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The Fury and Cries of Women
Depuis une dizaine d'années, Emilienne cherche, par tous les moyens, à donner à Joseph, son époux, le fils qu'il désire. Un jour, leur fille unique âgée de douze ans meurt. Meurtrie, Emilienne s'accroche avec une obstination humiliante à un époux très fortement influencé par une mère qui souhaite le voir divorcer et l'incite à vivre avec sa maîtresse. Immensément désespérée, Emilienne se réfugie dans une boulimie et une ivrognerie suicidaires. Entre une visite médicale et des séances de magnétisme, elle échoue, lamentable, dans les bras de sa secrétaire. Elle entretiendra, avec elle, une liaison amoureuse confuse et pleine de risques. Le récit que voici se déroule dans un climat ponctué de doutes déroutants, d'incertitudes dangereuses et de complots qui ébranlent les quatre personnages principaux. D'un bout à l'autre du roman, Emilienne se livre à des monologues poignants, échos et reflets des rapports qui secouent et écartèlent un couple mutilé par l'absence d'enfants, par l'influence négative de la belle-mère et par l'ombre menaçante de la rivale d'Emilienne.
232 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
July 28, 2023
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A beautiful heartbreaking and touching story. I don't even know how to describe the amount of pain, anger and relief I am feeling as I am finishing this novel. The protagonist goes through so much and ends up overcoming her fears and healing for herself and not to please others, like at the beginning of the novel, which I find wonderful. Such a great empowering piece of literature that truly made me reflect on life and priorities and self-worth. I recommend, although it is a very tragic story, it is somehow poetic and beautiful.
A beautiful heartbreaking and touching story. I don't even know how to describe the amount of pain, anger and relief I am feeling as I am finishing this novel. The protagonist goes through so much and ends up overcoming her fears and healing for herself and not to please others, like at the beginning of the novel, which I find wonderful. Such a great empowering piece of literature that truly made me reflect on life and priorities and self-worth. I recommend, although it is a very tragic story, it is somehow poetic and beautiful.
December 31, 2019
A very interesting portrayal of a woman struggling to establish and assert herself in a way that doesn't define her entirely through her husband, despite the fact she earns more than him, and provides the house in which her husband and mother in law live. The novel is about her confusion, and in some ways confused itself. It's specific to a privileged class, though Emilienne does link her struggles to those of working class and rural women (at one point at an international conference, the one point at which her work seems to have any real meaning). However, when she ventures briefly into an impoverished part of her city (in a fictional country that is presumably a lot like Gabon), she witnesses a murder in a bar, which seems a rather melodramatic way to represent social ills. And the representation of her lesbian relationship is also rather dismissive. But it is represented, as is tribal resentment for example, and this all adds to an interestingly complex rendering of a character and of a society that values women only in so far as they bear children and tend to the needs of men, though maybe these powerful forces can be resisted.
February 11, 2022
Gabonese literature is something with very little exposure to beyond francophone countries and even so, it was one of the African countries where the national literature started of quite late. Thus, I was happy when I found a novel translated into English (as my French is really rusty and I hardly could read literature in it).
And the prose of Angele Rawiri is quite a nice read. The characters are very good and the relationship between them are sufficiently detailed and intricate to make it an interesting book. However, I had a feeling of reading a novel out of which a soap opera could be made as it focuses very much on the drama and tragedies of relationship between a complicated family, both for personal reasons and for social ones.
I also liked to learn how the complicated ethnical background of various people affect the ordinary life in Africa, which is something that is relatively minor in many European countries which are very much created on ethnical lines and even in the case of exceptions, there is a very strong tendency to accept the people which are different than you.
And the prose of Angele Rawiri is quite a nice read. The characters are very good and the relationship between them are sufficiently detailed and intricate to make it an interesting book. However, I had a feeling of reading a novel out of which a soap opera could be made as it focuses very much on the drama and tragedies of relationship between a complicated family, both for personal reasons and for social ones.
