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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
Coffee, Tea and Khat by J.R. Sampaio follows three sisters who are born under the weight of harsh traditions and limited futures in the Horn of Africa. The eldest, Faizah, is forced into marriage as a child, and rape, oppression, and invisibility become her new normal. Aisha, the second sister, is pushed through the ritual of female genital mutilation and meets a similar fate as Faizah, literally chained and continually assaulted by Hakim. The youngest, little Nurit, later renamed Nora, is whisked away by a “farangi” couple from the West, where a different, seemingly better, safer life is believed to be possible. Together, alongside (to a certain extent) their mother Desta's story, Faizah's, Aisha's, and Nora's tales show the high cost of being born female in a world where the expectation is submission. subservience, silence, and the birthing of sons.
Coffee, Tea and Khat by J.R. Sampaio is a family saga that homes in on the impact of poverty, culture, and desperation across the lives of three girls from one family. The family is Muslim in the sense that they go through some of the motions, but in reality, they do not live accordingly, clinging to superstition, which is the gravest Islamic sin possible. It's an interesting juxtaposition, and we see that, in both persuasion and practice, the family is really a victim of their own community and generational, provincial customs. It is very heartbreaking to read. Sampaio focuses more on substance over style, and the third-person omniscient narration did forestall a full emotional connection. That said, the benefit of this is that nothing Sampaio writes ever feels gratuitous. His eye remains solidly on the plot and what genuinely drives the story, which is a testament to his skill as a storyteller. Overall, this is an ambitious and successfully rendered novel, and worth the time investment of a read.
