Book Review: The Seeing Place
Author: Aziza Eden Walker
Genre: Adult Romance
Format: novel
I won this eBook in a contest.
In brief:
The Seeing Place is a truly satisfying South African romance. Boy from the township meets savvy older woman with some issues and a secret she thinks will hold him back. Best of all, this modern romance is true to its setting and its people. All in all, Aziza Eden Walker gives us a quick read packing all you’d want from a modern romance, including some great supporting characters and dialogue.
The Whole story:
Thuli Poni, producer and casting director, in dire need of transport and a cool drink, stumbles into a cafe. Sparks fly with handsome Andile, the waiter, who is intrigued by her as much as she is by him. He agrees to whisk Thuli to her meeting. And though both think they’ll never run into each other again, naturally they do–that very evening at the auditions to Thuli’s newest project.
A romance develops, but soon runs into difficulties as they realise just how different their worlds and financial situations are.
Andile may be a prince, but does Thuli need a king? Whether they manage the realities of their whirlwind romance remains the million rand question.
What I loved about this story:
Thuli is so, so sassy. You can’t help but root for her. And Andile is so, so sweet! You can’t help but root for him. The setting, Cape Town—both sides of tracks–is strong and charming but realistic. I particularly loved Walker’s description of Table Mountain in the evening, having once seen the sight myself, which made this story more real for me.
I also liked that the problems facing Thuli and Andile are so relatable and, in my opinion, relatively unexplored in this genre at present (2017). In particular, the complications to a relationship when the woman earns more than her man. Added to this is the age/lifestyle differences faced by Thuli and Andile and the unspoken boundaries individuals need to navigate (even within themselves) in order to move their relationship through to the next level.
What I thought could be better:
I would have liked to have gotten to know more about Thuli by the end of the story. Though we begin with her, and soon switch to Andile’s POV regularly, towards the second half of the story, we have mostly Andile’s POV. While this maintained Thuli’s mystery to Andile, I would have liked to have been in on the secret, too.
I also thought the eBook format could be better. Breaks seem to be missing from some paragraphs or scenes so that the change in POV sometimes confused me. A simple scene break would have been very welcome then.
So what did I learn from this whole experience?
I learned it’s been too long since I last visited Cape Town!
I also learned I probably know more about certain South African soapies than I should 😀
But mostly I learned a little bit more about the behind-the-scenes of a professional theatre production and about the lives of actors/drama students when they aren’t on stage.
Rating: 5/5
I Recommend to: fans of How Stella Got Her Groove Back’, lovers of soapies, readers looking for a good, honest romance.
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