Changes
A Love Story
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4.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A Commonwealth Prize–winning novel of "intense power . . . examining the role of women in modern African society" by the acclaimed Ghanaian author (Publishers Weekly).
Living in Ghana's capital city of Accra with a postgraduate degree and a career in data analysis, Esi Sekyi is a thoroughly modern African woman. Perhaps that is why she decides to divorce her husband after enduring yet another morning's marital rape. Though her friends and family are baffled by her decision (after all, he doesn't beat her!), Esi holds fast. When she falls in love with a married man—wealthy, and able to arrange a polygamous marriage—the modern woman finds herself trapped in a new set of problems.
Witty and compelling, Aidoo's novel, according to Manthia Diawara, "inaugurates a new realist style in African literature." In an afterword to this edition, Tuzyline Jita Allan "places Aidoo's work in a historical context and helps introduce this remarkable writer [who] sheds light on women's problems around the globe" (Publishers Weekly).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Aidoo ( Our Sister Killjoy or Reflections from a Black-Eyed Squint ) writes with intense power in a novel that, in examining the role of women in modern African society, also sheds light on women's problems around the globe. Esi, a woman living in Accra, Ghana, takes her career as a data analyst for the government seriously. An incident of marital rape, the result of her husband's anger at Esi's independence, leads to their separation. She is attracted to a married man named Ali who offers to make her his second wife. At first the arrangement appeals to Esi--she can make her work a priority--but eventually Ali's constant traveling and the way he puts off coming to see her begins to bother her. Aidoo makes use of different formats. Occasionally she provides an explanation in the form of a poetic note embedded in the text, and there are spurts of conversation in script form. In one such section Esi's mother and grandmother discuss her choice. Esi's no-nonsense grandmother says, ``Leave one man, marry another. What is the difference?'' Tuzyline Jita Allan, who teaches English at Baruch College, CUNY, provides an afterword that places Aidoo's work in a historical context and helps introduce this remarkable writer. First serial to Ms.
