Shani Greene-Dowdell’s Keeping It Tight (Reviewed)

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Keeping It Tight by Shani Greene-Dowdell chronicles the emotional rollercoaster life of Lela, a woman who can bring home the bacon, fry it up, and put it on the table as well. Lela is no stranger to heartbreak, but with the help of family and friends is able to pick up the pieces of her life and move on. When faced with making a real choice she is convinced that she has made the right one this time and will make every effort to stand by her decision. However, there is a spanner in the works, making it difficult for her to focus on the task of maintaining her relationship.

Author & Businesswoman Shani Greene-Dowdell

Author Shani Greene Dowdell: A businesswoman who knows the power of self-promotion.

I deliberately waited until I was going to have some undisturbed time in which to read Ms Dowdell’s book. I like to transport myself into the story almost like an extra in a movie. One of the things that struck me almost immediately was the way the author gave enough description for you to get an idea of environment, but not too much so as to take away your own powers of imagination. I felt as if I was reading a written version of a Tyler Perry film. You know; good looking, well put together women; chiselled hard-bodied men; light airy settings; with sporadic paragraphs depicting sex but not enough to label it as erotic fiction like Zane et al—just enough to make you blush. I read the entire story in two or three sittings over one day, so it’s a quick read.

The story opens with background information. The author shows us a woman who, although abused by a man in a previous relationship, is able to pick up the pieces and try love again. She gets a partner who is loyal and has potential this time. And she is supportive of him, but despite great sex, a comfortable home and a nice ride, her man, Tyrese, is still not satisfied. On the day Lela catches him cheating on her with Sarah, she is having a monthly girlie date with Tonya, her best friend. The interaction between Tyrese, Lela and Sarah, is so realistic and amusing that it almost made me choke on my drink–I was skilfully transported into the ice cream parlour like a fly on the wall–watching the scene play out with Tonya having her girl’s back, and Tyrese trying to squirm his way out of a very sticky web that he had spun for himself.

Whereas Lela’s previous relationship ended with the help of her cousin, Trey, Lela ends this one in fine style herself. Again, the author uses stereotypes to build a comical picture of the characters’ behaviour. Tyrese ‘legs it’ rather than face the police on a ‘trumped up charge.’ In a bid to cheer her friend up, Tonya insists that they carry on their girlie date as planned, and this is where Lela and Neil (Cornelius) meet for the first time. Clearly, neither of them is particularly keen to embark on a new relationship, but the seeds are sown.

The language and pace of the story is reasonable, while the storyline is predictable, but entertaining. You get a feel very quickly of what to expect and there are no hidden twists. At some points, I was left feeling disappointed at the author’s lack of imagination. For example, parts of the plot were reminiscent of films I had seen. Amanda drugging Neil and making him believe that they had had sex is a storyline from a film called Obsessed in which the husband was being ‘stalked’ by his ‘secretary’ who was going all out to take him from his wife.

Similarly, the author uses a type of Soul Food gathering as the setting for Neil and Lela to rekindle their attraction, and with the help of Trey, they start their own new journey of discovery. A journey in which Neil is ‘misunderstood’ and Lela is ‘neurotic.’ Or is it a path more readily described as a journey where mistrust, selfishness, inconsideration and past hurts conspire to prevent two people meeting each other’s needs?

A catalogue of events then proves too burdensome for the couple and they are faced with making a choice. At this point, the author seems to go out on a limb to be open-minded and more radical with the plot. Quite unbelievable to me, she introduces a Kramer vs Kramer type storyline, which because it’s towards the end of the book, you go along with so you can get to the end. The attempt at this point to add a twist to the tail is unbelievable both in timing and in the chronology of events, which seemed disjointed. Tonya (the best friend who figured heavily at the start of the book) disappears, only to resurface fleetingly in random parts of the story.

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In the end, the book closes at the right point of the story. You felt the wind let down, and although the plot was a little predictable, it worked. Loose ends are nicely tied up, and you are not left thinking… so what happened to? I’d say that Shani Greene-Dowdell’s Keeping It Tight, is definitely worth taking on a journey to pass away the time. It’s not Mills & Boon, nor is it playboy, but a nice blend of propriety. It looks at the insecurities people have and how these affect their relationships. The perception of men and their role in life is also under the microscope, as is a woman’s perception of what being in a relationship should be all about.

I’m sure that readers will recognise friend or family members in the character types presented here. They might even recognise themselves. If this was a film, I can imagine a group of ‘Thirty-Somethings’ refuting the validity of the storyline in part, while agreeing in other parts and taking sides based on gender specifically. Overall, an interestingly, if hardly challenging, read that I would recommend to friends.