Thoughts : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Feminism

Posted by Kay on May 11, 2017 4:00 pm in 5 stars reads | 4 comments

Today I’m stepping out of my usual review format to talk about two recent reads that were instant favorites, which are We Should All be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie.

I was already familiar with the author’s Ted Talk, We Should All Be Feminists, from which the text has been adapted. (If you haven’t watched it yet, I strongly encourage you to! You can do so on Youtube.) I had loved her speech and heard great things about her novels, so I knew I wanted to read her at some point. These two short texts (both under 80 pages, I believe!) seemed like the perfect place to start.

I’m not going to review them as I would a novel or some other non-fiction work, I simply wanted to share with you how much I loved them. With a simple but effective prose, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie puts on papers thoughts and questions most, if not all, women have had at some point in their life, and many men too, I’m sure. Her anger is vibrant yet full of empathy. Best of all, her writing isn’t “preachy”, as some would say, and the “all” of her title really means ALL. Not only all women, but all men and women, of all age, of all races.

I would have loved to have those two little books when I grew up. While my mom was definitely a feminist, people around me, while saying yes to “equality”, treated the word “feminist” as dirty, an equivalent to “man-hater”, and therefore it wasn’t a word I identified with as a teenager. It would have felt extremely validating to read these at that time. Hopefully, many young women (and men!) of today will get this opportunity. Really, if you ask me, everyone should be reading these!

And now, my next step will be to discover some of Adichie’s novels. If you have recommendations, I’d be happy to hear them! 🙂