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    The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives: A Novel
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    The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives: A Novel
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    The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives: A Novel
    Ebook277 pages4 hours

    The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives: A Novel

    By Lola Shoneyin

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    African-born poet Lola Shoneyin makes her fiction debut with The Secret Lives of Babi Segi’s Wives, a perceptive, entertaining, and eye-opening novel of polygamy in modern-day Nigeria. The struggles, rivalries, intricate family politics, and the interplay of personalities and relationships within the complex private world of a polygamous union come to life in The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives—Big Love and The 19th Wife set against a contemporary African background.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 29, 2010
    ISBN9780062002921
    Author

    Lola Shoneyin

    In addition to her award-winning novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Lola Shoneyin has written three volumes of poetry, So All the Time I Was Sitting on an Egg, Song of a Riverbird, and For the Love of Flight, as well as three children’s books: Mayowa and the Masquerade; Do As You Are Told, Baji; and Iyaji, the Housegirl. Shoneyin is the founder of Book Buzz Foundation, which organizes the Ake Arts & Book Festival. She also runs Ouida Books, a publishing house and one of the most vibrant bookstores in Nigeria. Shoneyin lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

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    Reviews for The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives

    4.5/5

    166 ratings45 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Baba Segi is worried. His first three wives have had seven children between them but his fourth wife has yet to get pregnant. He decides to take action. Being, in his own eyes, a considerate man, he decides to humour his graduate wife, Bolanle, and seek help from a doctor, rather than a herbalist or a prophet.So begins the story of a polygamist household in Nigeria. Bolanle is already resented by the first three wives. Before she arrived, the household had an uneasy equilibrium. This development threatens to upset the whole family.The title of this book nicely captures the ambiguity of the story - the four women are defined by their status as wife but each has her own world and her own secret. The wives tell their own stories in alternating chapters, while Baba Segi is narrated in the third person, making them the protagonists and him a bystander.The book avoids easy judgements and stereotypes. Baba Segi is not a brute. He is clumsy but caring. He has unappealing habits and a sensitive bowel. He plays the master of the house but is blissfully - or wilfully - unaware of the struggles for power and the small daily cruelties that go on around him.The women show Baba Segi almost comical levels of deference while they plot and scheme, but whatever the challenges of the marriage, their experiences to date have taught them that life could be much worse.They are strong and they have suffered. They have experienced poverty and abuse but they narrate their stories with energy and earthy humour. They speak in direct language disrupted by startling imagery and vivid colour.All of life is here, pain and laughter, evil and absurdity. Some of what happens is truly shocking but is also understandable. What shines through is the determination of the women to survive, to wring some happiness from life, even if that means inflicting harm on others. This is a beautiful and unsettling book.
    • 4/5
      I began this months ago, but I put it down and forgot about it (I got distracted & couldn't remember where I put it).... It's like that.

      This was an interesting book, but I found it to be slow reading, the characters a bit flat (not well developed), nor were they very likable. So I was never really invested in their stories...

      From the back cover:
      "When Baba Segi awoke with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row, he knew it was time to do something drastic about his fourth wife's childlessness."

      Baba Segi: a large round, vain, and rich middle-aged man with a lusty & abundant appetite. He is the patriarch of a large family that now includes; four wives and seven children. Unbeknownst to him, his disregard of his first three wives via the introduction of his newest fourth wife is about to topple his apple cart.

      Iya Segi: Number One wife, is powerful and wealthy in her own right. Not only does she run the household, but she runs numerous businesses outside of the house as well. She is shrewd and not to be disturbed, especially not by a fourth wife. She will protect her position, home & family no matter the cost.

      Iya Tope, Number Two wife is a shy woman with a prevailing sense of decency and kindness. She loves life but she is ruled by fear.

      Iya Femi: Number Three wife is a lazy cunning woman whose main concern is comfort and expensive gifts. Her main focus is to attain all of her desires, no matter the cost to the family.