I also liked to learn how the complicated ethnical background of various people affect the ordinary life in Africa, which is something that is relatively minor in many European countries which are very much created on ethnical lines and even in the case of exceptions, there is a very strong tendency to accept the people which are different than you.
August 1, 2021
Around the World Reading Challenge: GABON
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I enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it. The writing style didn't totally resonate with me, which could fully be an issue of translation, but it did prevent me from fully immersing myself in the story. I also just found it a bit depressing. I'm glad to have read it, but it just wasn't fully my cup of tea. I was also a bit disappointed that, given some of the more feminist strides made in this novel, that the depiction of queerness wasn't handled quite so deftly, though that's not entirely unexpected given the time period, and the fact that the novel explicitly includes and names "lesbianism" is a stride in and of itself.
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I enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it. The writing style didn't totally resonate with me, which could fully be an issue of translation, but it did prevent me from fully immersing myself in the story. I also just found it a bit depressing. I'm glad to have read it, but it just wasn't fully my cup of tea. I was also a bit disappointed that, given some of the more feminist strides made in this novel, that the depiction of queerness wasn't handled quite so deftly, though that's not entirely unexpected given the time period, and the fact that the novel explicitly includes and names "lesbianism" is a stride in and of itself.
January 29, 2026
Le pongo tres estrellas por un final francamente sorprendente. En otro caso no pasaría de una o dos estrellas. Personajes poco creíbles, argumentos y situaciones extremadamente forzadas y nada creíbles en su mayoría. Giros no entendibles que no aportan nada ni tienen sentido. Divagaciones no creíbles... Esperaba más. A por otro...
December 20, 2025
I found the narrative in this quite jarring which made it difficult to really enjoy this book.
August 22, 2026
“let’s have the courage to recognize that we are a selfish tribal people. Take a look at what is happening in the ministries and state-owned companies! First they hire a member of the family, regardless of their abilities, and, if they have none, they look among those around them from their own ethnic group. No, believe me, in order to have a real multiparty system, Africans are going to have to manage to place national interests above their own. In the meantime, the single-party system seems to be what we need. Let me explain: when a country is under the aegis of a single party, its nationals, whatever group they’re from, are forced to meet, discuss, and exchange their opinions about issues that concern them all. They don’t have the time to dwell on tribal issues. Collective motivations almost always win against frictions between individuals. Obviously, with such a political alliance, men learn how to tolerate one another, to love one another, and above all to work toward the same ideals. Isn’t that the goal sought by our leaders!"
This is a casual conversation between friends towards the end of the book, at a dinner table, and it's how half the dialogue in this book is, as if a character had stopped addressing the other characters and had instead started addressing an audience. It's not even meta, it's simply bizarre, as if there were facts the author had to get across but didn't know how to naturally weave into dialogue.
The other half is everyone being absolutely feral. Characters genuinely respond to a 'good morning' by spitting out two pages of vicious offense. And that's everyone, all the time. There must be about four exchanges in the book that aren't colored by sheer wrath. Despite the title, it's not only from the women, or not even in interactions between women and men. At one point, I was incredibly fatigued and unimpressed by the fact that the leading character, Émilienne, seemed to be written as the only good person in the world, but ultimately she's just slightly less abhorrent than everyone else, given how she behaves around other humans. And the tidal wave of ire is constant but hardly ever goes anywhere, it's ludicrous. At one point, Émilienne's mother-in-law literally butchers the family dog with a machete and is caught doing it, owns up to it and a few pages later they're fine, they're in a truce, Émilienne's entertaining the possibility that the woman has given up trying to break up their marriage after 15 years of attempts. Likewise, when Émilienne's at her breaking point and goes to her family home for support, her parents and sister gang up on her out of nowhere saying how selfish she is for moping and grieving the recent death of her 13 year old daughter, a seemingly massive disagreement that is also immediately abandoned after.
I don't question the literary significance of this book and the themes themselves are not only important but would also have spoken to me easily. But the experience of reading it is horrendous. I felt invaded by the anger written into every page as I kept trying to extract something out of the book and getting close to nothing. It occasionally soars during inner monologues but every piece of dialogue is outrageous and exhausting to read.
