Three Quarters

ABOUT THREE QUARTERS

Teresa Madaleno reviews…

“Three Quarters” by Donna Kakonge

From the first chapter, Three Quarters manages to draw you in so that you sympathize with the main character who happens to be the author. She is just ten years old when we first meet her, and both the tone and writing style match her age. The innocent and tender language makes you feel as if this story is crafted by a child. As the young girl ages though, so does the method of expression. Suddenly the writing is too mature to be written by a child. There is a simple description of sitting on a bench at a mall with her siblings and another touching scene describing the day she brought her Dad to class, but then we move closer to current day and a harsher tone as author, Donna Kakonge describes the offensive language she encounters on a bus ride. Stark reality kicks in as she is reminded on that bus ride of a horrible incident from her childhood- Donna’s innocence is lost and the writing turns candid.

How appropriate that the writing style transitions as the character ages. After all, Three Quarters is about growth and change. It traces the stages of the writer’s life, including success and disappointments from childhood to present day. The story is often warm and tender. At other times it is frank.

The descriptive techniques the writer employs makes it easy for the reader to imagine being present in the story. At one point, the writer is at a casino with her boyfriend and clearly wants out. She writes,” I am tired of flittering around this crowded place like a refugee in a camp.”

Like many young women, Donna has to learn the hard way that people don’t always live up to your expectations; life doesn’t work out the way you plan. For example, the diamond engagement ring she receives in her thirties is a period of flight, fancy and adventure only to be followed by disappointment and heartache.

Three Quarters teaches us about innocence, reality, success, disappointment, kindness, and the mean-spirited. Each chapter is like a little morsel of life that can be consumed quickly by the reader who should only be too eager to move on to the next chapter. Three Quarters leaves you with just one burning question –What will happen in subsequent chapters of this lady’s life?