Review of Kalayla
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Review of Kalayla
[Following is a volunteer review of "Kalayla" by Jeannie Nicholas.]
Kalayla, a magnificent realistic fiction novel, written by Jeannie Nicholas, confronts and shines a light on discrimination from various perspectives, proving that no matter the age or background, society and life can deal heavy cards to live by.
We accompany three main characters as the story unravels itself and their troubles chapter by chapter, starting as Kalayla, a bright, spunky, and rebellious eleven-year-old that accepts no rules but her own, befriends Lena, her seventy-two-year-old landlady, an amorous but conflicted character who decides to look after Kalayla as a personal goal to alleviate past mistakes. And last but not least, Maureen, Kalayla's young, artistic, if somewhat unstable, and highly dramatic mother, whose Irish origins and family obligated her to pay a high price for love.
Jeannie Nicholas presents Maureen as a single mother, who finds herself too busy juggling three jobs to be able to keep tags on such an independent and spirited child, constantly feeling motherhood is over her head, even though she possesses high illusions of a united and loving family. When Kalayla's father Jamal was present, Maureen would persistently bury herself in art projects as an escape from old memories, unable to notice how her absence would shape and mark her only daughter, whose father didn´t know how to parent and fulfill a child's needs either.
As Kalayla chooses to look into her mother´s claim about her past, a consequence of innocent curiosity due to the lack of family insights provided by her mother, she finds everything is not as it seems, and decides that Maureen is no longer a trustworthy adult, causing Kalayla to spiral downwards and turning her world inside out, as she learns how to confront reality and find forgiveness in her heart.
In the meantime, Lena does her best to guide Kalayla through all the turbulence, offering her life circumstances as examples and possible explanatory points as though why Maureen would choose to disappoint Kalayla in such a manner, providing readers a deep and sorrowful view into Lena´s hardships, being her Italian ménage and naive teenage years the reason of her resulting in a tortuous marriage with four sons and no escape, leaving few resources to survive such an ordeal and causing many oversights that would haunt her endlessly.
As the narrative unfolds, each episode is enriched with raw emotions that readers will empathize with, unable to make personal judgments on each characters' decisions throughout every chronicle. This book is most definitely not for amateur bookworms, since crude, mature violence, strong sexual content, and blasphemy are found throughout the novel, gleaming real-life nature and even the most experienced reader will find themselves touched to the core by the author´s ability to recount lifelike events.
From Kalayla's immature and sweet point of view to Maureen's noticeable tendency to drown in a glass of water and Lena's effort to balance both mother and daughter despite each being such opposites, I find Kalayla a beautiful piece of artwork where every character presents very individual personality traits that are identified in their personal backgrounds and relate to each other most uniquely and genuinely. Jeannie Nicholas has shown an outstanding story-telling talent, as life and all its complexity is woven throughout each portion of this book.
All in all, Kalayla was a pleasurable read, perhaps not as challenging as I personally like, but most definitely a memorable one!I would most recommend with a three out of four-star rating, great editing, entertaining plot twists, and witty remarks will be found among these pages!
******
Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Kalayla, a magnificent realistic fiction novel, written by Jeannie Nicholas, confronts and shines a light on discrimination from various perspectives, proving that no matter the age or background, society and life can deal heavy cards to live by.
We accompany three main characters as the story unravels itself and their troubles chapter by chapter, starting as Kalayla, a bright, spunky, and rebellious eleven-year-old that accepts no rules but her own, befriends Lena, her seventy-two-year-old landlady, an amorous but conflicted character who decides to look after Kalayla as a personal goal to alleviate past mistakes. And last but not least, Maureen, Kalayla's young, artistic, if somewhat unstable, and highly dramatic mother, whose Irish origins and family obligated her to pay a high price for love.
Jeannie Nicholas presents Maureen as a single mother, who finds herself too busy juggling three jobs to be able to keep tags on such an independent and spirited child, constantly feeling motherhood is over her head, even though she possesses high illusions of a united and loving family. When Kalayla's father Jamal was present, Maureen would persistently bury herself in art projects as an escape from old memories, unable to notice how her absence would shape and mark her only daughter, whose father didn´t know how to parent and fulfill a child's needs either.
As Kalayla chooses to look into her mother´s claim about her past, a consequence of innocent curiosity due to the lack of family insights provided by her mother, she finds everything is not as it seems, and decides that Maureen is no longer a trustworthy adult, causing Kalayla to spiral downwards and turning her world inside out, as she learns how to confront reality and find forgiveness in her heart.
In the meantime, Lena does her best to guide Kalayla through all the turbulence, offering her life circumstances as examples and possible explanatory points as though why Maureen would choose to disappoint Kalayla in such a manner, providing readers a deep and sorrowful view into Lena´s hardships, being her Italian ménage and naive teenage years the reason of her resulting in a tortuous marriage with four sons and no escape, leaving few resources to survive such an ordeal and causing many oversights that would haunt her endlessly.
As the narrative unfolds, each episode is enriched with raw emotions that readers will empathize with, unable to make personal judgments on each characters' decisions throughout every chronicle. This book is most definitely not for amateur bookworms, since crude, mature violence, strong sexual content, and blasphemy are found throughout the novel, gleaming real-life nature and even the most experienced reader will find themselves touched to the core by the author´s ability to recount lifelike events.
From Kalayla's immature and sweet point of view to Maureen's noticeable tendency to drown in a glass of water and Lena's effort to balance both mother and daughter despite each being such opposites, I find Kalayla a beautiful piece of artwork where every character presents very individual personality traits that are identified in their personal backgrounds and relate to each other most uniquely and genuinely. Jeannie Nicholas has shown an outstanding story-telling talent, as life and all its complexity is woven throughout each portion of this book.
All in all, Kalayla was a pleasurable read, perhaps not as challenging as I personally like, but most definitely a memorable one!I would most recommend with a three out of four-star rating, great editing, entertaining plot twists, and witty remarks will be found among these pages!
******
Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Killing Abel by Michael Tieman
