Kalayla, a
novel written by Jeannie Nicholas, is a story about three remarkable women. The
story presents four major themes, love, racism, gender-based violence, and
family. The novel has Kalayla, Maureen’s daughter, as the protagonist and
catalyst that brings the three women together. The first encounter Lena has
with Kalayla’s free-spirited nature is when she notices her down the street.
Somehow, Kalayla always seems to be close by. It is not only the free spirited
nature that Kalayla has that draws her attention but the sculpted features and
mannerisms her two dead sons used to have growing up.
One day, she follows
the girl to the building where she lives and discovers that she and Maureen are
tenants there. In speaking to the little girl for the first time, Lena discovers
that she has a smart mouth, a mouth that could get her in trouble if her mother
did not get her off the streets she wandered every day. This made her start an
"intervention," which made sure she was busy with some assigned work
or chores.
In doing so, she began
to wonder about Maureen’s identity and life story. The more she dug, the more
she dug up her own past and the more she became a part of their lives,
developing relationships like that of a second grandmother to Kalayla and a
mother to Maureen. The story introduces Maureen and Lena, two women from
wealthy and influential families whose decisions to marry change their lives,
either for the worse or for the better. For Maureen, "better" was
marrying a black man at a time when it was frowned upon, causing her to be
disowned by her family. For Lena, what seemed to be better but was
"worse" was marrying Joey, a violent man. The irony here is while
Lena fell in love with the man her family wanted, Maureen did not, but both end
up losing their families.
As the story
progresses, we learn about Lena’s dark past and the loss of her children, which
was the reason she was determined to save Kalayla from herself. Something she could
not do for her two sons. Though Kalayla was already a smart young woman, she needed
guidance and role models, and guiding her was like atoning for a sin. What
started as an intervention for Lena ends up being a healing journey for all
three women as secrets come out in the open and broken hearts mend while life
begins anew. While Maureen and her daughter bring color back into Lena’s life,
Lena brings peace back into Maureen and her daughter’s life. It is highlighted
when Lena starts wearing colorful clothes instead of only black and lets
Maureen paint her all-white apartment. For Maureen, "peace" is signified when she decides to paint part of
her studio white, a color that represents peace.
I enjoyed reading the
book, and have nothing but positive
things to say about it. Like how the novel takes real-life issues and forces us
to think not only about short-term decisions but also long ones regarding
family. It teaches that it takes a whole community to raise a child, signified
by how Lena’s friends and family helped to look for Kalayla when she ran away. In
addition, by how everyone was involved in the nurturing of her young mind in
one way or another. Most important of all it teaches forgiveness, how life
is too short to hold grudges.
Highly recommend reading this book because it is relatable and
leaves you with a sense of community, how we all need each other to survive.
Also, recommend the book to a young adult and adult audience except for those
who are sensitive to violence such as rape. The book deserves a rating of 4
out of 5 stars though the book has mild or borderline profanity
such as ‘’jackass’’. This book was well edited with no mistakes in grammar,
which made for smooth reading.
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