Ever heard of an 'aleph'? According to a book by Paulo Coelho, an 'aleph' symbolizes a remembrance of past lives. 'Aleph' is also the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Significantly, the saying goes that one cannot move forward without knowing one's past. So, much like Paulo Coelho's remarkable novel Aleph (2011), another outstanding novel about remembering past lives has crossed my path.
Makeda (2011) by Randall Robinson embarks on a historical journey of one woman's past lives from Mali to North Carolina. The woman, Makeda, shares each vivid memory with her grandson, Gray, the believer and dreamer of all things possible.
Gray's parents' love for his brother causes him to feel like lesser of a person - less confident and self-reproaching. He visits his blind grandmother who lives alone almost every day as a young boy. She becomes his nurturer and he becomes her confidant. Makeda urges him to follow his dream of writing and to attend college.
Set primarily in the 1960s, Makeda links one African American man's coming of age to his father's. Gray learns that his father once had a fire for equality and justice that over time was doused with the need to protect and care for his family. Whereas Gray's own coming of age catapults him to an adulthood that supports and cultivates a viability of the African diaspora, its present and its historical contribution to societies.
Robinson brings up the idea of eternity within one person. Makeda literally has eternity within her. As historical fiction, this book imparts to readers one example of a strung together exploratory, often nomadic, and at times tumultuous route of the African diaspora. The route Makeda's soul has taken encompasses civilizations, religious periods, and great empires. From the Queen of Sheba to the Civil Rights Movement, Makeda makes connections with her rare ability of remembrance and leads Gray to dive deeper into his abyss of curiosity and knowledge.
Not only does Gray discover how Makeda's past lives left indelible marks since ancient civilization, he also discovers an African history lost through time and colonization. Gray's life soon becomes an adventure filled with love, loss, and understanding. The eternity that Gray finds seems to move through his family. He finds tumult through his enigmatic father, his dutiful mother, his accomplished brother and his closed-minded aunt; and he finds peace through the family that he creates for himself.
Strikingly, the book makes readers believe, dream, and explore just like Gray. It opens up a world that embraces a beginning - an origin and an 'aleph' - in a way that is not hidden or misinformed. Rather, it is an embrace that can light the way to optimally move forward.
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