      Bolanle: Number Four wife is the youngest and educated. Education has made her wise for her years and position. Unfortunately her introduction to the family causes great jealousy in the other wives... and her secret, when unveiled, will expose the family's ugly truths and will rock them all to the very depts of their foundation.

      Note: the names of the wives, Iya -, denotes Mother of Oldest child's name. Bolanle has no child, therefore is called by her familiar name.

      Wow, what nasty people.... But I can see the circumstances of their characters, as living in rural Nigeria would mold them.

      The story when I got into it was interesting and profoundly sad..... It showed a life that I could never imagine and was rich in the description, although as I said earlier, I felt the characters to be a bit flat.

      At the end, I really couldn't tell who was narrating, but it didn't matter as the climax was satisfying.
    • 4/5
      Set in contemporary Nigeria, this book explores the tensions and confusing motivations not only in modern polygamy, but in love and sexual relationships in general in a setting of difficult economic and social circumstances. While each of Baba Segi's four wives is the "voice" of some parts of the novel, the protagonist is clearly the youngest wife. While Bonalale choses to become the fourth wife to "hide" the shame of her past, her arrival in the household ends up exposing everyone's pasts in uncomfortable ways. A well-paced and engaging read with a lots of serious food for thought, despite a generally light tone.
    • 5/5
      The complexities of gender in African societies have never been exposed in a humorous yet intelligent way. Kudos to yet another Naija rising literary star
    • 5/5
      loved the way the book discussed gender issues in the context of the Nigerian society, I enjoyed how each of the wives has a distinct personality and how their back story contributed to their personality and mentality and baba segi who tried to be impartial with his wives but his humanity often came to light and the "Where is your toilet?" bit always made me laugh...overall it was a good read and I plan to read more Nigerian literature.
    • 5/5
      Simply captivating and mindblowing! Can we have this on the Cambridge Literature in English set books because THIS IS AFRICA writing.
    • 4/5
      I wanted a happier ending for Bolanle, but this was an altogether lovely and funny read. I finished it in one day.
    • 4/5
      Adult fiction. Each of Baba Segi's four wives had her own reasons for marrying him, and likewise each has her own ways of taking control over her situation. Beautifully woven story from Nigerian author Shoneyin.
    • 5/5
      A very well written story. A tragic story of a brilliant girl whose life is thrown into turmoil after a rape that strips her off of every ounce of dignity and will to live.
    • 5/5
      This book is so interesting and the drama is just captivating . It is a beautiful story with a happy ending.
    • 5/5
      It was such an entertaining read. I would highly recommend it
    • 5/5
      A very compelling story told from many neatly woven perspectives.
    • 4/5
      What is it about polygamy that makes for great fiction? This isn't as good as The Lonely Polygamist, but it is still a great read. Highly recommended (especially for Lauren B).
    • 4/5
      Very enjoyable. I laughed all the way through it. Much needed humor and wisdom in the story. My thanks to the author.
    • 3/5
      Good read
    • 5/5
      Very enjoyable book. Though many of the events are horrible - and you have to wonder about the limit of people's cruelty and pettiness! - the story explores people's various motives in life. I still don't truly understand Bolanle's motives despite her explanations, but that doesn't diminish the book's value for me.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I was attracted to the book cover with the gorgeous silhouette of this african like princess in a stunning head wrap. Beautiful cover!I had trouble following the story and the characters until I got to page 103. Written by an African-born (Nigerian) poet Lola Shoneyin in this thought-provoking debut novel that is centered around Bolanle who enters into a polygamous world in which her very presence unlocks a secret that the other wives have long guarded.There was humor, shocking moments and sadness in the novel that kept me pushing through. The Nigerian customs, culture, and traditions that I had to jump over due to the lack of knowledge, since never having traveled to the west coast of Africa. A lot of this was explained at the end in an interview with the author which was taken from her intimate life. How the four women became wives to Baba Segi was the major point of interest to me for this novel.Lola Shoneyin has a beautiful story written in prose which amplified her verse in poetry writing. A difficult read, however the totality of this novel was worth the read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      There's some humor here, and the modern Nigerian setting is interesting. But overall I found it depressing to have so many characters so manically focused on sex and children, to the exclusion of everything else. Not really my cup of tea.