Changes : A Love Story by Ama Ata Aidoo
"Love?... Love?.... Love is not safe my Lady Silk, love is dangerous. It is deceitfully sweet like the wine from a fresh palm tree at dawn.... But when we need to count on human strength, and when we have to count pennies for our stomachs and clothes for our backs, love is nothing. Ah my lady.. the last man any lady should think of marrying is the man she loves.'
Esi is a professional woman living in Accra. She separates from her husband much to the consernation of her mother and grandmother and best friend. She falls in love with Ali, who is already married. Ali proposes to Esi to be his second wife.
Ama Atta Aidoo sets this love story in Accra, Ghana. Her characters are linked to different traditions and norms and it is not easy for Esi and Ali to simply get married.
This love story is interesting in that while it shows on the one hand a woman making a choice to be single; on the other hand it shows the dilemma of following a traditional structure of polygamy with some strict ethics. In the old days, we learn.. Ali would know which wife to sleep with on New Years Eve.. there would be no dilemma.
There are other love stories woven into this main one. some funny , and there are all the views on marriage and love and infidelity (even in polygamy). The story takes on different cultures in interesting ways.. coastal Ghana vs inland Ghana; Christian vs Muslim, Ghana vs Mali and Cote d'Ivoire.
Ama Ata Aidoo makes no political statements.. the characters make no right or wrong decisions. The complex histories are there in the background, but no overt biases. The book is well worth the read and helps in understanding the stories from Africa - like those of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Esi is a professional woman living in Accra. She separates from her husband much to the consernation of her mother and grandmother and best friend. She falls in love with Ali, who is already married. Ali proposes to Esi to be his second wife.Ama Atta Aidoo sets this love story in Accra, Ghana. Her characters are linked to different traditions and norms and it is not easy for Esi and Ali to simply get married.
This love story is interesting in that while it shows on the one hand a woman making a choice to be single; on the other hand it shows the dilemma of following a traditional structure of polygamy with some strict ethics. In the old days, we learn.. Ali would know which wife to sleep with on New Years Eve.. there would be no dilemma.
There are other love stories woven into this main one. some funny , and there are all the views on marriage and love and infidelity (even in polygamy). The story takes on different cultures in interesting ways.. coastal Ghana vs inland Ghana; Christian vs Muslim, Ghana vs Mali and Cote d'Ivoire.
Ama Ata Aidoo makes no political statements.. the characters make no right or wrong decisions. The complex histories are there in the background, but no overt biases. The book is well worth the read and helps in understanding the stories from Africa - like those of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Nice Review
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