Title- Stay With Me
Author- Ayobami Adebayo
Publisher- Canongate
Pages- 298
Rating- 4/5
Summary- When Yejide and Akin met for the first time, it was love at first sight. However, love is not always about the two people, but also their loved ones. Akin's extremely traditional family could not bear that even after some years of getting married, they were without a child. His mother often took Yejide to some priest or pastor, experienced in solving such issues. Finally after many futile attempts, Akin's mother decides that Akin should get another wife. When he finally marries again, Yejide becomes desperate to get pregnant to save her marriage and that complicates matter even more.
Review- The book is primarily set in 1980s Nigeria during the time of political turmoil. The author has meticulously portrayed its impact on the common people. The story shows, to what extent we can go to fulfill the wishes of our loved ones. We get to learn that after marriage, love is not the only thing that keeps it going as there are other factors to consider too, like societal pressure. It is about the bond of a mother and her child. It is also about sickle cell anemia and losing someone to it. Through this book, we also learn about Nigerian food and culture, which is quite interesting.
Yejide has been a motherless child since the time she was born. Being raised as a neglected child amongst her father's other wives and step-siblings, she always felt the need for love. So, when she meets Akin, she cannot let him go. Thus, when he marries again, she is devastated. She realizes that having a child will not only save her marriage but also give her someone whom she can call her own. Akin loves her dearly and throughout the book, out of love for her, he does certain things which leads to devastating consequences which was not anticipated by him.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this gem of a book, the author's words had transported me to 1980s Nigeria where I was laughing and crying with the characters. I would highly recommend this book to the readers who like to explore and do not want to stay confined in literatures of the UK and US.
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