BOOK OF THE WEEK: DINNER with KING SOLOMON by MATSHONA DHLIWAYO

Hello people.

Dinner with King Solomon is a book written by Matshona Dhliwayo and published by Wise Words From a Foolish Son Inc.

In the opening chapter of the book, readers are introduced to Kevin, a forty five year old man who hits rock bottom financially when he is swindled by his business partner. In one fell swoop, he loses everything; his house, wife and kids.

Poor, helpless and full of despair, Kevin attempts suicide twice, albeit unsuccessfully. On his second attempt, he hallucinates and dreams that the Biblical King Solomon pays him a visit and gives him a bag of gold coins.

Kevin wakes up and to his surprise, he finds a bag of gold coins in his hands. What follows next is a discourse and a mind- boggling ending that will leave readers' minds reeling.

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BOOK

Hmm….

I was blown away by the opening chapter of the book. I love the way Matshona took his time to describe Kevin’s fall from grace. As one reads the book, one can literally see the sprawling mansion, Kevin’s beautiful wife and kids, as well as the horrible car and the gangster neighbourhood that was painted in the book.

I also like the fact that the book is well edited which makes for an enjoyable read, free from the distractions caused by grammatical and typographical errors.

Halfway across the book, however, I was a bit puzzled as to its direction. One moment you're reading about a man who lost all and the next moment you’re reading about the Origins of Life. This leaves the reader wondering, ‘Did I miss something? How did I get here?’

Dinner with King Solomon attempts to answer, albeit in a subtle manner, questions such as Why do bad things happen to good people? The Origin of Life, etc.  

Anyone used to researching such themes will know that they are complex topics that are seldom appropriately covered even in philosophical books written for such purposes, let alone a fiction book. One can only wonder at Matshona’s boldness in attempting to treat such heavy topics in a small book.

Again, while Matshona’s boldness in attempting the subject is admirable, the discourse between Kevin and King Solomon sort of reminded me of certain interviews on television in which the interviewer nods his head in agreement with everything said by the interviewee, such that at the end of the day, viewers cannot help but think, ‘why not just ask the interviewee to give a speech rather than go through the question-and-answer charade?’

I wish Kevin had peppered King Solomon with more hard-hitting questions; for instance, at a point King Solomon says to Kevin that everyone has done bad things at one point or another in their life and so the question, Why do bad things happen to good people? is inherently flawed in itself.

While I may agree with that submission, if I were in Kevin’s place, I may have further asked ‘But what of babies born disfigured? Or toddlers sexually assaulted? What crime did they commit?’ Unfortunately, I am not Kevin and I’m yet to hallucinate about King Solomon so….

After all is said and done, however, Dinner with King Solomon is one book that the philosophically inclined will find interesting and mentally stimulating. It can be gotten on Amazon and any major bookstore.