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A review by nadia
Tomorrow I Become a Woman by Aiwanose Odafen
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
For a book about such heavy subject matter, Tomorrow I Become a Woman was incredibly readable! It was so easy to keep turning the pages, but this book did make me frustrated and angry to no end!
The heaviness was relentless, especially as you come to terms with the fact that the characters and stories in the book are based on true ones and people are living such lives today.
This was a brilliant debut from Odafen — the writing was great, her research was excellent, and she managed to sprinkle in some great moments of humour.
A great read if you're interested in the plight of women in Western Africa, especially Nigeria, and themes of motherhood, manhood and masculinity, patriarchy, family, and identity.
(I'm looking forward to Odafen's next book — I was on a Book Club Zoom meeting with her last night and was very excited to hear about its focus...!)
The heaviness was relentless, especially as you come to terms with the fact that the characters and stories in the book are based on true ones and people are living such lives today.
This was a brilliant debut from Odafen — the writing was great, her research was excellent, and she managed to sprinkle in some great moments of humour.
A great read if you're interested in the plight of women in Western Africa, especially Nigeria, and themes of motherhood, manhood and masculinity, patriarchy, family, and identity.
(I'm looking forward to Odafen's next book — I was on a Book Club Zoom meeting with her last night and was very excited to hear about its focus...!)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Infertility, Pregnancy, and War
Minor: Alcoholism