Review of Kalayla

[Kezia Susan Sunny]

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

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3 out of 4 stars

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Kalayla: Jeannie Nicholas
Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas is a story that speaks about the life of two surviving wives whose past lives burdened them and now lives with the hope of a better world. Maureen Leeroyce and her daughter Kalayla Leeroyce moved into the apartment next to Lena Manero Barzetti during the summer of 1999. Kalayla, who is eleven years old, often finds everything boring and cliché. Lena appears to be a nosy "know it all" in her seventies to Kalayla at the beginning, but what they hold in between them changes as the story escalates. Maureen hid the mystery behind her parents from her daughter. She fears the day she will have to tell the truth and the heartbreak that follows. Lena on the other side of the hall mourns the death of her husband her two children even though they had passed away a long time ago. The author beautifully portrays the turn of events and the changes that happen to characters and their lives.
I like the way the author has described the lives of the two women using colours used to decorate their homes. Lena and Maureen believed that the world was fair and square, but all the unexpected events broke them. They had gone through trauma and have lost their loved ones. They understood what and how things were for each other. They were able to connect after every downs. Kalayla was a "sharp tooth" girl, always said what she wanted to say and did what she wanted to do. She acts at the spur of the moment. The story describes how the broken pieces of their lives were remoulded to new shining ones. There are parts of the story that you could relate to yourself.
Maureen took the agony in Kalayla for adjusting when she needed help and never understood how Kalayla felt at times about some things. Every problem described in the story is because of miscommunication and even by the end of the story, some things are still left unsaid, which if said would have changed the way people felt for others.
I give the book three out of four stars. It was fairly edited. It is written from multiple character perspectives.
I recommend the book to others but it does have a few incidents that depict abuse and racism. This book does not have any sexually explicit or use of alcohol and other drugs content.

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Kalayla
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