This is a casual conversation between friends towards the end of the book, at a dinner table, and it's how half the dialogue in this book is, as if a character had stopped addressing the other characters and had instead started addressing an audience. It's not even meta, it's simply bizarre, as if there were facts the author had to get across but didn't know how to naturally weave into dialogue.
The other half is everyone being absolutely feral. Characters genuinely respond to a 'good morning' by spitting out two pages of vicious offense. And that's everyone, all the time. There must be about four exchanges in the book that aren't colored by sheer wrath. Despite the title, it's not only from the women, or not even in interactions between women and men. At one point, I was incredibly fatigued and unimpressed by the fact that the leading character, Émilienne, seemed to be written as the only good person in the world, but ultimately she's just slightly less abhorrent than everyone else, given how she behaves around other humans. And the tidal wave of ire is constant but hardly ever goes anywhere, it's ludicrous. At one point, Émilienne's mother-in-law literally butchers the family dog with a machete and is caught doing it, owns up to it and a few pages later they're fine, they're in a truce, Émilienne's entertaining the possibility that the woman has given up trying to break up their marriage after 15 years of attempts. Likewise, when Émilienne's at her breaking point and goes to her family home for support, her parents and sister gang up on her out of nowhere saying how selfish she is for moping and grieving the recent death of her 13 year old daughter, a seemingly massive disagreement that is also immediately abandoned after.
I don't question the literary significance of this book and the themes themselves are not only important but would also have spoken to me easily. But the experience of reading it is horrendous. I felt invaded by the anger written into every page as I kept trying to extract something out of the book and getting close to nothing. It occasionally soars during inner monologues but every piece of dialogue is outrageous and exhausting to read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 22, 2026
Autora de Gabón.
Emilienne una mujer con estudios, buena posición laboral y económica, casada con un hombre al que conoció en la universidad en París. Siendo de etnias diferentes sus familias se opusieron a su matrimonio, pero ellos se casaron por amor. La novela se sitúa varios años después, cuando el matrimonio hace aguas porque ella solo ha tenido una hija, la cual además es asesinada con solo 12 años. El deterioro de la convivencia, su dificultad para tener más hijos, las infidelidades del marido y la manipulación de una suegra perversa conducen su situación insostenible que le lleva a buscar consuelo en los brazos de su secretaria, Dominique.
Tema de la fertilidad de las mujeres, consideradas solo como procreadoras; el machismo de una sociedad donde el hombre tiene que ganar más que la mujer y para cubrir sus necesidades puede necesitar amantes o elegir la poligamia; el tribalismo, los tratamientos de curanderos y visionarios; la corrupción política; la importancia de la familia pero donde el ser madre, el tener hijos es imprescindible para ser una mujer completa, que es el tema central sobre lo que todo gira.
Emmilienne se debate entre su amor por Joseph, la atracción física que sigue sintiendo por él , y los desplantes y humillaciones a las que la somete. Lo mismo la suegra, que es capaz de planificar el encuentro entre la amante de su hijo
y Emmilienne para conseguir que su hijo se divorcie de ella (giro sorprendente al ser la secretaria Dominique, la amante de su marido y madre de dos hijos con él, con una relación que lleva más de 9 años, cuando aparentemente eran Emmilienne y Joseph eran "felices". Dominique, instigada por la suegra, se acerca a la protagonista para ganarse su confianza, liarse con ella y precipitar el divorcio).
Es necesario que Emmilienne caiga muy bajo, se desprecie a sí misma por su esterilidad, se siga sometiendo a procedimientos más que dudosos para "curarse" hasta que tome la decisión de la ruptura. Paradójicamente esta sucederá cuando sabe que está embarazada:el tener un hijo, que durante todo el libro era lo que podía salvar su matrimonio, ya no es suficiente para ella. Y probablemente con una carga de simbolismo, su embarazo coincide con la muerte de su hermana a causa de un feto muerto: la maternidad, idealizada y considerada el primer objetivo en la vida de una mujer, puede llevar a la muerte.
