Kehinde (African Writers Series)

Rating:
Summary: What is done can't be undone....
Review: Buchi Emecheta's novel captures attention from the very first page and it is most likely that any reader of post-colonial fiction will see the last page in just one go. Apart from Emecheta's mastery in reflecting the experiences of a Nigerian woman living in London in the 1960s and 1970s, what appeals to the reader is the delicate sense of what Homi Bhabha calls "hybridity" that is professionally placed within the texture of the narrative. The Nigerian and the English worlds come together in the novel. For my part, I believe that "Kehinde" can well be read as a novel reflecting the cross-cultural adaptation of a Nigerian woman, who can no longer accept the values and the traditional social structures of her country of origin. Neither does she readily assimilate into the English culture. Rather she reconciles the two cultures. This is the story of how a bicultural identity is formed. Once Kehinde tastes freedom, then she can't be expected to accept marital slavery again. This is what her new identity requires and she finds spiritual balance and reconciliation in following the urges of her new bicultural self.