Book Review: The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon

 

Some authors do the magic of bringing on a ride even the most reluctant readers. During the lifespan of the book, you are part of a different reality, watching the events until the very end. This is what happened to me this weekend, while completely immersed in The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon. 

It was my first time ´meeting´ Solomon, whose previous books were multi-awarded and received admirative reviews. In The Days of Afrekete - Afrekete is an African name to a Black mother and/or a goddess and the name Audre Lorde chose for herself later in life - Lisette is a Black Lesbian woman, who married Winn, a white middle-class man. As the book starts, she is about to organise a party for his fundraisers, although he just lost his political bid. Plus, and this only Lisette knows, FBI is tracing him for purposed mismanagement of campaign funds.

Acknowledging her ´routine deprivation´ of being Black, gay, woman, Lisette is graciously playing her assigned roles in a society extremely sensitive to social and racial layers. The complex interactions are very well reflected into the exchange of the characters and their behaviors, in a very immersive way. This is one of the many reasons I keep following the book without too many breaks, because I was interested where exactly those interactions are leading to. 

To her current career-less life as a companion of a man with political ambitions, the past story of her nervous relationships with women, especially with Selena, are completing the timeline. The gay layer of the story is equally interesting for the 

Although the story is engaging in its focus on present, many of the characters do lack a certain complexity and a place in the story, starting with the husband, Winn. Selena do have the potential of a multi-layered character too, but it looks like she is deprived of too much autonomy. The social aspects, no matter how elaborated, took over the story and block at a certain extent the events of the story to happen. 

I wished The Days of Afrekete delivers even more in terms of story, but even under the certain circumstances is eye opening for a large range of topics and interests that I am very much convinced I will follow in my next readings.

Rating: 3.5 stars