Escrito en primera persona con la voz de Emmilienne, se alterna con la voz de un narrador externo y en algunos fragmentos con la del propio Joseph o la de la suegra.
Se lee bien aunque en algún momento es algo reiterativo con el tema de la fertilidad o con algunas parrafadas para poner en evidencia determinados temas políticos o sociales.
Libro escrito en 1989, supone un avance importante de la situación de la mujer en Gabón, siendo una pionera en escribir sobre estos temas.
Emilienne una mujer con estudios, buena posición laboral y económica, casada con un hombre al que conoció en la universidad en París. Siendo de etnias diferentes sus familias se opusieron a su matrimonio, pero ellos se casaron por amor. La novela se sitúa varios años después, cuando el matrimonio hace aguas porque ella solo ha tenido una hija, la cual además es asesinada con solo 12 años. El deterioro de la convivencia, su dificultad para tener más hijos, las infidelidades del marido y la manipulación de una suegra perversa conducen su situación insostenible que le lleva a buscar consuelo en los brazos de su secretaria, Dominique.
Tema de la fertilidad de las mujeres, consideradas solo como procreadoras; el machismo de una sociedad donde el hombre tiene que ganar más que la mujer y para cubrir sus necesidades puede necesitar amantes o elegir la poligamia; el tribalismo, los tratamientos de curanderos y visionarios; la corrupción política; la importancia de la familia pero donde el ser madre, el tener hijos es imprescindible para ser una mujer completa, que es el tema central sobre lo que todo gira.
Emmilienne se debate entre su amor por Joseph, la atracción física que sigue sintiendo por él , y los desplantes y humillaciones a las que la somete. Lo mismo la suegra, que es capaz de planificar el encuentro entre la amante de su hijo
y Emmilienne para conseguir que su hijo se divorcie de ella (giro sorprendente al ser la secretaria Dominique, la amante de su marido y madre de dos hijos con él, con una relación que lleva más de 9 años, cuando aparentemente eran Emmilienne y Joseph eran "felices". Dominique, instigada por la suegra, se acerca a la protagonista para ganarse su confianza, liarse con ella y precipitar el divorcio).
Es necesario que Emmilienne caiga muy bajo, se desprecie a sí misma por su esterilidad, se siga sometiendo a procedimientos más que dudosos para "curarse" hasta que tome la decisión de la ruptura. Paradójicamente esta sucederá cuando sabe que está embarazada:el tener un hijo, que durante todo el libro era lo que podía salvar su matrimonio, ya no es suficiente para ella. Y probablemente con una carga de simbolismo, su embarazo coincide con la muerte de su hermana a causa de un feto muerto: la maternidad, idealizada y considerada el primer objetivo en la vida de una mujer, puede llevar a la muerte.
Escrito en primera persona con la voz de Emmilienne, se alterna con la voz de un narrador externo y en algunos fragmentos con la del propio Joseph o la de la suegra.
Se lee bien aunque en algún momento es algo reiterativo con el tema de la fertilidad o con algunas parrafadas para poner en evidencia determinados temas políticos o sociales.
Libro escrito en 1989, supone un avance importante de la situación de la mujer en Gabón, siendo una pionera en escribir sobre estos temas.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2021
Emilienne is well-educated, wealthy and very successful; more successful, in fact, than her husband Joseph. Theirs has been a match of love: they married against opposition from their respective families, who are from different regions and tribes. But the years have taken their toll on the marriage. Emilienne and Joseph had one daughter, Rékia, very early on; but since then, Emilienne’s many efforts to conceive have all been in van: every time she’s conceived, she’s had a miscarriage. Distressed and frustrated, Emilienne is also painfully aware that Joseph has lost interest in her and has acquired a mistress...
