The rest of the novel plays out on the island, in and around Alim’s glass house. And anyway, an affair with a celebrity chef? In a tropical paradise? Isn’t this all a bit far-fetched? The argument for boundless love here isn’t a call for open-mindedness, but a question of who is left behind. Of course their relationship will deeply hurt Nasir. Their conversations about their losses are beautiful, sensitive and damning in equal measure. In the mountainous landscape in which Alim’s glass-walled mansion sits, the pair begin an affair that, in a matter of days, they understand as love.Įmezi suggests that they fall for each other because of their shared experiences of grief – Alim’s wife died by drowning 20 years earlier. Worse, it takes its outlandishness seriously, and the fun of its opening dissipates.įeyi falls for Nasir’s father, celebrity chef Alim. It is at this point that the novel – which was never realist to the extent of relatability, but which avoided cliché and was charming in its brash humour – becomes totally unbelievable. He invites her to stay with his family on the tropical island where he grew up. She tentatively starts a relationship with Nasir. “It’s necessary to be alive,” she explains.
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