A review by lcmilewski
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta

4.0

The title of this classic Nigerian feminist novel is ironic; Nnu Ego goes through a lot of physical and emotional pain in her journey first to become a mother and then to care for her children. The Joys of Motherhood shows the changes in Nigerian society from the 1920s(maybe earlier?) through the 1970s through the perspective of a girl who grows up in a village beloved by her family and moves to Lagos as a young woman to find a society that is alien to her in many ways. Nnu Ego both sees the unfairness of society toward women while also upholding a lot of the beliefs and traditions that cause that inequality. The story is engaging and I wanted to know what would happen to Nnu Ego and her family, but the book drags at times until it speeds through the last part of the book in a way that was somewhat unsatisfying, so four stars for me.