Review of Kalayla

[Wangu Wyle L]

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

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Kalayla is a wholesome book filled with various modern-day themes that affect all of us today. Racism is chief among themes like Gender-Based Violence (GBV), Domestic abuse, sexual discrimination, homophobia, and PTSD. Jeannie Nicholas went all out in this book, addressing all these issues in an organized and coherent story.

Through this book, Jeannie Nicholas puts the reader in a page-turning trance, each page filled with raw emotions and anticipations, keeping the reader engaged and on the edge of their seat. This roller coaster of emotions then swirls the reader into a world where they get to experience the life of raising an independent, outspoken and confident little girl named Kalayla into her teenage years. It is extremely hard for the reader not to love Kalayla, who practically raised herself while her mother, Maureen, worked multiple jobs to make ends meet after the girl’s father died in a horrible car accident.

Maureen, forced to secede from her family by her mother for marrying a black man, finds herself in need of help and guidance with raising her daughter while hoarding from her a secret that could obliterate their relationship. The pair is introduced to Lena, an old lady living across the hall from their apartment. Like the family she collides with, Lena has her flaws. She is haunted by a past that compels her to bestow the wisdom she lacked in her past upon the young mother. This book is a concoction of intense emotions carefully mixed in Jeannie Nicholas’s vision glasses of the world. To find out how hard it hits the throat, I suggest you pick it up.

The first thing I liked about the book is the narration which is unique and top-notch. It is written in a diary-like format interchanging between three characters’ points of view, namely Lena, Maureen, and lastly Kalayla who connects the other two characters’ individual lives. A lot of wisdom is exchanged between the characters as they share valuable lessons and experiences provided the age difference between them. Kalayla being the youngest is 11 years old, her mother Maureen is 29 years old, and Lena is 72 years old. One of the profound lessons I picked up was a thought coming from Lena when she was consoling Maureen. It went like this “She and I both thought if we held tight to our beliefs, everything would work out fine. Now I know we can’t force people to change any more than we can force them to stay the same.” Honestly, if I were to list everything I liked about this book, we would end up with a second book made up of this review, so I think it will be easier to list what I did not like about the book.

It will be easy to list everything I disliked about the book because then there wouldn’t be a list. The book has a few typos and grammatical errors, less than four in total, but that’s about everything that adds a slight imperfection to this masterpiece. Giving this book anything less than a 4 out of 4 stars rating will bring dishonesty to my conscience, and I can’t put myself through such punishment. I nominate this book for the Book of the Year award.

I recommend this book to all kinds of readers interested in gaining insight into different view points of life. I do not recommend this book to children because of the profanity contained in it.

******
Kalayla
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[ChampagneSon]

I admire how the author merged everyday life problems in this novel to make it realistic and easy to relate with the characters. love the plot. Can't wait to get my hands on it. Thanks for the well written review.