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin; (2 1/2*)Baba Segi is obsessed with the inability of his fourth wife (just his newest acquisition; he still has the other three) to conceive. For two years he had been 'pounding' her & still she has not become pregnant. By his other wives he has three sons and four daughters.Each wife seems to know her place within the hierarchy of the household and as long as they stick to that, things seem to run rather smoothly. But this fourth wife brought in is instantly but innocently a thorn in their sides. None of the three accept her and she is treated quite abominably. The children follow their mother's leads and are also fractious with her.This then, is the basis for Lola Shoneyin's novel. She seems to not take enough time for the events of the story; in the mind of this reader. There is a lot of talk regarding Baba Segi's body functions which after the first couple of times could have been lightened I thought. Baba Segi rotates the nights spent with each wife with the extra night belonging to his first wife.And as it says in the title this is indeed a story of his wives. Who does the cooking, the cleaning, the mending, etc. There seems to be no place for the newest wife.For me Baba Segi got what he deserved in the end when he finds the truth of events within his little family. And I guess that I didn't understand the culture within the story. It was difficult for me to wrap my head around most of the characters, adults & children alike. Though there a few laugh-out-loud occurrences in the story, all in all the effort I spent reading it didn't feel worth it at the end of the day.
    • 4/5
      Bolanle is Baba Segi’s fourth wife in a polygamous marriage. She is educated and young, and is a threat to the other wives in more ways than one. When she fails to conceive a child, Baba Segi is bereft and begins to seek answers which may uncover the biggest secret his wives have kept from him yet. Told in multiple and alternating viewpoints, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives explores the polygamist society of Nigeria by gradually revealing the secrets of the women who people the novel.Iya Segi is the first wife – large and outspoken, she is the unofficial power beneath Baba Segi’s roof. Her plan to humiliate Bolanle and drive her from their home gets lukewarm support from Iya Femi, the third wife who has vengeance on her mind and who would rather see a quicker solution to the problem.When a plan does not go right, you plot again. One day you will get it right. One day you will be able to damage the person who hurts you so completely that they will never be able to recover. I have told Iya Segi this on several occasions. I keep telling her that we need to find a permanent solution but she does not have wisdom. – from The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, page 74 -Iya Tope is the second wife, a woman whose compassion is silenced by fear. Forced into an arranged marriage to Baba Segi, Iya Tope has learned to be humble and silent in the face of wrong doing.As the story unfolds, the lives of each of these women intersect and come together to reveal the larger family of Baba Segi. Other characters are introduced, including Taju, the driver who also harbors a secret, and the many children who live in the house. Although Lola Shoneyin breaks up each person’s narrative by chapter, I found many of the characters’ voices to be interchangeable, and so sometimes I found myself struggling to keep all their stories straight in my mind.Thematically, the novel probes the rights of women in a polygamist society and in Africa in general. Baba Segi is a self-important, chauvinistic man who sees Bolanle’s inability to conceive solely her fault. His view of sex is all about his own pleasure and he refers to it in crass terms. In general, sex is not portrayed as all that desirable – for the most part, it is represented as a wifely duty for the women with the point being to produce children. Sex for pleasure is largely punished and a source of guilt in the novel.Shoneyin shows the inequality of women in her book, and all but Bolanle are portrayed as conniving, manipulative and vengeful. It made me wonder how accurate the novel is with regard to women in African society. Ultimately, Shoneyin provides for some redemption and forgiveness in her book about family secrets, betrayal, and disloyalty.I found this to be an easy book to read. The individual stories are laced with myth, parables and folk lore. I enjoyed the gradual revealing of each character’s secret – a bit like peeling the layers off of an onion. Shoneyin managed to surprise me a bit with Baba Segi’s character who is so stereotypical at the outset, but managed to grow into a person who had depth and empathy by the end of the book.The plot of this book is original, although the characters felt a little bit undeveloped to me. Shoneyin captures the flavor of a paternalistic society well.The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives was nominated for the 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction and will appeal to readers who enjoy African literature.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Although of little relevance, I thought I needed to say that this story reminded me a bit of Su Tong's novella, Raise the Red Lantern, a story of a polygamous family in 1930's China, mainly due to the jealousy and rivalry between 3 wives against the 4th youngest one.

      The general pace of the novel is very good, starting off in a lighter tone and getting more serious in the second half, which shows excellent writing. The idea of having the the Point of View vary in the chapters among the wives is also a artistic literary device, but because the narrative style is similar, you don't know which wife is speaking in which chapter until you are about halfway though it, and to me this was a big flaw, and the author lost a star because of this in my rating.

      The satirical caricature of the polygamist Baba Segi, was very amusing and served as a wry comment on male dominance in patriarchal cultures.
      All the characters are engaging and full of humor, wit, malice, spite, and even some charm as well.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This book has been in my" to read" pile for sometime. I am not sure what made me less than excited to read it. Possibly the cover art and title implied that it would be a tedious folk story. I did pull it out of the pile because it was smaller than the rest and would fit in my luggage as I packed for an out of town job. I am glad I packed it!This book is not a folk story. If you can read this book without judging the polygamist life style and making any assumptions you will find it to be a very enlightening, brutally truthful story. This is a story of life in Nigeria. A place most Americans know little about. It is the story of four Nigerian wives and their polygamous husband. It brings some a very different view points to light. The characters are will written and three dimensional. The writing style retains some of the African flavor of the Nigerian language with many proverbs and colorful sayings throughout the book. Each chapter of the book is told by a different character. At times, it was a bit confusing, because the character that was speaking was not immediately identified. As you read it became apparent who the chapter was about. It kept me from becoming a lazy reader.If you are looking for a change of pace, put this one on the top of your "to read" pile!Thank you to William Morrow Paperbacks for the opportunity to read and review this book.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Bolanle is the youngest and newest wife to enter Baba Sagi's household. The only one of the wives that is educated, Bonanle presents a threat to the other wives - in more ways than one. They are intimidated by her education and concerned that a secret shared by all three wives will be revealed. So begins the plight of the women who are the cornerstone to The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives.Told from alternating viewpoints, Lola Shoneyin gives her readers just enough to keep the story moving, uncovering small angles of the story with each chapter. We learn about each wife: Iya Segi, Iya Tope and Iya Femi as well as Bolanle and Babi Segi. Individually, their stories are a fascinating look at polygamous marriage and how they came to marry Babi Segi.While the entire story was engaging, I found the first three wives to be horrible, conniving and distrustful. I didn't like them, even as I learned their "backstories." Baba Segi was even less likeable. Bonanle was the saving grace, and I was usually relieved when I learned the next chapter would be told from her point of view. The ending was sad - unnecessarily tragic - and I let out a big sigh when I finished this book. All in all, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives was just an average read for me. Be sure to check out others' reviews, though, before deciding to read this book.
    • 3/5
      What secret could Iya Segi, Baba Segi’s first wife, possibly have? What about his second wife, Iya Tope? What is she hiding? Could Iya Femi, wife number three, also have a secret? If so, what is it?Why is the childlessness of wife number four a threat to the others? Does the fact that she’s a college graduate have anything to do with the threat? What lengths will the first three wives go to, to rid Baba Segi’s household of her?Lola Shoneyin’s novel, “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives,” which takes place in Nigeria, is an intricate tale told through narrative accounts of the characters. Unfortunately, the reader must pay careful attention to the names of the wives, so as not to get them confused, and must study the characters to recognize the various voices as they take turns narrating. As each wife peels away a layer of the onion that is Baba Segi’s life, the truth stings the senses even as the confessions cause tears and cleanse souls. Will the large household survive the secret lives of the four wives?Review by Deb Carpenter-Nolting
    • 4/5
