central african rep.
co-wives, co-widows
by adrienne yabouza
This book was a complete delight to read. I chose it to follow SO LONG A LETTER by Mariama Bâ, because both deal with the subject of polygamy from the women’s point of view. Unlike Bâ’s Senegalese tale, CO-WIVES, CO-WIDOWS was funny and often irreverent, and included one of my favorite themes of all time: women supporting other women.
Ndongo Passy and Grekpoubou are both married to Lidou. Ndongo Passy is Lidou’s first wife and has a son, and Grekpoubou is his second, and has four children. Their husband is attentive and demonstrates real affection for both his wives, providing for the family through his construction business. The story opens on the morning of the election. Both women are getting ready to go and vote, not hopeful much will change, but very interested and engaged with the process of democracy, something they both feel a responsibility to participate in. “She had to make herself beautiful too. It was the first time she’d voted. She was voting for her own future and for that of her four children, who weren’t old enough to do it for themselves.”
An observation I’ve made in so many of the books I’ve read, is how careful and deliberate the authors are to write female characters who are engaged with social issues, even while they remain un-empowered by them. Education, gender-equality, political and social power, women’s liberation, religious freedom. Each book I’ve read so far, while focusing on a character’s particular and often quite domestic experience, has revealed a larger, more universal theme. In CO-WIVES, CO-WIDOWS, Yabouza takes the very domestic problem—the death of a much-loved husband—and reveals the broader social impact—what this means for his widows, who have very little social and material capital.
While the co-wives are at church one Sunday morning, Lidou, sitting alone under the mango tree in the yard, suffers a fatal heart-attack. Throughout the book, Yabouza writes with beautiful lightness. Even Lidou’s death is described with quiet humor; “Lidou never got to know the content of the sermon his wives heard at the cathedral that day; a pity, because the priest’s words were apt: he declared, with the conviction of a slam poet or a travel agent, that life was easier in the other world than in this one;… Nobody came, and after a short period of intense suffering, Lidou sent out alone for the house of his ancestors.” The body is discovered by Ndongo Passy’s son, Gbandagba, who asks his father what’s wrong. However, “Lidou made no reply. He wasn’t sulking; he was just one of those dead people who doesn’t speak.”
Immediately on the discovery of his death, Lidou’s business partner, Zouaboua, and his family members set about claiming the body for themselves, bribing a doctor to declare the death suspicious, and accusing Lidou’s wives of poisoning him. They lock the house, hoping to keep Lidou’s material wealth for themselves. By the evening of his death, Lidou’s wives are essentially homeless. Despite having a legal claim to their husband’s assets, they are not protected by the law, where a quickly bribed judge assures an outcome more easily than a just claim.
But there is delicious justice in this story, all because the two women stick together. They stay true to one another, and are supported by the community who know them both to be kind, generous people. They do not turn on each other to gain position, status or wealth, but maintain their bond of friendship throughout their struggle to hold on to what is important to them b0th.
I loved all the African lore in the story that says so much through metaphor and humor. When Ndongo Passy is forced back to her parents house after Lidou’s death, she says to them: “It’s OK. My life’s been tied in a knot that I can’t undo with my fingers, but I’ll use my teeth.” The cousin who supports the Zouaboua in his treachery and thieving reflects on her choice: “Songowali had thrown her lot in with him, though; if you loved the dog, you had to love its fleas.” Later, Ndonga Passy thinks of Zouaboua in same way: “If you spent time with a hyena, you ended up eating rotten meat.”
CO-WIVES, CO-WIDOWS was an easy, enjoyable read. The setting was full of gorgeous African flavor, the characters were clearly described, flawed, and believable. I found myself rooting for the two women and the ending felt rewarding, not gratuitous.
