What is it about?
Three women, three cries that everyone refuses to listen to.
Ramla, Hindu and Safira, each victim of customs, notably that of forced marriage. The author takes us to the north of Cameroon to discover their destiny, making them speak in turn:
Ramla, studious, wants to become a pharmacist. Although in love with Aminou whom she was supposed to marry, she is forced to marry the rich Alhadji.
Hindou, Ramla's sister, is the example to follow: she has always shown patience until the moment her father promises her to the violent Mubarak, his cousin. Hindu alone embodies and reflects the image of the battered woman.
Safira, Alhadji's wife for twenty years, was lucky to live in a monogamous household. This, just before the arrival of Ramla, Alhadji's second wife. Safira will do everything to repudiate Ramla, playing tricks on her, she gradually descends into vice.
All three are linked, confronting family and religious traditions and embodying between them the suffering endured by all women.
Why read this book?
The polyphonic story:
I really liked the fact that it was a story with multiple voices. This allows you to discover another, totally different point of view. We find this aspect in particular in the stories of Ramla and Safira. At the beginning, we have access to that of Ramla, the rest of which we will only know through Safira.
The themes covered:
By addressing the theme of forced marriage, Djaïli Amadou Amal inevitably touches on other themes such as polygamy, violence or rape. What is fascinating about this book is the way in which the author plunges us into the heart of the concession and makes us experience the polygamous system from the inside. No subject is evacuated and certain scenes are raw to the point of freezing us readers. But it is the author's objective which makes palpable the violence suffered by women, a violence which is not only caused by men but which is perpetuated between women in the same concession, as the author says. Safira's aunt on page 182 : “there is no worse enemy for a woman than another woman”.
No sisterhood between women:
What struck me in the book was the absence of any solidarity between women. Instead of uniting, they fracture to allow disdain and jealousy to hover between them.
I find that the author draws with remarkable accuracy all forms of violence, violence that she also suffered; which suggests an autobiographical imprint in the book. I think it is really necessary to read this book because unfortunately, far too often, forced marriage and its harmful consequences for women are not taken seriously enough.. Les Impatientesrepresents in this sense, a complete sketch of Cameroonian society (but not only) of men who turn a blind eye to women who perpetuate traditions, but also taboos such as rape.