      Baba Segi’s motto goes something like this: why settle for one wife when four will do? And so he doesn’t….settle, that is. His proudest achievement is his seven children, produced by wives one, two and three. But this fourth and youngest wife, the only one with a college degree, is apparently barren. Or is she? The medical testing will reveal the truth about that; in the meantime, this young, talented author will reveal a bit about Baba Segi’s wives who all, apparently, have secrets. Well-hidden secrets. Secrets that Baba knows nothing about.Each of the wives reveals their true personality traits, which range from vindictive to fearful to scheming. But it’s his youngest wife’s ability to expose them for what they really are that leads Baba to a shocking truth that shatters all that he ever believed.This is a debut novel and, as such, had a few flaws, but I see a bright future for Lola Shoneyin. It doesn’t hurt that she made this year’s long list for the Orange Prize and I really appreciated her lovely prose:“The rich have fat bellies. They swagger until the world swings to one side. They see more food and they lunge at it. They have a permanent hunger, you see. For the poor, it’s different. They’ve never known the taste of fullness, so they scramble for leftovers, not because they are hungry but because they want to know fullness, the contentment that makes the rich think the world is theirs.” (Page 247)Witty and vibrantly told, this novel is well-worth your time.
    • 4/5
      I loved this style of narration, and the language employed by the author in the book. It is warm, lively, and sometimes, tongue in cheek. Lola Shoneyin is first a poet, and it shows in this novel. Her use of metaphors and similes were spare, but very fitting, and the imagery in most instances very lucid. There was very little verbosity, and it was effortless to hear the voices of the characters in my head. I later read a commentator mention that the author uses a kind of English from transliterated Yoruba, I don't know how true this is since I do not speak Yoruba, but the style certainly works for me in the book. It is not only the style and language that refreshes in this book, but the empathy with which the women of Baba Segi are portrayed. They are not `tear-eye' monsters out to use Baba Segi's money for lace and gold, neither are they lazy buffoons, content to sit on their backside just because they are now married to an affluent man. In addition to their back stories; Iya Segi as an shrewd businesswoman, Iya Tope as industrious, if slow-witted, and Iya Femi as a hardworking maid with dreams of marrying the madam's son; they are as wives who bear this stirring secret, women you find it easy to identify with, to cheer on, to like, even if not love. Even when their secrets drive them to extremes of behavior and tragedy, we still see the humanity that lies beneath. Lola Shoneyin's book is a definite conversation starter and is written with an occasional humor that only adds to the depth of the work. The book tackles the sometimes deplorable status of women in Nigeria, and is not afraid to say it like it is. The author writes about real issues and real women, and made an often-told story one that engages and edifies. There are many secrets in this book, just like a lot of us have in our lives, and it is sometimes only by letting the secret out that we achieve true liberty. This was an enjoyable book and I will recommend it to anyone.
    • 3/5
      Bolanle is the youngest, fourth wife of Baba Segi, a wealthy Nigerian man. She is also educated, and is somewhat torn between tradition and an independent bent. I really enjoyed this aspect of her character -- she very much wants to fit in with the family and the other wives, and most of all give Baba Segi a child, but at the same time she entertains fantasies of teaching the other wives and showing them a better, more modern way of life. She learns pretty quickly that her education has not prepared her for navigating the treacherous waters of her new household, however.This book drew me in quickly, and I was interested in the subject matter, but overall I found myself somewhat confused by the tone. It was often rather humorous or satirical, particularly when describing Baba Segi, but when tragic events occur in the narrative, the tone seems a little misplaced.
    • 3/5
      The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, set in modern-day Nigeria, tells the story of businessman Baba Segi and his four wives: Iya Segi, Iya Tope, Iya Femi, and Bolanle. The story begins with the addition of Bolanle, the fourth wife, to the family. Bolanle is everything the other three wives aren’t – young, educated, and beautiful – and the others clearly resent her for it. When Bolanle discovers that she cannot conceive, she feels ashamed and fears the wrath of Baba Segi. Through her pain, though, she eventually turns to the other wives and uncovers a huge secret that has been running through this household for years.I’m not sure what to think about this book. I was excited to read it, I enjoy books that look at