The Fury and Cries of Women is an interesting look at feminism in Africa. One would expect that a well-educated and progressive woman like Emilienne would not want to be so obsessed with having children, but this, instead, turns out to be an empowering aspect of womanhood: the power to bring forth life. The way Rawiri depicts Emilienne, raw and emotional, warts and all, brings her vividly alive. This is a woman who can be both introspective and cautious, as well as impulsive and brash; who, despite all her education, doesn’t baulk from turning to traditional medicine and witch doctors to solve her problem. A woman who’s an interesting (and possibly very real?) mix of West ad Africa, of modernity and tradition.
The homosexuality in the plot was something which didn’t ring true for me; this was a bolt out of the blue, and I could not see any reason for one of the people involved to have entered that relationship. Could someone with no predilection for a same sex relationship so calmly get into a relationship with another person of the same gender? I don’t know, though I suppose Rawiri was implying that extreme stress and unhappiness can send people into the arms of even those they’d never have thought of in erotic (or romantic) terms before. Whatever the case, I found this a little false, and the way the relationship was ended was somehow not just one-sided, but hard-hearted. Not what I’d have expected from a nuanced and sensitive character like Emilienne.
The Fury and Cries of Women is an interesting look at feminism in Africa. One would expect that a well-educated and progressive woman like Emilienne would not want to be so obsessed with having children, but this, instead, turns out to be an empowering aspect of womanhood: the power to bring forth life. The way Rawiri depicts Emilienne, raw and emotional, warts and all, brings her vividly alive. This is a woman who can be both introspective and cautious, as well as impulsive and brash; who, despite all her education, doesn’t baulk from turning to traditional medicine and witch doctors to solve her problem. A woman who’s an interesting (and possibly very real?) mix of West ad Africa, of modernity and tradition.
The homosexuality in the plot was something which didn’t ring true for me; this was a bolt out of the blue, and I could not see any reason for one of the people involved to have entered that relationship. Could someone with no predilection for a same sex relationship so calmly get into a relationship with another person of the same gender? I don’t know, though I suppose Rawiri was implying that extreme stress and unhappiness can send people into the arms of even those they’d never have thought of in erotic (or romantic) terms before. Whatever the case, I found this a little false, and the way the relationship was ended was somehow not just one-sided, but hard-hearted. Not what I’d have expected from a nuanced and sensitive character like Emilienne.
March 4, 2022
The Fury and Cries of Women is a novel by Angèle Rawiri, the first novelist of any gender from the country of Gabon. It was translated from the French by Sara Hanaburgh. It focuses on Emilienne, a woman whose marriage is falling apart—she’s dealing with multiple miscarriages, her mother-in-law is determined to undermine her at any cost, and her husband is sleeping with another woman. Then, her only daughter is murdered.
It’s a powerful novel about the sexist pressures imposed on women in Central Africa, from the shaming of infertile women to the way that her husband feels insecure and threatened because she earns more than he does. The book explores queerness (albeit in a toxic way), internalized sexism, grief, and Rawiri’s tug-of-war between the fierce loneliness of independence and her desire to stay with the man she chose to marry over their parents’ objections.
Content warnings for fatphobia, infertility and prejudice against infertile women, tribalism, miscarriage depiction, child’s death, AIDS fear, disordered eating, alcoholism, homophobia.
It’s a powerful novel about the sexist pressures imposed on women in Central Africa, from the shaming of infertile women to the way that her husband feels insecure and threatened because she earns more than he does. The book explores queerness (albeit in a toxic way), internalized sexism, grief, and Rawiri’s tug-of-war between the fierce loneliness of independence and her desire to stay with the man she chose to marry over their parents’ objections.
Content warnings for fatphobia, infertility and prejudice against infertile women, tribalism, miscarriage depiction, child’s death, AIDS fear, disordered eating, alcoholism, homophobia.
May 12, 2024
I do feel this book was crying out for first person narration and the way, at least through the translation the 3rd person narration takes place we are kind of distanced somewhat from the characters. This is an interesting portrait of a woman trying to find a way to find her place in the world separate from her husband and also coming to terms with not being able to have more children which her husband and society expect and value her by.
