Changes has ratings and 84 reviews. Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship said: This is an interesting novella from a Ghanaian feminist author. I made. Changes: A Love Story. Ama Ata Aidoo, Author, Tuzyline Allan, Designed by Feminist Press $35 (p) ISBN “Changes: A Love Story” by Ama Ata Aidoo is a novel that explores the changes that working women in Africa must face in their marriages and families while.
.jpg "changes by ama ata aidoo")
| Author: | Zulubar JoJojin |
| Country: | French Guiana |
| Language: | English (Spanish) |
| Genre: | Personal Growth |
| Published (Last): | 12 August 2016 |
| Pages: | 376 |
| PDF File Size: | 2.81 Mb |
| ePub File Size: | 19.88 Mb |
| ISBN: | 650-1-67233-633-2 |
| Downloads: | 76453 |
| Price: | Free* [*Free Regsitration Required] |
| Uploader: | Kigagal |
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again.
Changes: A Love Story Summary & Study Guide
Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Changes by Ama Ata Aidoo.
Esi decides to divorce after enduring yet another morning’s marital rape. Though her friends and family remain baffled by her decision after all, he doesn’t beat her! 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 n Esi decides to divorce after enduring yet another morning’s marital rape. Witty and compelling, Aidoo’s novel, “inaugurates a new realist changse in African literature.
Paperbackpages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Changesplease sign up. See 1 question about Changes….
Lists with This Book. This is an interesting novella from a Ghanaian feminist author.
Changes: A Love Story
She has some stylistic quirks, such as the scattered commentary set off in block quotes. It felt underdeveloped to me, though it appears that for other readers the book achieves exactly what the author intended. Sep 27, Nathaniel rated it liked akdoo Shelves: This is my first exposure to Aidoo, who is better known for her drama than for her fiction. The insights into polygamy from both the female and the male perspective were fascinating and the passages showcasing marriage negotiations and traditions were a definite highlight.
The writing itself is fairly spare and unremarkable, earning perhaps a mental grin now and t This is my first exposure to Aidoo, who is better known for her drama than for her fiction. The writing itself is fairly spare and unremarkable, earning perhaps a mental grin now and then. At times it seems so matter-of-fact and confined to the bj head that a reader wonders if it will devolve into a simple romance–which it never does. At its best it verges on deadpan and sports an understated, almost defeated sort of wit “Although she knew there was nothing positively wild in how aicoo was feeling about him, there was nothing negatively wild in it either.
Definitely, she had no urge to run and aidooo his face. Maybe if she had done, changed shown her anger in any of the other ways she had planned, he would have felt better”. Throughout the novel la?
The book is not at all oppressed by references to contemporary African politics or conspicuous references to poverty and misery. All the actors are comfortably middle class and the real target of Aidoo’s analysis is Africa’s understanding of gender. I’ll read another book of hers after this. For better or worse a story about women’s situation in Ghana – On the surface it is a love story: Esi is changed up with her husband and decides to leave him – and divorce him even though he changez beat her, which seems aidoi be the only valid reason for doing that.
But she also falls in love with another man. And that is a bit complicated and makes for a lot of changes in her status and life in general. Women’s status is the point of the book – sometime explicitly, like when the two friends have thi For better or worse a story about women’s situation in Ghana – On the surface it is a love story: Women’s status is the point of the book – sometime explicitly, like when the two friends have this conversation: But Opokuya wasn’t having any of her self-pity.
So she countered rather heavily: Esi, isn’t life even canges for the poor rural Maa woman? A Manifesto ] by Mary Beard to anyone who want to trance that theme back to ancient Greece! View all 7 comments. Feb 25, Leslie Reese rated it really liked it Shelves: I quite enjoyed this offering by an author whose works I have been meaning to read for a long time.
It is a love story that illustrates the tensions channges women who don’t want to be confined by static, “traditional” feminine roles. Because it is not possible to advocate independence for our continent without also believing that African women must have the best that the environment can offer. For some of us, this bg the crucial element of our feminism. Aug 27, Chanegs rated it it was amazing. Ghanian women and Modernity: Modern Ghanaian women suffer daily sacrifices, lifelong barriers to their advancement, and an emerging modernity which has multiplied their duties but not simplified their lives.
Changes focuses on a three year period in the lives of Esi Sekyi, Opokuya Dakwa, and Fusena Kondey, three women approaching their mid thirties in Accra, Ghana.
In Changes we can see the evidence of a complex struggle in the name of modernity between African women and society, fam Ghanian chnages and Modernity: In Changes we can see the evidence of a complex struggle in the name of modernity between African women and society, families, traditions, and their own desires. Cjanges the perspectives of Esi, Opokuya, and Fusena, Aidoo shows us how such modern African women view their lives, and with what methods they are willing to fight to improve their lives.
Esi, Opokuya, and to a lesser degree the much-suppressed Fusena, fight against more than just an accumulation of oppressive tradition that favors men. They struggle for appreciation of their talents and for an equal part in guiding their marriages.
Esi and Opokuya struggle to build marriages and relationships that allow them to reap their benefits of their individuality and their educations, and exercise their own free wills, without making them overworked, or being labeled mad women and witches.
The reaction of their families, husbands and communities to these women reveal modern dilemmas for educated African women. Aidoo’s love story traces Esi’s distinctly rebellious and independent path to love and marriage, as contrasted to the more traditional married lives of Opokuya and Fusena. This front is as diverse as the workplace, in hotel vhanges, in the kitchen, on the road driving alone in their new cars, in the rural traditional village, and in the bedroom. Despite often finding that lonely independence is untenable, Esi and Opokuya achieve moderate success in their fight.
Their resiliency indicates shifting gender roles in Africa, and some compatibility between tradition and these new roles. I give this book 5 stars because ot is an extremely rich story told frankly and believably. The material even seems politically important perhaps all novels should try to be so? Mar 12, Adira rated it really liked it Shelves: I gave this book a 4. I found that this novel was a lesson in love for me.
Aidoo presents us with the story of Esi, a Channges woman who has been thoroughly educated about the world but, not about love. Esi’s character reads like a modern soap aat about a woman who has grown tired of her neat marriage and has started to crave adventure even though Esi herself labels this longing as a desire to not be under the thumb of any man especially, her husband, Oko, who she sees as a mama’s boy wh I gave this book a 4.
Esi’s character reads like a modern soap opera about a woman who has grown tired of her neat marriage and has started to crave adventure even though Esi herself labels this longing as a desire to not be under the thumb of any man especially, her husband, Oko, who she sees as a mama’s boy who is looking for a maid opposed to a wife.
To rectify this conundrum, Esi decides that she will separate from her husband to live the life that she has always wanted. However, while living this life, she finds a new love interests in Ali, a devout Muslim man who offers her the chance to be his second wife after their torrid love affair. From here many emotional and social problems commence.
Aidoo writes a novel that is full of aidooo nods toward the ever present battle between European and African civilizations. Thankfully, none of these nods come off as preachy or as being blatant PSA’s on what the “White man has done to us. Well written and persuasive at some points, the novel gives the reader a look into a modern Africa that is not often talked about. The novel is good for anyone who wants to expand their horizons into a broader sphere of world literature without becoming too overwhelmed.
Buy for others
I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who wants a chance to look at postcolonial African cultures or just wants a different type of beach read. View all 3 comments.
May 18, Rowland Dhanges rated it really liked it. The Power of Education All of the major characters in the novel are well-educated. Their education is not only the mark of their place in society but also an ironic and elusive symbol that signifies both change and stasis at the same time.
The two primary lovers in the novel, Esi and Ali, are also the most highly educated. This question highlights the degree to which education symbolizes progress, modernity, and independence for the women of the novel. For Esi, her education enables her to have a well-paying job that can secure her independence.
Ali is as educated as Esi, and like her, he struggles to balance the two worlds in which he lives. When Ali proposes to his elders that he take a second wife, they are shocked.
May 07, Louise rated it liked it Shelves: I was expecting more from this book. I found the writing ordinary and the character development lacking. In fact, I did not like a single character in this story. I think I might have liked Fusena had we gotten to know her better but I found both Ali and Esi rather self-absorbed.
Esi’s parenting skills left much to be desired as well. The chantes was interesting though, and expertly handled by Ama Ata Aidoo.
May 30, JS rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a text that once again fleshes out what Gayle Rubin called the ‘enormous diversity and monotonous similarity’ of women’s lives.