Rootless

Written By Linda Malek

Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah

Reviewed by Linda
📗📗📗📗

Thank you @boroughpress for this copy! I cannot wait for more people to read this when it's out in March 2023.

Sam and Efe are a couple always destined to be together. From the moment they meet as teens, to the moment they marry and start a family. But there are always cracks underneath the surface and regrets lurking in the shadows that they choose to ignore. The story just shows you that sometimes even the strongest of love isn't enough to overcome fate. Rootless also serves as a lesson in speaking up no matter the situation.

The British/Ghanaian representation in this novel felt spot on as Efe tackles her early adulthood in London and battles with her family's expectations of her and comparisons to her dutiful sister who takes the traditional route in life. Sam is the anchor that keeps Efe grounded but there is always something that unsettles her. A successful lawyer, he knows what he wants for himself and for Efe - the vision of his family unit is crystal clear in his mind. For Efe, happiness is her and Sam and the gallery that she runs.  
 
The author doesn't just examine Sam and Efe, there is a whole host of supporting characters who lend themselves to the story. I loved each of the parts that they played.

Things take a turn for the worse when Efe becomes a mother to their first child. The author describes motherhood and postnatal depression so well, both mentally and physically. I appreciated how the author carefully depicted the difficulty and sacrifice that women make in order to have kids, especially those without nearby family support, Efe's entire family is in Ghana and Sam is working 24/7.
There are plenty of themes explored in this novel but none feel overdone or thrown in for the sake of being dramatic or relevant.
Each topic has its place and I guarantee that you won't predict the ending. Already a 2023 favourite!

Linda Malek

I've always had the urge to set up a forum and voice my thoughts after each read, but never had the confidence to do so alone. 18 months ago, I got my fellow book-loving friends involved and formed The Candid Book Club! Aside from having an exponentially growing to-read pile and deteriorating shortsightedness, we've been lucky to have been invited to publisher events and have attended several talks with our favourite authors (Thank you and long may they continue!) To take a break from the pressures of PhD Chemistry, Jess and I exchanged books all the time and in my youth, I was that kid with the first editions of Harry Potter having already read Gulliver’s travels and some Charles Dickens. At work, my desk is a library and luckily for me I sit next to another bookworm Jack who entertains all the photo-taking. I'm suffering from a chronic case of wanderlust (age-related crisis) so books which are set as far away from home as possible tend to float my boat: Middle East, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Asia...you name it. But if it's got anything to do with Egypt then I'm all over it. So you get the drift...I read all the time, everywhere (on the tube mostly), everyday, a book a week, and very quickly I'm onto the next! And then sometimes there is a book that stops me in my tracks, makes me want to swallow the pages whole, and have it next to me at all times, with some sentences staying with me forever: Shantaram by David Gregory Roberts, anything by Khaled Hosseini, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo (absolute gem of a woman), A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shuklaand and anything by Naguib Mahfouz.

Previous

The Heron’s Cry
Next

We Are All Birds of Uganda