Book Review: Souljah

There have only been so many great books that I have read in 2014. And as time advances there becomes fewer and fewer story tellers who tell the story properly. John R. Gordon, one of the few. Souljah, a well told story.

Just as we have noticed that though the message is the soul of the messenger, it is also his gift we will also see that John dares to draw up two places, that are often deemed mirror images of each other, as  the same place with similar stories, demands and aspirations. He uses a captivating plot that unites two worlds, two places, to become one common ground, one history.

Souljah is a love story that celebrates the broken roads that lead up to that last glorious moment. The protagonist Stanlake, through very picturesque descriptions and flow of thought, is a gay, androgynous, cross-dresser with a bold heart who is presented, like all of us, with a life of several possibilities. His life criss-crossing with the themes of love, instability, uncertainty, pain, expectations, sensuality, transitions, bigotry, manipulations, audacity, rites, a steaming identity that progresses organically from page to page, event to event at the stages and places of his life.

John R. Godon, Author of Souljah

We are also faced, in this book, with the inexplicable mysteries- or gift, of human relationships and how they erupt unannounced, unexpected. The celebration of the fact that just by looking and letting yourself believe, imagine, walk, you can be let through hard gelid surfaces into the deep, sweet and yet unconquered cores of human personality.

I love the use of Yoruba names and metaphors. And that the story darts my heart about the place but ends calmly.

Souljah is a very sexy story- the kind that sips into your dreams and resonates in your thoughts every now and then- with bold conversations and not too conventional perspectives. It’s a story that gives you the chance to travel, live, expect, feel and dare.