From the Bookshelf of A challenge of relative ease and merriment 2017…

Stay with Me

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀,

Adjoa Andoh (Narrator)

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Apr 20, 2020 Martha.O.S rated it liked it · review of another edition

(3.5 stars) This book, based on the story of a marriage in Nigeria is set very much against a backdrop of cultural and societal traditions and customs and political tension and unrest, which acts as a mirror for the turbulence and unrest in the lives of Yejide and Akin, the story’s protagonists.

The story tells of the intense love Yejide and Akin have for one another, but despite having each other, they each have an intense longing to have children. This is obviously in keeping with cultural exp (3.5 stars) This book, based on the story of a marriage in Nigeria is set very much against a backdrop of cultural and societal traditions and customs and political tension and unrest, which acts as a mirror for the turbulence and unrest in the lives of Yejide and Akin, the story’s protagonists.

The story tells of the intense love Yejide and Akin have for one another, but despite having each other, they each have an intense longing to have children. This is obviously in keeping with cultural expectations, but burns deeper for each of these characters. After six years of marriage, Yejide takes some desperate measures, putting herself in the hands of a witch-doctor and climbing a suposed Holy Mountain. What follows is a tragic undoing of her character as she descended into delusion and despair, not helped by the voices and remarks of those around her. Eventually, under a different set of circumstances, she does become pregnant, going on to bear three children, but unfortunately tragedy after tragedy ensues. The recounting of these tragedies was very well done, so vivid and real that one could be present there with her, though one would rather avoid that much suffering and pain...

The characters in the book are very well rounded, each of them flawed but very human. The voices of Yejide and Akin alternate to tell the story from their perspective. Yejide, who owns a hair salon, is a funny, loud, passionate woman with huge resilience and strength, often betraying her softer side, maternal, loving and sensitive. Her voice and those of other characters in the salon, that of her mother-in-law, Moomi, are the stand-out voices for me, expressing themselves with colloquial sleight of tongue, resulting in much-needed comedic relief from the narrative. Akin comes across as consistent, dutiful, loving in his own way too, but as revealed, has his own issues, later undertaking a plan to move things along in conceiving of child, though this is somewhat upended by a myriad of other twists and turns which the novel takes.

Overall, this was a well-written, well thought out story, one that portrays the ups and downs of marriage in general, but that affords us a view of a marriage that undergoes more intense upheaval and suffering than most, a marriage that is alive with love, but also feelings of despair, sadness, hatred and betrayal. Is the force of love enough to withstand the opposing forces? ...more

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