’s life is thrown off the balance when her husband dies and is left with responsibilities. She gets depressed but her in-laws take care of her until they cannot help anymore. It is at this point that Maureen collects herself and moves to a smaller house and gets two jobs to take care of her daughter. She is quite occupied leaving Kalayla to herself most often than not, making her question her parenting skills. Their relationship is strained. Kalayla wanders the streets a lot trying to find something to keep her busy and it is in the process that she meets with Lena. Lena tries to find out more about the little girl in order to be her guide but Kalayla feels that her privacy is being intruded; she is lost but does not know it. Lena is still grieving the loss of her husband, twin sons, and two estranged sons whilst praying for a second chance to be a better parent. Will she get one? Will Kalayla and her mother have a good relationship? Can Maureen be a good parent?
I dote on this book for a number of reasons. For one, it is engrossing as I found it difficult to put the book down after I started reading it. I genuinely wanted to know what was happening with every character. Secondly, I enjoy a read where the author connects with readers, which I experienced with this book. I felt sorry for Lena, Compassion for Maureen and love for Kalayla. Thirdly, I love having a subject looked at from different angles and the author used three different perspectives to tell the story. Finally, I applaud the author for handling such intense issues in a way that made their comprehension light. I enjoyed reading Kalayla however, I felt let down for one reason. I would have liked to see more development on the violence and racism than Jeannie Nicholas portrayed
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I rate the read a 4 out of 4 stars because I loved more aspects than I disliked. In addition, the book is exceptionally edited and in a professional manner as I found no errors.
A recommendation is to the young adults and family lovers. It contains a lot of profanity so those who dislike such should consider before delving in to it.
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Kalayla
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