Book Review: The slave girl

Hello beautiful people, today I’ll be sharing my thoughts on a book from one of my favorite authors- Buchi Emecheta.

Buchi Emecheta was born in 1944 and died January 2017. She is one of the powerful literary voices Africa has produced. My first encounter with her work was in “The Joys of Motherhood” and I’ve read a number of her works since then.

The Slave Girl is narrated from the perspective of a young girl Ogbanje Ojebeta, chronicling her life before she was born until her thirties. It is set in the town of Ibuza currently located in Delta state during the precolonial era.

Some themes explored in the book include:

1. Feminism– I use the word feminism here loosely, for the lack of a better term. It raises issues that are faced by women in the society. I must say, despite all our talk about progress, these problems still remain. It is interesting to note that those women didn’t feel they were missing anything, they just accepted it as the way things were. In those days, women were seen and treated as property to the point where it became a thing of pride (sound familiar?).

All her life a woman always belonged to some male. At birth you were owned by your people, and when you were sold you belonged to a new master, when you grew up your new master who had paid something for you would control you.

2. Slavery: At the time when slaves were bought and traded across the Atlantic, there was also internal slave trade where wealthy men and women bought slaves and used them. I think trading in slaves is despicable, honestly. Ojebeta was sold into slavery to a wealthier relative by her own brother. Again, we are still facing the same issues centuries later.

3. Colonialism: It was fun to read how the British and Portuguese eliminated some native practices and imposed theirs on the natives. This was largely achieved by the church. Makes me wonder, most of what we call culture now are practices that were imposed by/adopted from the colonial masters.

Other themes include:

4. Poverty

5. Spirit worship

6. Culture

Lessons:

– Rationalizing evil: Ojebeta’s brother Okolie sold his sister into slavery to get money to shine in his coming of age dance. His conscience disturbed him after a while but he rationalized by thinking he was doing her a favour.

Ma Mee walked back to her stall telling herself that buying and selling people could not be helped. “Where would we be without slave labour, and where would some of these unwanted children be without us?” It might be evil, but it was a necessary evil.

Slave masters rationalized that they were doing those people a favour by buying them as slaves. It’s amazing how much evil people are capable of as long as they convince themselves they have a good reason. Do I commit or overlook evil if I feel there’s a good reason?

– Differences: Ojebeta had an intricate tattoo of a spinach all over her face. In her town, it was a thing of pride but outside, she was a laughing stock. It reminds me of what I wrote here, normal is relative. What is normal in some places is abnormal elsewhere.

Favorite character/scene: There was really no standout character for me.

Likes:

I liked the way the book was written alongside real life events, like the Aba women’s riot, the downfall of the Benin empire, the Spanish influenza etc.

So as Britain was emerging from war once more victorious, and claiming to have stopped the slavery which she had helped to spread in all her black colonies, Ojebeta, now a woman of thirty-five, was changing masters.

I liked the conclusion, a lot of people don’t, but I do. People expect a sort of happily ever after ending. Well, it’s not so in real life. Plus, happily ever after is based on the individual.

Dislikes: There’s not much to dislike really, I was too interested in the story to focus on anything I didn’t like.

Would I re-read the book: I’ve read it twice already and yes I would likely read it again in future. I would totally recommend this book.

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Rating: I give this book four solid stars.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? How do you feel about any of the issues raised in the book? Is there any book you’d like to recommend for a review?

Please share in the comments and don’t forget to like and share. Thank you for reading.