His Only Wife - Peace Adzo Medie - ★★★

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AUTHOR: Peace Adzo Medie
GENRE: African Contemporary Fiction
PUBLICATION DATE: September 1, 2020
RATING: 3 stars.


Afi is a young seamstress whose tough life is suddenly upended by a marriage proposal brought for her by her mother's employer. This wealthy lady wants Afi to marry her son Elikem, who is in love with some Liberian woman, whom the family doesn't approve of, though he even has a child with her and wants to be with her.

While forced into marriage because of her circumstances, Afi soon finds herself drawn to the wealthy and convenient lifestyle. She uses her circumstances to advance in her studies and career but soon decides that she wants it all, that she can't share her husband with another woman.

It is so tough to rate a novel by virtue of its writing alone when you simply didn't like the main character. The first couple of chapters reveal Afi as a vulnerable, uncertain young woman whose life seems to be no longer in her control. But soon, she reveals herself to be quite shallow and self-centred. She seems to judge others for the very things that she is guilty of. I hated her for those double standards and simply couldn't connect with her. Rather than evoking empathy or understanding, she just leaves you frustrated.

His Only Wife is set in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Unlike what you would assume though, the book doesn't reveal the Africa we usually see but the Africa we don't hear about, the life of the wealthy in Africa. There's an abundance of snazzy lifestyles and flashy material possessions. All this cannot mask the familial compulsions or societal pressures. The extent to which relatives can interfere into personal lives seemed to me very reminiscent of Indian society.

There are reviewers who have called the book feminist. But feminism isn't about thinking about your own needs and wanting everyone to kowtow to your demands. Afi isn't a feminist, nor is she a good role model for a greater part of the novel.

Overall, the book starts off brilliantly but soon digresses into a repetitive romantic drama, and finally going into an atypical ending in the very last chapter. So I loved the start and end but hated everything in between.

I heard this as an audiobook and the narrator, Soneela Nankani, did a lot to salvage the book in my eyes. Her enunciation and expressions make it a wonderful audiobook to listen to. If only the story too held up to those standards!

I received an advance review copy of the audiobook for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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