Harare Review of Books

208 pages.

First published in Oct 2021.

Finished reading on 29 Oct, 2021.

Genre: Fiction.

Supplied blurb: From award-winning author Asali Solomon, The Days of Afrekete is a tender, surprising novel of two women at midlife who rediscover themselves–and perhaps each other, inspired by Mrs. Dalloway, Sula, and Audre Lorde’s Zami

Liselle Belmont is having a dinner party.

It seems a strange occasion–her husband, Winn, has lost his bid for the state legislature–but what better way to thank key supporters than a feast? Liselle was never sure about her husband becoming a politician, never sure about the limelight, never sure about the life of fundraising and stump speeches. Then an FBI agent calls to warn her that Winn might be facing corruption charges. An avalanche of questions tumbles around her: Is it possible he’s guilty? Who are they to each other; who have they become? How much of herself has she lost–and was it worth it? And just this minute, how will she make it through this dinner party?

Across town, Selena Octave is making her way through the same day, the same way she always does–one foot in front of the other, keeping quiet and focused, trying not to see the terrors all around her. Homelessness, starving children, the very living horrors of history that made America possible: these and other thoughts have made it difficult for her to live an easy life. The only time she was ever really happy was with Liselle, back in college. But they’ve lost touch, so much so that when they ran into each other at a drugstore just after Obama was elected president, they barely spoke. But as the day wears on, memories of Liselle begin to shift Selena’s path.

Inspired by Mrs. Dalloway and Sula, as well as Audre Lorde’s Zami, Asali Solomon’s The Days of Afrekete is a deft, expertly layered, naturally funny, and deeply human examination of two women coming back to themselves at midlife. It is a watchful celebration of our choices and where they take us, the people who change us, and how we can reimagine ourselves even when our lives seem set.

Strong CW for character with mental health challenges, suicidal ideation and explicit description of suicide plan. Also, toxic relationship.

Ehh. I had looked forward to this book, so it disappointed me (pretty deeply). The premise was interesting <spoilers follow>: this is a story about a complicated lesbian relationship, in which one of the women is profoundly mentally ill (as becomes evident as the book progresses). (My tummy clenching at the thought of this poor, poor character.) The relationship seems to me to be quite toxic, and I’m not sure the author meant for it to be this way; so, we’ll settle for complicated.

The second woman in the relationship marries a man who may or may not be gay, who may or may not be Olivia Pope’s Fitz in some early iteration (could this be fanfic?), who really turns out to be a horrible human without much warning at all. How disappointing.

Right from the beginning, this is a book about race, almost exhaustingly so. I started to feel like I was immersed in a culture I cannot understand, and the feeling stayed with me through the book, particularly because of the treatment of race (from a black woman’s perspective, and I’m a black woman, so…) Sigh. Valid points were made, of course, but it all got a little tiresome for me to try to relate to, and got in the way of the story. I don’t wish it had been written differently, as this is clearly something that was important for the author to write into the story.

The minor characters had me rolling my eyes, being rather one-dimensional and cartoonish — aunts on both sides, one employer. There’s a scene with the employer where everything screams (TW) rape, but it doesn’t happen, and it’s a bewildering, gratuitous why-is-it-even. There are other plot meanderings, too, which got exasperating.

In sum, I could have liked this story. I could have been sympathetic with the love story at the heart of it. Instead, I was somewhat irritated, and couldn’t wait to finish the book and start something else.

A couple of bits I enjoyed, from the book:

Rating it mainly for the premise, and because I could finish it: 4/10.