bookshy: Interracial love/relationships

Just in time for Valentine's Day, is Precious Reuben's romance novel, Treasure of Mine.

Stella has just returned to Lagos after many years in Canada to introduce her new boyfriend, Nick, to her family. There's just one problem - he's white and her father is kinda-sorta racist. Like a lot of Nigerian fathers he believes his daughter should be with a Nigerian man and preferably one from the same ethnic group. Nick, is successful, wealthy, and handsome working in the diamond industry (his grandfather started his own jewellery company) in Canada, but his wealth doesn't impress Chief Ndube, Stella's father, who can't see past the colour of his skin.

Interracial relationships at the best of times can be difficult, and although Nick and Stella love each other, while in Nigeria a secret is revealed of an ultimate betrayal decades ago which makes Chief Ndube dislike Nick even more than he already does. This of course affects Nick and Stella's relationship. Added to that is Obike, Stella's childhood friend, who has been in love with her forever, and Nick's father who tests his allegiance with the family business. Will Nick and Stella survive her father's disdain for him? Will they choose their family, and their family's business, over their love? Or will Obike finally get Stella - the love of his life?

I don't generally tend to read romance novels, and I might have said it a while back that Myne Whitman's A Heart to Mend was my first foray into the genre and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I found Treasure of Mine easy to read and I did enjoy the fact that it was about an interracial couple. Also Chief Ndube's reaction to Nick, probably isn't dissimilar to the way a Nigerian father might react to his child bringing home someone of a different race. I did wonder how her father would have reacted if she not only brought home a Canadian, but also one who wasn't wealthy. While I did enjoy reading it, and I did wonder as I kept on reading who she would end up with, I have to say there were way too many coincidences for my liking.

If romance is your genre of choice, and you want to find out what happens between Nick, Stella and Obike,Treasure of Mine will be available from February 14. I'd also like to say a big thank you to Precious Reuben for sending me a copy to read.

3 out of 5 stars.

12:31 No Comments

I read this book after a recommendation from Amy on my post on African Fiction and Interracial Love/Relationships. Luckily, I found a copy on my sister's shelf, so I curled up on the sofa, as ~~NEPA~~ (sorry PHCN) was doing its usual not giving any power/light and decided to read In Dependence.

In Dependence tells the story of Tayo Ajayi, a Nigerian man who gets a scholarship to study at Oxford in the 1960s, and Vanessa Richardson, the daughter of an ex-colonial officer. While it is a story of their love which spans from 1963 to 1998, it's way more than that. It's also a story about Nigeria, its independence and the changes that occur in the country post-independence - the Biafran war, the first coup and the numerous countercoups, military dictatorships, the brief return to civilian rule, exile of Nigerians, and towards the end of the book the eventual return to democracy. There are also issues of race, racism and cultural differences. We see Tayo, Vanessa, as well as a host of other characters, live their lives amidst all these issues.

Tayo is an intelligent man but he always seems to do wrong. He tries to do the right thing, never wants to hurt anyone but in the end he does, especially the women in his life - and there are quite a number of women in his life that he hurts. Vanessa, on the other hand, dreams of being a journalist writing on African issues, marrying Tayo and moving with him to Nigeria to start a new life. Unfortunately life gets in the way and a host of things prevent most of her dreams from coming true. She does end up living one of her dreams - being a world renowned journalist on African issues. Tayo and Vanessa end up living their lives independent of each other but no matter what they did, and where they were, the thoughts and love they had for each other lingered on (even though the other didn't necessarily know). I guess love really does stand the test of time.

A side note, or more of an observation. This is the second novel about interracial love/relationships that I have read that spans decades and is divided into parts - the other was The Boy Next Door. I guess it's an interesting way to show the trajectory of people's love. I don't know! What I do know is that this was a beautiful read and one I would definitely recommend.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

12:44 4 Comments

The Boy Next Door, Irene Sabatini's debut novel, is a love story set in Zimbabwe. It's divided into 4 parts, starting in the early 1980s and ending in the late 1990s.

Part One (1980s) - The boy next door, seventeen year old Ian Mckenzie, has been arrested for setting his stepmother on fire. It is here we meet fourteen year old Lindiwe Bishop. In the midst of a country transforming (from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe), Lindiwe is fascinated by the (white) boy next door. Lindiwe herself is 'coloured' (mixed race) - her mother black and father colored. In between her fascination with Ian, we read about her family life (her parents loveless marriage, her war vet uncle) and her school life (her experience of being one of the few 'coloreds' in an all-white school, the one friend she makes in the school, Brigette) in Bulawayo, the second city in Zimbabwe. Less than two years after the book begins, the charges are dropped, Ian is released and an unlikely friendship develops between Lindiwe and Ian. At this point in the book I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the characters. Ian said what he wanted and how he felt while Lindiwe was shy, sensitive, and introverted.

Part Two (Early 1990s) - We meet Lindiwe again, 5 or 6 or 7 years later, she's now in university and Ian is a photojournalist working in South Africa. They kept in touch over the years and meet again in Harare. Despite the length of time apart, those feelings are still there. Ian is also still the same - he says what he wants and how he feels and Lindiwe, while slightly more outspoken than her younger self, is still very much introverted and still in awe of Ian. It is in this part, we discover a secret that Lindiwe has been keeping for years, but one I am not going to spill as it changes the tone of the book, as well as Lindiwe and Ian's relationship.

Part Three (Mid1990s) and Part Four (Late 1990s) is where I really began to start enjoying the book. Ian and Lindiwe are now sort of together (although they never refer each other as being each other's partners) and other secrets are revealed. In between their love story, Irene Sabatini also keeps us in the loop of the changes Zimbabwe has experienced during this time - the politics, the changing economy, the military, the racial violence, and what it's like to be 'colored'. It is hard to write about the second half of the book without giving too much away but in this part we not only see Zimbabwe changing, but also Lindiwe and Ian, both individually and as a couple.

I love the way Irene Sabatini writes about Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city. I have never been to Zimbabwe, and if I'm honest until I read this book I only really knew about Harare. Her depiction of Bulawayo gave me an insight into what it must have been like in the years the book was set. I also love how some Zimbawean (or maybe Southern African) phrases are interjected into the book without any need for translation, such as lekker (which I believe might mean cool) and lightie (which I believe means young/young person).

The one thing that simultaneously frustrated and made me smile was Ian and Lindiwe's relationship. I wasn't too sure about Lindiwe or Ian initially - I liked them, I didn't like them; I liked Lindiwe, I didn't like Ian; and then I liked Ian but I didn't like Lindiwe. As I read, and the characters began to develop and I got to know them more, I realised that these are just two people, with differing points of views in a racially divided society, trying to have a relationship. They are flawed, but who isn't; and their relationship isn't perfect, but whose is. Yet, they manage to be together in their racially divided, politically charged world.

My review is a bit longer than usual, but that's because the book is quite long and covers a lot. Despite its length (it's about 400 pages) and the different issues it covers, it is so simple in its complexity. It was also surprisingly quick to read.

It took me a while, but I grew to love this book and would definitely recommend it.

4 out of 5 stars.

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