Reviews

Rami is Tony's wife. What she discovers is that she isn't Tony's ONLY wife. She finds out that she is one of 5 women that Tony has had relations and children with. At first she is angry - fighting each woman in turn, claiming that Tony is hers and hers alone. She is, after all, the legal wife. But with time, she comes to like these women and they learn to coexist together.

Rami plots to make him an honest man, but it doesn't work. Tony's family forced him to marry the other 4 women. Rami and the wives join together to demand their rights as a polygamist family. Tony is overwhelmed with so many women to care for and disappears. His family fears him dead, but Rami belives otherwise. Tony eventually does turn back up, but by then, the 5 women have become independent of him. Most own their own businesses and have taken other lovers, and start to drift away. Rami ends up being the last one, and Tony begs her to stay and be his wife. But Rami isn't sure that is what she wants any more.

This was a quirky book. I am not sure how else to discribe it. I liked it in a lot of ways. The writing style was unique and flowy, and enjoyable. Tony - didn't like him at all. But I don't think I was supposed to. I liked Rami and the wives for the most part, but they did go back and forth SO much about their feelings for Tony that my head started to spin.

Overall, it was good. I am glad I read it and got a little insight into Polygamy that is popular in this country.

alia0ftheknife's review against another edition

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slow-paced

2.0

cat_s's review against another edition

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4.0

Niketche conta-nos a história de Rami, uma mulher que descobre que o marido tem várias amantes…e vai procurá-las.
É muito enternecedor no tema da solidariedade feminina e acho que uma excelente porta para entrar na cultura moçambicana (que eu desconhecia) e para sabermos sobre o papel que a mulher tem na sociedade, nesse país.

Tem uma escrita muito bonita, com muitas conexões com a natureza, mas, para mim, foi um bocadinho floreada demais. Acho que em certas partes acabou por ser repetitivo.

De forma geral, recomendo a leitura, sinto que aprendi muito e que há passagens que me vão ficar na cabeça.

rhodaj's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

rhaionfree's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

joti's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I enjoyed the writing style at first, and even at later points I still found myself marking some sentences or comparisons I really liked, although my appreciation of the book as a whole rapidly diminished during reading. Based on earlier reviews and the 'feminism' label, I had high expectations, so perhaps that was why I am a little disappointed.
It was very interesting to learn about other cultures and north-south differences and all sorts of rituals and expectations, but overall I had to force myself to continue reading the book at some point.
The narrator continuously contradicts herself, sometimes within the same paragraph, and there is an awful lot of repetition throughout the book. There are indeed moments where I felt hopeful it would become more feminist, and I guess the fact they

all leave him in the end

does kind of make it feminist, but it just didn't work for me.

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