Adé: A Love Story

(Fiction, Contemporary, Literary)

This is subtitled a “love story” but this is no romance novel. An American (or was she a Brit? It doesn’t matter really) falls in love with a native Swahili man while in Kenya. When an epidemic breaks out, they attempt to flee to the first world.

Adé is a love story in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet. Haunting and heart-breaking, it deserves to be a classic of 21st century literature. I have not been as touched by a book in a long time as I was by Adé.

I’m not saying more—you’ll just have to read the book. It’s short, it’s lovely, and it will stay with you a long time.

4½ stars

"You never know how this life will unfold."-Farida

Our un-named narrator is nineteen years old and feels "raw and unfinished." She is fascinated by her friend Miriam. They decide to go to Africa.

During their journey she begins to change and become someone else. She feels familiar with this continent. Miriam is changing too. She is no longer the main attraction. They travel from Cairo to Nairobi but when they arrive on the small island of Lamu she meets Ade. It is Ade that changes her name to Farida.

Ade possesses a certain kind of innocence. Farida is mesmerized by him. They fell into that easy kind of love. The kind of love that simmers. Love that's eternal.

"I was hungry for my future. It looked painfully bright."-Farida

Ade and Farida show more start to become one. His religion and culture had certain requirements. They want a future together.

"...wondering how I would ever, in a million years, leave this man."-Farida

It felt like destiny. Then there was a sudden shift.

Ade is short. It's sweet. You will hang onto every word. When you finish you will immediately want to read it over and over and over again. show less

*** I received this book via a Goodreads Giveaway***

Written in an unhurried manner, this book is a story about the naivete of first love and the reality of life getting in the way. Good book to curl up with on a lazy Sunday afternoon.