cultures other than my own, and a polygamous family in Nigeria certainly qualifies as that. Ultimately, however, the book overall was a disappointment to me. There were some aspects of it I enjoyed, but mostly I found myself less than impressed.First of all, the characterization of three of the four wives (with the exception of Bolanle) and Baba Segi left much to be desired. None of them seemed like actual people to me, Baba Segi for one felt like a stereotype of a polygamous husband – he was rude, ugly, didn’t much care about his wives, and placed their value on the children they gave him. The story was told in alternating points of view, with each wife narrating some of the chapters, and the unfortunate part of it was that I never could tell who was speaking, except from context. The three older wives blended together into one character – they did not have distinct personalities and voices. In fact, I began telling them apart by the names of their children, not their personalities, as that was just the easiest way to keep them straight.The other issue I had with the book, and I don’t quite know how to explain this, but I can’t figure out what the book was trying to do. If it was attempting to illuminate the issues of a modern-day polygamous family in Nigeria, I guess it sort of worked. But if it was trying to say something about the validity of said marriages in a cultural context, it was a failure in my opinion because the ending almost makes a mockery of this entire marriage. It’s strange – I actually really liked the ending, I was very entertained by it and it made me sort of enjoy the book overall, yet it sort of made me want to go back and laugh at everything else in the story. It’s difficult to explain, as I can’t give away the family secret, but it just made everything sort of funny and strange at the same time.I did, however, enjoy the character of Bolanle, and perhaps the book would have been better if it had been written from her perspective only. She was the only character I understood and could differentiate from the others, and her voice was the only one I really “got”. She was carrying around pain and secrets of her own, and I really felt for her – she got involved with this already-complete family, couldn’t fall in with the other wives, couldn’t produce a child, and Baba Segi was no help. She was really alone in her situation, and consequently I could really root for her.So, no I can’t really recommend The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, but on the other hand I’m not exactly sorry I read it either. It’s just one of those books, I suppose.
    • 2/5
      I looked forward to reading this book. Why, another look at a marriage with more than one spouse, and another culture. It was very hard to even like the husband of the 4 wives, Baba Segi. He was a throw-back from the distant past. An alpha-male to the extreme. He valued his wives by the children they bore for him, especially a male child. What a surprise!And the 4 wives. Three of them were hard to even like. The fourth wife was the youngest and the only one who was educated. She was hated by the other wives. Bolanle (her name) suffered in silence, never expressing Her cruel treatment by the other wives, and even the husband.I almost gave up on this book. But, there is a small part almost at the end which almost makes it not a waste of time to have read this book. I will leave this surprise for other readers who take a chance that they might like this type of book.
    • 4/5
      When Baba Segi brings home his fourth wife, Bolanle, an educated woman, he is completely unaware of the conflict this would create in his home. Two of the other wives are convinced that Bolanle is a witch, trying to disrupt their home, and vow to everything they can to get rid of her, while the last wife is too timid to do anything about it. But Bolanle has secrets of her own, which threaten to draw out the secrets of all the women in the home. While Shoneyin's writing vividly describes these people and their lives, I have mixed feelings about this book. A full and complete portrait is drawn of each woman, and yet the story still seems to come off as an innocent women walking into a nest of vipers. The women are nasty and cruel, which is fine, as I have no doubt that this kind of behavior happens. I can see this story as though it happened in real live. It's as thought I could travel to Africa and perhaps meet just these people. And yet, I was slightly disappointed by how things turned out. No one seemed to learn anything, except perhaps Bonlanle, but even then I'm not quite sure how she came to do so. How did what happened bring her to the conclusions she comes to? I wanted something more to happen, something more to develop from what unfolds, and yet, what happened seems the only natural course for things to turn out. So, yeah, I guess all I can say is that I'm torn.