Pepsi and Maria

by Adam Zameenzad

Pepsi is a smart street kid - his mother is dead and his father has disowned him. So he makes it his mission to return the kidnapped Maria to her rubbish-tip home. But to do so he has to escape the sadistic policeman Caddy, who is on a crusade to rid the city of the `filth' of street children. The urchins' zest for life and beauty ensures that their dramatic story, despite the brutal reality of their lives, is both uplifting and exhilarating.

317 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2004

About the author

Adam Zameenzad was born in Pakistan and spent his early childhood in Nairobi, Kenya.

Reviews

[Mark Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story had so much potential, but it was never realized due to a poor focus and bad editing.

Despite the title being 'Pepsi and Maria', we never get any insight into the relationship between the two. Though we do get told about Pepsi's inner feelings and emotions, no time is spent on Maria's at all. In fact, for most of the book, it's easy to forget that Maria is there at all.

The back cover says that Maria looks at Pepsi as a 'big brother', but in 315 pages, it's never made clear why. The author spends no time fleshing out their relationship; never forms a bond between the two. Zameenzad rather spends page after page on minor, uninteresting side characters, some of whom we only meet once.

Despite this, the first 2/3 of the book is actually a pleasant and enjoyable read. There are several plot threads going on that one would except to come together in the end. There are many suspenseful moments that keep you turning page after page in anticipation of what comes next. It's quite a thrill because of how adventurous it is. At the same time, it's also quite reflective and thought provoking in the way it describes the dramatic lives of the poor kids in the slums.

All of that is thrown by the wayside in the last 1/3 of the book. An earthquake appears out of nowhere in the story as a deus ex machina. It kills off one of the major antagonists and therefore his storyline. The other major antagonist, Caddy, gets an inexplicable sudden change of heart, quits his pursuit of Pepsi and Maria and just exits the story altogether.

Most frustratingly, the author suddenly infuses the story with a supernatural element that wasn't there before. Pepsi's dead friend suddenly turns up. At first you think he's a figment of his imagination, until you realize that all other people can see him and talk to him too. So now, our gritty story about the realistic life on the streets of Latin-America, has turned into a ghost story. Zameenzad spends the last chapters on developing their bond, instead of that of Pepsi and Maria.

Finally, when Pepsi succeeds in bringing Maria home and reuniting her with her family, this reunion and its impact on Maria and her parents gets totally glossed over. This has been the overarching goal of Pepsi for the entirety of the novel: to bring Maria home. Yet when we finally get to that point, we aren't given any description of this reunion. Instead, the author is concerning himself with side characters again.

I really have to wonder where the editor was on this manuscript. Don't publishers have one to guide authors? This is Zameenzad's sixth novel, yet these are beginners' mistakes. So much so that at the end, when Pepsi and Maria say goodbye, I didn't feel anything but indifference. After so many hours with them, I should have felt a lot of bittersweet emotions. But I didn't, due to the author's glaring shortcomings.

[Mrs H L Rowley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't enjoy this book, when I first started to read it I struggled to get into the story.
I stuck with it because it was an different and interesting plot. However the imaginary and perhaps the language differences/translation made it difficult to enjoy.

[Luis Benitez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es bueno