Many of the African books I have read were quite male centred ( although far from all of them) so it was great to have something written by and focussing on women.
It took me a bit to stick with the narration but I was very glad I did. I still would be a little cautious on who I would recommend this to except people trying to read a book from each country in the world but I was very glad I stuck with it.
Many of the African books I have read were quite male centred ( although far from all of them) so it was great to have something written by and focussing on women.
It took me a bit to stick with the narration but I was very glad I did. I still would be a little cautious on who I would recommend this to except people trying to read a book from each country in the world but I was very glad I stuck with it.
August 25, 2020
Fureurs et cris de femme, while detailing a seemingly mundane life of a wife struggling with sterility and a cheating husband, is anything but banal. Through the depiction of Emilienne’s daily life and struggles with gender expectations, Rawiri cleverly critiques misogynistic concepts of women’s worth such as maternity, sterility, and work (especially how they should only be valued for domestic work, and should never make more than their husband). The plot twist at the end is mind-blowing, though the book’s pace is a bit slow and some parts are repetitive.
July 18, 2022
This novel is incredibly violent and brutal. Within the first four chapters the main character has had a miscarriage, seen her daughters corpse and witnessed a murder. The book is well written, so these scenes feel very evocative and immersive.
The main character Emilienne has a good career, money and has defied her family in her marriage. However she is barren after having one daughter and her husband is straying away from her and threatening their marriage and her love for him. In this novel she battles with the traditional role of women vs her career, a woman as a wife and a mother.
The main character Emilienne has a good career, money and has defied her family in her marriage. However she is barren after having one daughter and her husband is straying away from her and threatening their marriage and her love for him. In this novel she battles with the traditional role of women vs her career, a woman as a wife and a mother.
February 14, 2024
I don't typically read a lot of literary fiction so take my review with a grain of salt.
I'm kind of baffled by the ending. It felt like the whole story was very drawn out and then suddenly Emilienne came to a decision. Also everything with her sister on top of that.
I struggled initially but then got into it. Interesting that there is a lesbian relationship in this but it wasn't a particularly healthy relationship.
It was a bit frustrating to read as the perspectives would change suddenly and without warning.
Its clearly a very influential book and I get why that is.
I'm kind of baffled by the ending. It felt like the whole story was very drawn out and then suddenly Emilienne came to a decision. Also everything with her sister on top of that.
I struggled initially but then got into it. Interesting that there is a lesbian relationship in this but it wasn't a particularly healthy relationship.
It was a bit frustrating to read as the perspectives would change suddenly and without warning.
Its clearly a very influential book and I get why that is.
March 11, 2019
This resonated. Despite her degree, her job that pays more than her husband her societal standing is predicated on her ability (or not) to have children. Written in the 1980’s it seems from my limited experience to be ahead of its time in discussing feminism, bereavement, infertility, child mortality, childbirth mortality, lesbianism and the role of women many of which I think are still relatively taboo in some societies. Probably 4.5 but has a rather abrupt ending.
May 14, 2025
É muito doloroso perceber que em pleno século XXI, quando mulheres supostamente possuem, pelo menos em alguns lugares do mundo, direitos iguais aos homens, tais direitos sejam desconsiderados se ela não é esposa e mãe, sendo a maternidade imposta como a única firma possível de realização pessoal. Fui difícil ler este livro, mas foi também um aprendizado sobre o quanto a luta feminista ainda está longe de terminar.
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August 1, 2019The latest entry for The Africa Book Challenge The Fury and Cries of Women is now available.
Click on the URL on the profile page to learn more about this fascinating exploration of a woman's struggle with infertility, marital issues, and loss by a pioneering Gabonese author.
Click on the URL on the profile page to learn more about this fascinating exploration of a woman's struggle with infertility, marital issues, and loss by a pioneering Gabonese author.
