In some social circles, the ideology of monogamy and faithfulness is a joke. It’s an idea that seems to have fallen by the way of the milkman, penny candy and gasoline when it was less than a dollar per gallon. We’re living in an age where people find it easier to have the benefits of marriage for as long as they want, and then when the partner does something that is deemed unforgivable, they simply pack up their bags and leave, looking for the next good thing. The problem with that is that the individual can spend the rest of their lives looking for the next good thing and it may never show up.
There is a portion of our society that also believes that the sanctity of marriage is serious…that vows made before family, friends and God is important and they are to be honored at all costs. But simply because you’ve made the vows to honor, love, cherish, obey and protect through sickness and health, does it mean that you’ll never find anyone else attractive? Does it mean that the only person that you are drawn to is the person that you’ve sworn to love until death do you part?
Norlita Brown’s Somebody Else’s Vows tells the story of Alyssa Robertson; a woman who is by all accounts happily married and yet finds herself helplessly drawn to a man by the name of Ahmad. What takes place within the pages of this work is a very intense emotional affair that travels much like a roller coaster at Six Flaggs. There is a push/pull interaction between Alyssa and Ahmad that the reader can’t help but get drawn into.
At times, you wonder why Alyssa just doesn’t make her marriage to her husband work rather than focus on a man that she by all accounts can’t have. You are left to question the main character’s content of character as she propels herself into a relationship that seems doomed from the start. You may also wonder why a man of high moral standard and sound sensibility would want to be with a woman he cannot truly possess. These questions are addressed and presumably answered within the pages of Somebody Else’s Vows.
Norlita Brown displays a good writing style with a flair for character descriptives. She paints vivid emotional pictures with words even though sometimes you may question what comes out on canvas. The one thing that can be said about this work is that I will always remember it. The supporting character of “Tee” resonates with me as the voice of reason…keeping it real at all costs. When you get to page 181, you will see what I mean.
There are points in the synopsis that got lost within the pages of the book, one of which was the character of Ahmad being a devout Muslim and not wanting to contribute to Alyssa breaking her marriage vows. The ironic part about this is that his religious affiliation is not mentioned within the pages so you are left wondering why this was ever brought up in the synopsis.
Alyssa may come off at times like a selfish, self-absorbed prima donna who is only looking out for herself, but it’s because of that characteristic that I will never forget her. The moral of the story may be,” how does one negotiate the waters of someone that you find attractive after you’ve pledged your love to someone else”. Is it wrong to find someone attractive after you’ve wed? The answer of course is “no”. It’s what you do with that attraction that becomes the issue.
Still, there is one line that rings true for me in this work. It is found on page 75. “Infidelity is not just something that jumps out of nowhere. Neither does it sneak up on you like a thief in the night”. If infidelity strikes your marriage, nine times out of ten, something was out of kilter long before the third party entered.
To order "Somebody Else's Vow", go to the following web address:
www.brownessence.com
J.L. Whitehead
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