tranquilitycase 's review for:

The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

4.0

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This story totally tricked me! It opens with a female U.S. president announcing on TV the criminalization of male masturbation, complete with protestors on the scene claiming "My body, my choice!" I thought that's what the story was going to be about! I actually laughed out loud at that. The TV viewer is a Nigerian man looking forward to a visit from an old friend who has been living abroad in the U.S. He starts to reminisce about his past friendship with this other man, remembering a scene in which the friend's father got on his case about his behavior, saying he would never get married if he kept it up. At this point I was thinking "Oh interesting, I didn't realize men valued marriage so much in Nigeria." Then slowly it dawned on me that this was just one subtle example of a worldwide matriarchy, in which men feel lucky if a powerful woman chooses to marry them. Well done. Reminds me a bit of @manwhohasitall