About a month ago I read this book and I totally forgot to write about it. Now, I barely remember the things I wanted to talk about but let me try.
I read Not Just Another Interlude by Lara T Kareem in my quest to read more books by Nigerian authors. It was published sometime last year and has gained quite some popularity home and abroad.
The author dedicates the book to all the ladies fighting patriarchy in their own little way. With this dedication in the opening pages, I was excited to read this book.
Lara T Kareem is an upcoming author, literary enthusiast, and blogger based in Nigeria. She writes literary reviews and stories on her blogs and also shares literary blogging tips.
Just when she decides to put a hold on her love life after failed attempts, Sewa's path crosses Jide's, the most eligible bachelor in the city. He seems perfect, in fact too perfect, and has her on the edge. She has a reason to doubt his intentions when something happens and he ghosts her.
Head up high, Sewa always knows what she wants. Now she has to decide whether to get rid of all indignation and give love a chance.
Firstly, I really liked the fact that the book was set in the city of Lagos. With most books, you have a foreign setting and that's one of the reasons I set out looking for Nigerian books.
The main characters are also Nigerian, with all of the conversations and mannerisms too. I liked the use of native names and how the conversations between the characters sounded like everyday conversations.
The main character Sewa came off as feisty and fun. She does what she wants and values her relationships. Although she can be clumsy sometimes, she also puts herself together and gets things done.
She's very lovable and it's not strange her friends like her a lot. The author's effort to give a background story on Sewa's friendship circle is applaudable.
Sewa's mum is another interesting character, she has a good relationship with her Sewa and she's the cool Nigerian mum people wished they had.
Jide, Sewa's love interest was the knight in shining armor kind of guy. He seemed like he had a lot going on and there was something suspicious about him. Unfortunately, I was highly disappointed with this character.
The structure of any write-up is very important. I think you can write a load of rubbish and still pass a message as long as it is very well organized. For this book, I found it hard to keep up with the story because of how poorly sentences flowed into each other.
In one paragraph you're reading a conversation between characters and in the next, you're thrown into an entirely different scene that has you confused about the timeline. This happened throughout the book making it all feel rushed.
So the characters and setting were pretty good but the loophole for me is in the story itself. It started really well and I expected a lot based on how upbeat Sewa appeared. There was huge suspense with her boyfriend Jide that ran until almost the end of the book. I got tired but I kept reading, only to find out the suspense led nowhere.
It is a feel-good book but I wouldn't say it was romantic like the author describes. It was more of a forced fairytale ending.
The author is actually an upcoming author so I have to give her that, I don't expect a perfect book. She had something going with the whole anti-patriarchy thing and I hope to see more from her in the future.
Cover Image from book cover
