Reviews

Reste avec moi by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

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kshiffler's review against another edition

4.0

I couldn't decide between 4 or 5 star. I'm gonna need some time to recover and process from this one! I kinda want to sit down and read it again.

indieretro's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.25

skaimml118's review against another edition

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emotional

4.0

caitoburnett's review against another edition

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5.0

A haunting, spectacular novel that I devoured but hated to finish. Watching Yejide yearn to become a mother, and seeing the challenges and heartbreak that come with being a parent was devastating and validating. I loved everything about this novel. Ayobami is a beautiful writer.

katko123's review against another edition

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4.0

I have received this book in exchange for an honest review.

Before I started reading this book I have read about Nigeria where the story is set. The main problem is overpopulation. It used to be 16.6 million people in 2013 and it'd expected to be over 50 million in next 30 years. It is normal to have 4 wives (as Koran allows) and at least 11-15 children in one family. As a result the wildlife has decreased and the drought became an everyday problem.

Having all that in mind reading a story where a woman is under a huge pressure to conceive ... well it wasn't easy.
It's a beautiful tale about love, loss, sacrifice and a fight between modern and tradition. Social relations and traditions I found particularly interesting.

sade's review against another edition

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4.0

One of the greatest lies ever sold to women is "LOVE" and how women are supposed to bend over backwards, break themselves if need be for love...
This book had me up in my feelings because you really hear about this kind of things happening. How women are made to feel less than because they aren't mothers. It was especially painful for me reading about Yejide because she had no-one in her corner.. No one to tell her this isn't love and that she deserves better.

My one negative with this book was that I didn't like that a whole lot of pages were devoted to political commentary at that time in Nigeria. Mainly because it just didn't seem to gel and was sort of jarring really to have that much political commentary.

All in all a really fantastic read, that I would recommend to everyone.

Also p.s Tomi Adeyemi could really use this as a sort of reference on how to write Yoruba in books and also what constitutes Yoruba names.