Book Review: STAY WITH ME by Ayobami Adebayo
Ayobami Adebayo's "Stay With Me" is a beautiful book with a lovely jacket that captures the author's beautiful writing. It is a book set in the 1980's ,a period of political tumulut in Nigeria, moving on through 2008.
The two narrators in the book "Stay With Me" are Yejide and her husband Akin hope to pass the stories (folk tales) they remembered when they were children to their own offspring.
"Stay With Me" revolves around series of
secrets Akin gas kept from his wife and the
terrible consequences those secrets will have on their marriage and in the life of Akin's brother Dotun.
Akin tells us that he loved Yejide from the moment he set his eyes on her, but four years of childlessness reversed his belief that love
conquers all even if the burden is too much. When they got married, both Yejide and Akin said no to polygamy but after several years of childlessness, their relatives insisted that Akin take a second wife. Yejide becomes desperate to have a baby, she visited hospitals, pastors and even herbalists, at one point she visited a prophet who asked her to dance and breastfeed a goat. She soon believes that she is pregnant,
despite doctor's insistence that there is no baby, at this point Akin had no option but to take a second wife Funmi.
As the novel continues, Yejide becomes pregnant only to face the prospect of sickle cell disease (SCD) in her children.
Stay with me is a story about the fragility of married love, the wretchedness of grief and the consuming bond of motherhood.
The Author really amazed me with the story line as it lays emphasis on the ethnic believe and tradition in our society that it is compulsory for a woman to give birth once she is married... . But too much burden and stress on a woman that has reverse as the case always make such woman to take steps that may likely endanger her life and future just because of a child....
ReplyDeleteI believe that the husband Akin, shouldn't have kept any secret from his wife because keeping secret is the first ingredient to downfall of any relationship...
Furthermore, i will agree that every intending couple should always go for all related child bearing test before marriage just to avoid the situation of incompatibility to give birth to a child later after mariage....
With the review from my dear blogger, i would give the author 8/10 for the story line
Lovely comment and I totally agree with you.
ReplyDeleteThis review though... Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAm happy you love it.
ReplyDelete