October 16, 2021
3,5 pour être précise. Ce livre aborde sous un angle novateur le sujet, maintes fois traité, de l’infertilité. J’ai apprécié la touche personnelle de l’auteure. Ce qui a manqué, c’est sans doute les émotions attendues face à tant de désespoirs. Le style narratif sans doute…
December 6, 2021
I just don't think I have sympathy for upper class women who have every avenue to leave a marriage that is not benefitting them but decide to make themselves the victim
October 2, 2023
Desafío "Leyendo a través de África 2023": Gabón (créditos a Lee (Books With Lee)).
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January 17, 2025Gabon
Excellent
Excellent
March 26, 2025
read around the world: gabon
this is a story about cheating husbands and infertility and women’s rights in africa! good but short and predictable “bad guy”
this is a story about cheating husbands and infertility and women’s rights in africa! good but short and predictable “bad guy”
August 21, 2022
Trigger warnings for death of a child, animal abuse, and discussions of miscarriage and infertility.
The Fury and Cries of Women is set in the 1980s and it’s one of those stories that seems as relevant today as when it was first published in 1989. Emilienne has a good job (that earns more than her husband) and she’s educated but all society and those closest to her seem to care about is her ability to have children – and she’s not immune to those thoughts either.
The Fury and Cries of Women can be a tough read at times because Emilienne puts up with so much from everyone around her including her parents, her sister, her husband and her mother-in-law that it’s surprising to takes her so long to snap at them when I got so mad at them when just reading about it. Her mother-in-law is especially awful as she thinks Emilienne is not good enough for her son and she conspires to end their marriage, even reaching out to her son’s mistress. Meanwhile, while the things they say are still bad, at least it’s still clear that Emilienne’s family cares about her.
I feel like The Fury and Cries of Women would be difficult read for any woman who doesn’t have children, whether by choice or because they have their own fertility issues and heartbreak. The things characters say about women who don’t have children (never considering the fact they may not be able to) are incredibly harsh and are along the lines of “a woman’s purpose is to be a mother”, “you’re not a real woman if you don’t have children”, “it won’t be your husband’s fault if he leaves you because the role of the wife is to produce an heir” etc. Emilienne wants to have more children but ever since her daughter she’s not been able to carry a pregnancy to term in years. In fact, the opening chapter has Emilienne going through a miscarriage alone in her bed and she struggles to clean herself and hide the evidence from her husband of what she deems as another failure. Emilienne feels like a failure and when everyone around her is pretty much saying the same it’s not a surprise.
Her husband Joseph is pretty much absent from their marriage. He stays for days or weeks at his mistress’s house, moving clothes out of his marital home, ad constantly lies to Emilienne about where he’s been and who with, sometimes making her doubt her own mind. Joseph seems to have a sense of obligation to Emilienne but at the same time refuses to be the one to ask for a divorce and possibly give her a chance to be happy. Likewise, Emilienne refuses to ask for one because all the failures of their marriage would be placed at her feet.
The Fury and Cries of Women is a quick and engaging read even though it can be tough, seeing all the emotional and verbal abuse Emilienne. Also, it has a very abrupt ending and not a particularly satisfying one as none of the various conflicts in Emilienne’s life are solved. The Fury and Cries of Women doesn’t tie everything up neatly – or at all – which perhaps shows how true to life this story is.
The Fury and Cries of Women is set in the 1980s and it’s one of those stories that seems as relevant today as when it was first published in 1989. Emilienne has a good job (that earns more than her husband) and she’s educated but all society and those closest to her seem to care about is her ability to have children – and she’s not immune to those thoughts either.
The Fury and Cries of Women can be a tough read at times because Emilienne puts up with so much from everyone around her including her parents, her sister, her husband and her mother-in-law that it’s surprising to takes her so long to snap at them when I got so mad at them when just reading about it. Her mother-in-law is especially awful as she thinks Emilienne is not good enough for her son and she conspires to end their marriage, even reaching out to her son’s mistress. Meanwhile, while the things they say are still bad, at least it’s still clear that Emilienne’s family cares about her.
