Review of Kalayla

[Smrithi Arun]

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

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3 out of 4 stars

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Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas is a book about three women in different walks of life and how they overcome their loneliness and tragic past by finding solitude and a family within each other. The book mainly revolves around 11-year-old Kalayla, her mother Maureen, and her old neighbor Lena.

Jeannie Nicholas has amazingly managed to convey the entire process of finding a home in people one can trust. The story beautifully proves the point that you don’t have to be related by blood to call someone a part of your family. Sometimes, formed bonds can be greater than blood bonds and can show up for you better than any of your blood relatives.

My first impression of Lena’s character was the complete opposite of how she has actually been portrayed. Within the first few pages, I assumed Lena was one of those judgmental women who don’t have peace and won’t let others be at peace. However, I later realized that Lena was concerned; she was just an absolute grandmother with adoptive instincts. To see the bond between Lena and Kalayla develop throughout the book was extremely heart-warming.

There were instances when Lena would talk to Kalayla about kindness and patience. Such scenes reminded me of my grandmother (mother’s mother) giving me the same lessons; it put a smile across my face.

Before Lena, Kalayla was just a smart-mouth, sassy kid with a lot of anger within. Maureen, Kalayla’s mother, was also pretty scattered, considering she had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, being a single mother with no other family to help. The kind of guidance Lena gives to these two lost souls not only changes their lives around and makes them more mature and responsible but, at the same time, also teaches the readers that a little bit of love, affection, and faith can go a long way.

The book also contains detailed references to racism, violence and physical abuse, sexual abuse, and rape. I strongly believe that the first page should have a trigger warning for all of the above. It could be very triggering for someone to read those scenes without any prior warning, especially because they have been explained in detail. The book also had a few grammatical errors.

Overall, I rate this book three out of four stars. Unfortunately, the missing warning and the grammatical errors cost the book one star. I would recommend this book to mature audiences, mainly because of the aforementioned reasons.

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Kalayla
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