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A review by lovelykd
His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie
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.