Review of Kalayla

[Eema Zaidi]

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

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4 out of 4 stars

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Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas is an intricate story of three women of three different generations interwoven with heavy themes of racism, family drama, abuse, and homosexuality. The story begins when Kalayla, an eleven-year-old biracial girl, along with her mother Maureen moves in across from the seventy-two-year-old widow Lena when her father passes away in an accident. Kalayla with her fiery and boisterous attitude attracts the attention of Lena, who sees in the girl her own kids and takes upon herself to protect this girl from all things bad and shelter her childhood which she was unable to do with her own kids.

With time Lena learns about the secret that Maureen has been keeping from her daughter, and helps the woman deal with this issue. The supporting characters also play a role in helping Kalayla see the true beauty and innocence of being a carefree child.

The best thing about the book is that it very naturally captures the personality and feelings of the three main characters with its alternating narrators. The changing of narratives gives the readers a very clear insight into the three characters' minds and how they struggle with their feelings and secrets. The author did an amazing job with this in respect to giving the females their own voice.

The book also shows the true of meaning of how family does not only mean having blood relations but how anyone who cares enough, can choose to be one. Just as Lena integrates herself into the lives of the mother-daughter duo. Lena sees in Kalayla her own sons. And so she tries to dress up all her past wounds and mistakes by vowing to protect Kalayla and is further pushed to face her demons in the face of all of Kalayla’s mishaps. The author also does a good job at portraying the grey characters like Maureen's mother and her brother-in-law.

The only downside to the book is that some episodes in the story leads to the same conclusion i.e. Kalayla crying and running to Lena’s leaving a crying Maureen which at a points feels predictable and becomes a little repetitive.

The work does not appear to have any flaws and is professionally edited. With all this in mind, the book definitely deserves a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book to anyone who has a taste for real-life dramas which capture life as is with grey characters.

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Kalayla
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