I feel like The Fury and Cries of Women would be difficult read for any woman who doesn’t have children, whether by choice or because they have their own fertility issues and heartbreak. The things characters say about women who don’t have children (never considering the fact they may not be able to) are incredibly harsh and are along the lines of “a woman’s purpose is to be a mother”, “you’re not a real woman if you don’t have children”, “it won’t be your husband’s fault if he leaves you because the role of the wife is to produce an heir” etc. Emilienne wants to have more children but ever since her daughter she’s not been able to carry a pregnancy to term in years. In fact, the opening chapter has Emilienne going through a miscarriage alone in her bed and she struggles to clean herself and hide the evidence from her husband of what she deems as another failure. Emilienne feels like a failure and when everyone around her is pretty much saying the same it’s not a surprise.
Her husband Joseph is pretty much absent from their marriage. He stays for days or weeks at his mistress’s house, moving clothes out of his marital home, ad constantly lies to Emilienne about where he’s been and who with, sometimes making her doubt her own mind. Joseph seems to have a sense of obligation to Emilienne but at the same time refuses to be the one to ask for a divorce and possibly give her a chance to be happy. Likewise, Emilienne refuses to ask for one because all the failures of their marriage would be placed at her feet.
The Fury and Cries of Women is a quick and engaging read even though it can be tough, seeing all the emotional and verbal abuse Emilienne. Also, it has a very abrupt ending and not a particularly satisfying one as none of the various conflicts in Emilienne’s life are solved. The Fury and Cries of Women doesn’t tie everything up neatly – or at all – which perhaps shows how true to life this story is.
January 25, 2026
En esta novela, el cuerpo de la protagonista, Émilienne, simboliza la tensión entre tradición y modernidad. En el mundo tradicional, el cuerpo de la mujeres debe ser fértil, servir para el matrimonio, satisfacer las expectativas familiares. La infertilidad se convierte en un estigma social. Frente a ello, Émilienne se reconoce como un sujeto autónomo, cuestiona la obligación de ser madre y reivindica su deseo y libertad corporal. En definitiva, la escritora gabonesa muestra cómo la sociedad patriarcal presiona el cuerpo femenino con normas heredadas, mientras la protagonista intenta redefinirlo con parámetros más modernos. Dura, pero muy buena y actual.
March 21, 2016
Emelienne the central character earns more than her husband. Divorce, abortion, reiki, white witch doctors, lesbians, and barren women are all topics represented, which are rare in African literature.- pretty amazing since this was published in 1989.
December 5, 2018
COUNTRY: GABON
This novel explores themes of womanhood, motherhood, marriage, and sexuality through the eyes of its main character Emilienne. Emilienne is married and has a daughter, but has suffered a series of miscarriages and is unable to have a second baby. Her infertility causes her to question her own worth as a woman, and that uncertainty is reinforced by the community around her, including her husband and mother-in-law. After her daughter dies, Emilienne’s situation deteriorates even further, and she ultimately has to decide whether to continue in a bad marriage or to strike out on her own.
This book was a pleasant surprise, and it felt very contemporary and relevant. I didn’t particularly like the writing style, and there’s a “twist” that seemed a bit soap operatic, but overall the story was good, and I was rooting for the main character. The author spends a generous amount of time pointing out the double standards between men and women, and exploring both sexual and racial taboos in central Africa. Overall, I really liked it!
This novel explores themes of womanhood, motherhood, marriage, and sexuality through the eyes of its main character Emilienne. Emilienne is married and has a daughter, but has suffered a series of miscarriages and is unable to have a second baby. Her infertility causes her to question her own worth as a woman, and that uncertainty is reinforced by the community around her, including her husband and mother-in-law. After her daughter dies, Emilienne’s situation deteriorates even further, and she ultimately has to decide whether to continue in a bad marriage or to strike out on her own.
This book was a pleasant surprise, and it felt very contemporary and relevant. I didn’t particularly like the writing style, and there’s a “twist” that seemed a bit soap operatic, but overall the story was good, and I was rooting for the main character. The author spends a generous amount of time pointing out the double standards between men and women, and exploring both sexual and racial taboos in central Africa. Overall, I really liked it!
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