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evangelinew's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Miscarriage
maarietou's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
vi_frt's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-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
This book is an incredible account of a life and perspective very foreign to western European readers, and yet so universal and touching in it's complex portrayal of a woman's life and emotions.
chickienuggies's review against another edition
3.0
II found this to be pretty interesting! I've never really read a narrative dealing with polygamy before, and to see how the ideals and practices connected to it deeply affect women (and as a result, society as a whole) was more eye-opening than I thought. The postcolonial context of the book also pushes the characters to adapt to sociocultural changes, and the narrator who is hesitant to give up some of the ideals that have been engraved in her mind does struggle with this. The prose is very nice throughout from what I can tell (again, its written in French T_T) and it reads as a story that is also, as the title says, a very huge letter written by a Senegalese woman to her best friend. Overall pretty noice :)
annepw's review against another edition
2.0
Coming on the heels of a long line of politicized feminist African literature, I was already a bit burnt out when I came to this one. But it's a solid little novel that makes good use of its epistolary form. I especially appreciated Bâ's somewhat unusual (to me at least) form of feminism.
femalemanipulator's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Men are evil. Beautiful writing but men piss me off.
freddie's review
3.0
Passion burns through the prose. The main character is well-built with strengths and flaws. The prose tends to be a bit sentimental and flowery but it doesn't detract much from the content.
vikingwolf's review
A woman in Senegal feels betrayed when her husband takes a second younger wife and she confides her misery to her friend who left her own husband when he took a second wife.This book looks at a woman's place in African Islamic culture and the traditions of the villages.
It's only a short read but I didn't find it interesting enough to read right through.There was too much detail about the wedding ceremonies in the start of the book and I just switched off but if you are interested in African culture you might well like this.
It's only a short read but I didn't find it interesting enough to read right through.There was too much detail about the wedding ceremonies in the start of the book and I just switched off but if you are interested in African culture you might well like this.