The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's wives by Lola Shoneyin

I loved this laugh out loud novel which was tinged with moments of sadness and lots of frustration. I think you have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy it nonetheless. The first time I picked it up, I wasn't quite there, not quite ready to snigger at the flamboyantly depicted characters in this debut novel. A week and a rather serious novel later, I wanted something light-hearted and decided to delve into The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's wives.
Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian writer based in Abuja where she teaches, writes and raises her four children. She has an amazing talent for not only writing i.e. finding the right words to express herself but also for capturing the subtleties of Nigerian culture. I read page after page and was incredibly impressed by her ability to describe the smallest of details and most delicate of cultural nuances, to put it down on paper so seemingly effortlessly.
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's wives is told from the perspective of the four wives, all very different who came to be married to Baba Segi (father of Segi), who for all his bafoonery and lack of decorum is a man with a good heart. The protagonist who is an outsider and who causes the Alao household to be turned upside down is the University graduate and fourth wife - Bolanle. Despite the fact that the novel centres around her, I think of all the characters we meet, her's is the least developed. The decision which she makes to marry an uneducated polygamist is not convincingly explained even by the end of the novel when the story unfolds and we encounter the deception, betrayal and disappointment.
The other wives, Iya Segi, Iya Tope and Iya Femi, who are given their names according to their eldest child  (iya meaning mother) are all brilliantly portrayed as is Baba Segi and his self-serving driver Taju. The background of modern day Ibandan is also captured perfectly. The reader observes the social dynamics, the way different sections of society interact with and view each other. Lola Shoneyin's novel exposes tensions between employer and employee, wife and co-wives, landlord and tenant, mother and child and ofcourse husband and wife. In each interaction there are elements that we recognise either from personal experience or from observing those around us.

At first glance, the story may seem foreign, the concept of polygamy is not one that those of us living in the Western world are familiar with, but this just provides a background for so many human emotions that we can all relate to in one form or another. Above all this is a novel that will make you laugh, gasp, shake your head with incredulity and recommend. Lola Shoneyin has the gift of language and something that is perhaps a more difficult art to perfect - comedy. A funny and thought-provoking read.
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives