Harare Review of Books

304 pages.

First published in 2021.

Finished reading on 20 Sept 2021.

Genre: Non-fiction.

My review is not going to do justice to this book. I am so blown away.

The Sex Lives of African Women is a beautifully curated collection of stories of African women (and women of Afrodescent). It is about their sex lives, yes; but it is about whole persons, about their lives, struggles, and dreams.

I was deeply moved, very surprised (how naive I am! LOL. More things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio!), and inspired. I could relate to many stories. I also empathised deeply, because some of these stories are incredibly sad, with no neat conclusion. How liberated some of these women are! How inspiring their freedom is!

I’ve never read a book like this before, which tells me a lot about how contemporary African women’s voices are curated, how the narrative is controlled, and about the gatekeeping in the publishing industry. That’s one of the reasons this book was so stunning for me. African women speaking so freely about subjects that are normally taboo? Amazing. For this alone, read the book.

But read it also because it’s really well-written, and will open your eyes. It’s like African women finally in colour, after years of grainy black and white.

(I will just acknowledge here that some of my awe may be because I have not been exposed to similar writing before; it may be out there, so please point me to it.)

Rated: 10/10. It receives my highest commendation.

Trigger warnings for sexual abuse, other forms of abuse, domestic violence, pregnancy loss, abortion, FGM. This is necessary because of the subject, and because these are real stories, and is not in any way gratuitous.