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dominiquefragments's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
amylauren36's review
3.0
This book was infuriating. And also, main character mad a lot of growth. But damn.
sunnycearley's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
fast-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? No
5.0
vaniastorm's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
aladon66's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Book Review His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
Afi is a young woman living in a small town in Ghana with her mother. Following the death of her father, wealthy “Auntie” Ganyo has provided support assisting her mother with a house and job. Auntie proposes Afi marry her youngest son Eli, a man she doesn’t know. She is aware that he is in a relationship with another woman and has a child. The family doesn’t like the other woman and hope that the marriage will bring Eli back to the family. Afi falls in love with Eli and struggles with him continuing his relationship with the other woman.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I was interested in learning some of the cultural traditions of Ghana such as a traditional wedding and a legal wedding, as well as the intricacies of the family dynamics and how ones actions can bring shame and repercussions to the whole family and community was an interesting plot point.
However, I didn’t feel any connection to the characters which made the story feel flat to me. I also found Afi’s character to be inconsistent. She is passive, docile, and obedient and is willing to follow what is expected of her. Then she becomes assertive without the character development to make this feel like natural growth.
I thought this story had potential but something was missing for me. I am not a big romance reader so I still think romance readers would appreciate the story more.
lovelykd's review against another edition
4.0
This book was a trip!
It started a bit slow--as it begins with the "wedding day" of Eli and Afi--and it was tough to understand who was who, and the foundations of their relationship to each other. However, once Afi leaves home and travels to Accra, to await the arrival of her "husband", you got a sense of who Afi is and how she came to be part of such a toxic (no other way to describe it, honestly) union.
On the surface, this book is about how an oppressive patriarchy, misogynistic male behavior, and superficial beauty standards come together to turn one woman's first real encounter with love into a living nightmare.
From Eli's controlling mother, to Afi's sycophantic family, there are a lot of people here with ulterior motives; none of which have a thing to do with what Eli or Afi want for themselves.
Eli, though, has every advantage--despite his lack of choice--while Afi is subject to the negative backlash of not "following the script"; the parallels would be despicable if not for the fact you know how common place this particular situation has become.
As far as everyone else is concerned, when Afi pushes back, she's the one with the problem.
That level of conformity, from those around Afi, makes her particular rebellion that much sweeter. In truth, her growth is what made this book such a worthy read.
Afi's progression--from a naive, uncertain, and gullible woman--into a confident, intentional, and unflappable woman/mother of substance and love, was a treasure to behold; even moreso because of the obstacles she faced in getting there.
A good read to be sure.
It started a bit slow--as it begins with the "wedding day" of Eli and Afi--and it was tough to understand who was who, and the foundations of their relationship to each other. However, once Afi leaves home and travels to Accra, to await the arrival of her "husband", you got a sense of who Afi is and how she came to be part of such a toxic (no other way to describe it, honestly) union.
On the surface, this book is about how an oppressive patriarchy, misogynistic male behavior, and superficial beauty standards come together to turn one woman's first real encounter with love into a living nightmare.
From Eli's controlling mother, to Afi's sycophantic family, there are a lot of people here with ulterior motives; none of which have a thing to do with what Eli or Afi want for themselves.
Eli, though, has every advantage--despite his lack of choice--while Afi is subject to the negative backlash of not "following the script"; the parallels would be despicable if not for the fact you know how common place this particular situation has become.
As far as everyone else is concerned, when Afi pushes back, she's the one with the problem.
That level of conformity, from those around Afi, makes her particular rebellion that much sweeter. In truth, her growth is what made this book such a worthy read.
Afi's progression--from a naive, uncertain, and gullible woman--into a confident, intentional, and unflappable woman/mother of substance and love, was a treasure to behold; even moreso because of the obstacles she faced in getting there.
A good read to be sure.
acrickettofillthesilence's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bahareads's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
His only Wife is was a mindless shallow fun read. I couldn’t stop reading it. I didn’t read the synopsis before I picked it up so I was going in blind. Afi (the main character) has only one goal. There’s only one goal in the book, that’s it. No twists or turns just one thing. To be his only wife.
Afi acted like a child for almost the entire book, until she grew a backbone and realized she was not going to be the chosen one. HOWEVER, it did throw me that she wasn’t a virgin and that she had been with two other men, because honest to God. In my opinion, she was acting like a virgin. Afi being so wary of any other women hurt my heart. Like what happened to girlhood?!
As the course of the book played out, I could see where the plot was heading. It hurt my heart. I didn’t realize all of Reese’s book club books had ‘happy’ endings until Caitlin brought it up. I thought Afi was, maybe, going to be a very miserable woman. It’s crazy (annoying) how all of the contemporary African novels I’ve read recently have the sons seen by everyone in the books as mindless saints in need of protection.
Most of the other characters in the book - Afi’s mom, husband, uncles, aunts, and other side characters - were just there. They were there to further the plot along and provide interactive scenes for Afi to move the plot forward. I liked a few of them, Afi’s favourite cousin for example. But most of them irked me, for all the right reasons. They played their part in the book well.
The growth of Afi did throw me for a loop. She evolved throughout the book from being a ‘backward’ country girl to a ‘posh’ city woman. BUT for her to grow a backbone like she did was something else. I honestly didn’t expect her to be so stout in her resolution regarding what she wanted out of life at the end. There were a few timeline or plot skips that made me peeved. We go from Afi thinking about opening a boutique to her opening one in the span of a few paragraphs. That threw me for a loop. Over all this wasn’t a stand-out book but it was an enjoyable read.
Afi acted like a child for almost the entire book, until she grew a backbone and realized she was not going to be the chosen one. HOWEVER, it did throw me that she wasn’t a virgin and that she had been with two other men, because honest to God. In my opinion, she was acting like a virgin. Afi being so wary of any other women hurt my heart. Like what happened to girlhood?!
As the course of the book played out, I could see where the plot was heading. It hurt my heart. I didn’t realize all of Reese’s book club books had ‘happy’ endings until Caitlin brought it up. I thought Afi was, maybe, going to be a very miserable woman. It’s crazy (annoying) how all of the contemporary African novels I’ve read recently have the sons seen by everyone in the books as mindless saints in need of protection.
Most of the other characters in the book - Afi’s mom, husband, uncles, aunts, and other side characters - were just there. They were there to further the plot along and provide interactive scenes for Afi to move the plot forward. I liked a few of them, Afi’s favourite cousin for example. But most of them irked me, for all the right reasons. They played their part in the book well.
The growth of Afi did throw me for a loop. She evolved throughout the book from being a ‘backward’ country girl to a ‘posh’ city woman. BUT for her to grow a backbone like she did was something else. I honestly didn’t expect her to be so stout in her resolution regarding what she wanted out of life at the end. There were a few timeline or plot skips that made me peeved. We go from Afi thinking about opening a boutique to her opening one in the span of a few paragraphs. That threw me for a loop. Over all this wasn’t a stand-out book but it was an enjoyable read.
bertharochestergraduates_8's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0