ImageNations

[Y]ou can say that the person over there was my wife, but you can never say that the person standing over there was my brother, my mother or my father.  (Page 24) Wisdom has spoken through your mouth and we all know wisdom is sacred. (Page 25) We have come to beg back our daughter and wife. And we are doing so openly. Is there shame in begging for what you have lost in foolishness? (Page 26) In the privacy of the bedroom, however, women were said to be the real masters of the household. It is in the secrecy of the conjugal room and bed that the real decisions were made, and such decisions, the rumour went, were decisions imposed upon the village by women. Women ran the village, but gave the men the false honour of carrying the empty title of leaders of their households in public. (Page 33) ________________ Read the review here

Title: Mema Author: Daniel Mengara Genre: Fiction Publisher: Heinemann (African Writers Series) Pages: 122 Year of First Publication: 2003 Country: Gabon Read for the Africa Reading Challenge Mema  is a reflective novel in the first person. It's about a young boy recollecting the days of his childhood and of his village and how things have perhaps changed. However, the novel is more than just the reflections and recollections of a young boy. Through this reflections and recollections, Elang Sima - the narrator, tells of how his mother whom he referred to only as Mema remained strong - physically and emotionally - in all her decisions, refusing to succumb to traditional roles and societal pressures. Mema  is known to be strong, bold and irrepressible. She has the proclivity to play all the manly roles in her household, caring not what others would think of her. She attended all medzo instead of her husband and she was fluent, traditionally, interspersi...