Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The First Woman by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

9 reviews

bookwormcat's review

emotional funny informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Infidelity, Body shaming, Cancer, Bullying, Abandonment, Grief, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content

amarreth's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.75

Told through the lens of a 12-year-old girl, the story is about what it is to grow up and be a woman in the 1970s in Uganda as it is shifting from what was before to what is a colonized country. We see how the culture both rejects colonization and is forced to embrace it, we see what that means for a child who is also trying to understand her place in her family, without her mother, with a mostly absent father, and adoring, though firm, grandparents. The vestiges of the clan system, and the xenophobia that can bring as well as colorism that she, who is very dark, faces, and also that she herself applies to others. The story is simple, and that it is about a girl growing up. But everybody knows that growing up is never actually that simple and this story shows that very well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Religious bigotry, and Classism

Moderate: Death of parent and Grief

Minor: Miscarriage, War, Infertility, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Infidelity

The racism is mostly colorism, but that is not a tag. Additionally, the kidnapping is actually abduction of an adult minor character.

amberinpieces's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Medical content, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, War, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, Car accident, Body shaming, and Sexism

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Bullying, Islamophobia, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Blood, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

zara89's review

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Misogyny, Infidelity, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

Minor: Infertility and War

my_plant_library's review

adventurous challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Infidelity and Miscarriage

Minor: Rape

micaela11's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Sexism, Misogyny, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape, War, and Trafficking

jackelz's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

Kirabo lives with her grandparents because her mother abandoned her as a baby and her father works in the city. As a 12-year-old girl, she begins to question who her mother is. 

 

We see Kirabo with her friend, their eventual falling out, her first love, her life in Catholic boarding school, and her discovery of what it means to be a woman in a patriarchal society. 

 

This book encompasses fundamental issues affecting women in Ugandan society, including skin bleaching, trafficking, polygamy, colonialism, and Ugandan folklore and superstitions around women. I loved learning about Ugandan culture and history, and the beautiful storytelling. 

 

“My grandmothers called it kweluma. That is when oppressed people turn on each other or on themselves and bite. It is as a form of relief. If you cannot bite your oppressor, you bite yourself.” 

 

mwenkanonkano: a Luganda word that loosely translates as feminism, but this concept is older, local, not something imported from the west 

 

“Any mwenkanonkano is radical. Talk about equality and men fall in epileptic fits.” 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Abandonment, Cancer, and Death

booktribe's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, and Infidelity

sarahholliday's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-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

I really loved this book.

What started as a tightly wound story unfolded into a stunning, complex epic covering the multifaceted nature of feminism, colonialism, authoritarianism, education, love, friendships, rumors, self-preservation, family dynamics and more.

If I have any criticism it's that I think the work as a whole would've benefitted from a bit more editing. But overall, I think Makumbi has created something truly great.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Slavery

Moderate: Miscarriage