His Only Wife

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But when Afi arrives in Accra, Ghana's gleaming capital, she realises her fairy-tale ending might not be all she had hoped for. If people are trying to finish their 2020 reading goals, this is one you won’t be able to put down until you complete it! Peace Adzo Medie's mesmerizing debut novel lives up to both the power of its first sentence and the promise of its author's first name . I also wanted to fight the author at some point for writing such an unputdownable book (In my being engrossed I might have missed some deadlines and this is obviously her fault, not mine).

This financial manipulation impacts Afi’s relationship with her own mother, who often cowers under the power dynamic she has been subjugated to since her husband’s death. I loved the observations about city life and city yuppies and the descriptions of the lifestyles, people and places both in the rural and urban areas.This is the literary equivalent of a friend of a friend telling you a two-hour story about people you don't know. However, Afi’s union to Elikem isn’t straightforward or rooted in the poor girl/rich boy trope that is heavily embellished with love, compatibility and soulmatism.

If anything, it is a glimpse of how all kinds of women have adjusted to this kind of world and how they make their way in it. We largely think of Afi as the “legitimate wife” because of an official ceremony she had and Muna’s alleged indesire to participate in Eli’s culture, but this tells us nothing about the actual conditions of either relationship.I’m quite a fussy reader who doesn’t shy away from critique – especially when it comes to popular books – so I sat down to read 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙊𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙒𝙞𝙛𝙚 with little-no expectations, and I can admit that I was pleasantly surprised lol. In other words, we’d see the central problem was not the very nature of a person having multiple partners, but that this specific person was dishonest and manipulative in his partnerships. A well written book, that encompasses the struggles of women,particularly African women and the patriachal society and culture they are brought up in.

Peace Adzo Medie’s debut novel, His Only Wife, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a New York Times Notable Book of 2020, and a Time Magazine Must-Read Book of 2020.The character development for Afi is good, she takes control of her life instead of being solely dependent on husband, mother, others.