A Swoon-worthy Romance.
A Review of Fatima Bala’s “Broken”.
Every love story has its trope it follows and this “enemies to lovers” story is not a cliche or something you’d expect. It is an enlightening story of friendship, love, determination, and religion, which mirrors the Hausa culture of Northern Nigeria. (A culture meets faith love story, simply put).
On the cover, the author adds a note to say “not a halal story” and this gives you an expectation that the book is bad. By the first page, I was looking up the meaning of ‘halal’ and learning, something you’d typically not expect from romance. I learnt that there are foods that are halal and any form of touch, is haram. I am Nigerian but the book provided me with an opportunity to properly experience their culture and be introduced to their affluent lifestyle.
Fatima used flawed characters who were constantly learning about religion; how to live rightly but failing because the lines between loving and falling off the tenets of religion can be really blurry. One thing the author employed that is worthy of note is the characters knowing they had erred. There was no attempt whatsoever to bend the rules to fit the story. So, if you’re wondering if this book goes against the belief of the Islamic religion, from reading you will see that it paints better what a religious person should do.
The characters also reflect the affluence and beauty of Northern Nigerian culture. From their love for family, scents, name, and their influence. There was a beautiful representation of the Arewa.
The little pieces the author brought together to form a picture were a little difficult to understand. There was a slow buildup of the story too. But towards the resolution, everything seemed to make sense and everything was adding up, but at a rather fast pace.
There was a lot of character development and growth in the major characters. Fa’iza learnt to be liberal like the Babangida’s which was quite different from her upbringing.
Another bond that was evident in the book other than that of family was friendship. The reason the couple really got introduced was because their mothers had been friends for a really long time. Afreen and Fa’iza continued the friendship into another generation. Even when the couple decided to get married, Ahmad’s parents referenced the friendship between their mothers and fathers as the reason why their match was more perfect and would thrive, till it did not.
Where there was friendships like these ones listed above, even the one between Edet and Ahmad, friendships where they were good for each other, there was the one between Sara and Fa’iza. I expected Sara to stretch a hand of grace out, this made Ada a better friend. She didn’t judge or meddle, she was a voice of reason when Fa’iza needed one. As we learn, their friendship was able to bloom after they left Toronto.
I expected the conflict to be the lifestyle Ahmad lived, something that would have caused Fa’iza’s parents to refuse their union if they knew about it but still little that they could easily move on from. Or the ‘not-positive’ influence he had on their daughter. So, when the conflict in the book was introduced, I understood the title to have come from the irrecoverable break their relationship had. However, the conflict came late, they were already deep in love and commitments to go back.
At the point the conflict was growing, I knew I had to swallow all the things I’d said about the cliche and shallowness of romance because the story was nothing like what I’d expected. Despite what I thought of the timing of the conflict, its effect was still very much evident. It filled story with great suspense, it created a certain fear that the characters love was surely at its end.
The suspense began when Fa’iza’s father abruptly returned from his trip, the meeting and everything, it drove me to the edge of the cliff, I screamed in frustration but I loved the feeling.
It was easy to see why Abubakar was the favourite brother and Amin was not. It is also easy to point blaming fingers to Amin but somehow when his warning and threat is looked at from his point of view, it makes sense, he was going to ensure his family name is not disgraced.
The character growth was also one of the commendable things in the book. When we leave Ahmad in the book, he fasts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, doesn’t shake women’s hands, doesn’t drink, and attends Islamic lectures. Fa’iza influenced much of this, just the same way his push and love built her confidence, and his funding helped achieve her dream for the shelter.
Before I end this, this paragraph is dedicated to the perfect gentleman that Ahmad is. From the time he ditched his birthday dinner to spend time with Fa’iza and even walked her to her residence, till the last scene. His dedication to her, intentionality to love her rightly is impossible to miss. I found myself replacing her with myself (who wouldn’t?). Their love, commitment and growth to accommodate each other made me swoon uncontrollably.
All the times he professed his love for her, I swooned. The author made it hard for readers not to fall for him, he was perfect to the T. Even when he had every reason to stop investigating, Ahmad knew he had to get to the end. He tried to go by religion to prove they could be married even as ‘milk siblings’ and did not relent when that did not work. A beautiful man in all ways!
In the picture below, Fa’iza was talking about how she felt “fuzzy”, I was saying “me too, girlll”!!!
This book is a perfect one for lovers of romance, culture, good literature. The story is easy to digest and made a really beautiful read.
I was done in three days amidst so much work and being stuck in hours and hours of traffic.
