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A review by secre
Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Rootless isn't my usual type of book and yet I found myself drawn in by this tale of a marriage in crisis. There were aspects that didn't work quite as well for me; the structure of the novel being that most of the early characters flip forward by a year meant that it was difficult for me to initially engage with the characters, but once it slowed down and started taking events more gradually it became easier to engage with. I also really struggled with the ending. But by and large, the characters and the conflicts truly drew me in and I was invested in events.
As mentioned above, it did take a little work to get there though. The novel starts at five months before and we learn that Efe has taken off back to Ghana, abandoning her husband and young daughter. Sam is thrown completely off guard by this, believing that their marriage was strong and Efe was happy. We get very little explanation before the novel jumps back nineteen years to when Efe was a teenager and shipped off to Britain for schooling. You get snapshots of her life as each chapter jumps forward one year; her schooling, her struggles at university, her first job, her first partner... throughout all of this, Sam is an integral part of her life, but it isn't until a good chunk through the novel that they actually become partners and the real story begins.
I can't help but feel that a lot of the early chapters could have been missed and given as backstory throughout the main novel, rather than being used as a series of vignettes of Efe's life until her and Sam got together. Because that's where the story really gets moving and that's where it becomes engaging and engrossing. The time line slows down somewhat, more page length is given to each of the years and then it drops down to month gaps so you get a more in depth look at what's going on.
The early years of marriage lead into an unexpected pregnancy and this is where things really get sticky for Efe and Sam. Efe has always been clear that she does not want children. She doesn't want to put her life, her career, her future on hold to stay at home and look after an infant. Sam is very much the opposite. He's delighted by the pregnancy, can't even consider terminating it. And the cracks start appearing and the perfect lives they have crafted for themselves start to splinter apart.
What this novel does very well is explore both the cultural differences that can cause tension in an inter-racial marriage (in this case British Ghanaian) and the struggles of motherhood/parenting. It is a novel about regret, tradition, equality and family. Of how the burden is unequally heaps on the mother in many parenting arrangements, even when the father was the one keen to take on the responsibility of having a child. The novel slows down after Efe has her daughter, shining a spotlight on the expectations and unhappiness of this new mother as Sam loses himself in 'providing for his family'.
The countdown continues, leading up to the moment we see at the beginning of the novel where Efe throws her hands up, packs her bags and leaves. And it's easy to see that things are nowhere near as blissful as Sam would have had us believe. And if that had been the defining moment we were counting down to, with everything else being the aftermath then it would have been excellent. But the countdown continues. And the final event honestly just feels like a cop-out and is a deciding factor in my rating of this novel.
All in all, this is a promising debut, but it could have been stronger. Much of the early novel could have been amalgamated and the countdown started far later than it actually was. That would have made the timeline feel far less rushed. The characters felt realistic, and many of their actions heart-breakingly real. That doesn't always make them likeable; Sam in the later book becomes someone worth slapping in honesty. But that is also true to life. Where the novel really let itself down was the ending. I'm not sure what the counterpart of 'ex machina’ is where things resolve in a way that really resolves nothing but still in an unrealistic and sudden way, but this is kind of it...
So a mixed bag. A promising debut that could have been better.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.
As mentioned above, it did take a little work to get there though. The novel starts at five months before and we learn that Efe has taken off back to Ghana, abandoning her husband and young daughter. Sam is thrown completely off guard by this, believing that their marriage was strong and Efe was happy. We get very little explanation before the novel jumps back nineteen years to when Efe was a teenager and shipped off to Britain for schooling. You get snapshots of her life as each chapter jumps forward one year; her schooling, her struggles at university, her first job, her first partner... throughout all of this, Sam is an integral part of her life, but it isn't until a good chunk through the novel that they actually become partners and the real story begins.
I can't help but feel that a lot of the early chapters could have been missed and given as backstory throughout the main novel, rather than being used as a series of vignettes of Efe's life until her and Sam got together. Because that's where the story really gets moving and that's where it becomes engaging and engrossing. The time line slows down somewhat, more page length is given to each of the years and then it drops down to month gaps so you get a more in depth look at what's going on.
The early years of marriage lead into an unexpected pregnancy and this is where things really get sticky for Efe and Sam. Efe has always been clear that she does not want children. She doesn't want to put her life, her career, her future on hold to stay at home and look after an infant. Sam is very much the opposite. He's delighted by the pregnancy, can't even consider terminating it. And the cracks start appearing and the perfect lives they have crafted for themselves start to splinter apart.
What this novel does very well is explore both the cultural differences that can cause tension in an inter-racial marriage (in this case British Ghanaian) and the struggles of motherhood/parenting. It is a novel about regret, tradition, equality and family. Of how the burden is unequally heaps on the mother in many parenting arrangements, even when the father was the one keen to take on the responsibility of having a child. The novel slows down after Efe has her daughter, shining a spotlight on the expectations and unhappiness of this new mother as Sam loses himself in 'providing for his family'.
The countdown continues, leading up to the moment we see at the beginning of the novel where Efe throws her hands up, packs her bags and leaves. And it's easy to see that things are nowhere near as blissful as Sam would have had us believe. And if that had been the defining moment we were counting down to, with everything else being the aftermath then it would have been excellent. But the countdown continues. And the final event honestly just feels like a cop-out and is a deciding factor in my rating of this novel.
All in all, this is a promising debut, but it could have been stronger. Much of the early novel could have been amalgamated and the countdown started far later than it actually was. That would have made the timeline feel far less rushed. The characters felt realistic, and many of their actions heart-breakingly real. That doesn't always make them likeable; Sam in the later book becomes someone worth slapping in honesty. But that is also true to life. Where the novel really let itself down was the ending. I'm not sure what the counterpart of 'ex machina’ is where things resolve in a way that really resolves nothing but still in an unrealistic and sudden way, but this is kind of it...
So a mixed bag. A promising debut that could have been better.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Abortion
Moderate: Mental illness