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Black Stars #1
The Visit
As a powerful matriarchy reshapes the world, two men—old friends—confront the past and future in a bracing speculative short story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Americanah.
One night in Lagos, two former friends reunite. Obinna is a dutiful and unsophisticated stay-at-home husband and father married to a powerful businesswoman. Eze is single, a cautious rebel from his university days whose arrival soon upsets the balance in Obinna’s life. In a world where men are constantly under surveillance and subject to the whims of powerful women, more than Obinna’s ordered and accustomed routine might be on the line.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Visit is part of Black Stars, a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own. Read or listen to them in a single sitting.
One night in Lagos, two former friends reunite. Obinna is a dutiful and unsophisticated stay-at-home husband and father married to a powerful businesswoman. Eze is single, a cautious rebel from his university days whose arrival soon upsets the balance in Obinna’s life. In a world where men are constantly under surveillance and subject to the whims of powerful women, more than Obinna’s ordered and accustomed routine might be on the line.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Visit is part of Black Stars, a multi-dimensional collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. Each story is a world much like our own. Read or listen to them in a single sitting.
20 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 31, 2021
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5688 people want to read
About the author
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
82 books48.2k followersCHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE grew up in Nigeria. Her work has been translated into more than fifty-five languages. She is the author of the novels Purple Hibiscus, which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize; Half of a Yellow Sun, which was the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction “Best of the Best” award; Americanah, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; the story collection The Thing Around Your Neck and the essays We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Her most recent work is an essay about losing her father, Notes on Grief, and Mama’s Sleeping Scarf, a children’s book written as Nwa Grace-James. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, she divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,122 reviews
October 31, 2022
In a Nutshell: A speculative fiction short story with gender role reversal as the prime theme. Hilarious satire if you understand the point it is trying to make. Enjoyed the story. The ending could have been better.
Story Synopsis:
Where the story worked for me:
😍 As a satire, this story hits the nail on the head. It offers a superficially humorous look at what is, in reality, a serious problem. Chimamanda is one of the few authors who has the capacity to pull off such a tale.
😍 The flipped gender stance of this story offered a strange mixture of fun and bewilderment by portraying a world wherein men live the lives that we women live in our world. Imagine reading lines like “Marriage is the ultimate prize for a man"; the brain takes some time to adapt to this strange turnaround in gender Olympics. A part of me felt vindicated, but I also realised the dangers of extreme feminism that some “feminists” advocate by bashing men every chance they get. True equality comes not from one gender’s dominance but a balance of power across all genders. Heck, stop looking at genders and just look at the person’s capabalities!
😍 There are so many parallels between reality and speculation in this short. Sample this: Masturbation has just been declared illegal in the US and the woman president is applauding the decision. The men are obviously up in arms, claiming it's their body and they have the right to decide what to do with it. Sounds familiar?
Where the story could have worked better for me:
😑 The ending was kinda disappointing. Very abrupt. I feel it took things too far and spoilt what was otherwise a brilliant short fiction.
😑 The cover gave me cosmic sci-fi vibes and a small part of me expected aliens to pop up as part of ‘the visit’. (I hope I am not the only eejit who assumed this! 😄 This is what comes of selecting a story by looking at just the cover and the title [and the author, of course] but not reading the blurb.) In other words, a poor cover design that gives very different expectations.
It would be easy to claim that men should read this and understand what women go through. It's partly correct. But we should remember that the purpose of this story is to highlight the wrongs in the present patriarchal system, not to suggest a world where women dominate, unlike what some of the reviews are saying. There’s no gender bashing here, just a spotlight on the flaws of a societal system that we all are so attuned to that it doesn’t even strike as odd anymore.
I liked this little 20-pages-long story, though the "story" part of it was minimal. Satirical at its core, impactful in its content. Do try.
4 stars.
'The Visit' is part of the ‘Black Stars’ series, a collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. This collection is available for free to Amazon Prime subscribers.
———————————————
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Story Synopsis:
It’s a matriarchal world. In Lagos, Obinna is a dutiful stay-at-home husband taking care of the house and the kids while his successful wife is at work. When he hears of his old school friend Eze coming from the US for a visit (that’s the visit in the title!), Obinna’s carefully planned life turns a little haywire as Eze is single and rebellious. Can Obinna truly let go and enjoy himself in a world where men are expected to live within the preset societal norms of decorum?
Where the story worked for me:
😍 As a satire, this story hits the nail on the head. It offers a superficially humorous look at what is, in reality, a serious problem. Chimamanda is one of the few authors who has the capacity to pull off such a tale.
😍 The flipped gender stance of this story offered a strange mixture of fun and bewilderment by portraying a world wherein men live the lives that we women live in our world. Imagine reading lines like “Marriage is the ultimate prize for a man"; the brain takes some time to adapt to this strange turnaround in gender Olympics. A part of me felt vindicated, but I also realised the dangers of extreme feminism that some “feminists” advocate by bashing men every chance they get. True equality comes not from one gender’s dominance but a balance of power across all genders. Heck, stop looking at genders and just look at the person’s capabalities!
😍 There are so many parallels between reality and speculation in this short. Sample this: Masturbation has just been declared illegal in the US and the woman president is applauding the decision. The men are obviously up in arms, claiming it's their body and they have the right to decide what to do with it. Sounds familiar?
Where the story could have worked better for me:
😑 The ending was kinda disappointing. Very abrupt. I feel it took things too far and spoilt what was otherwise a brilliant short fiction.
😑 The cover gave me cosmic sci-fi vibes and a small part of me expected aliens to pop up as part of ‘the visit’. (I hope I am not the only eejit who assumed this! 😄 This is what comes of selecting a story by looking at just the cover and the title [and the author, of course] but not reading the blurb.) In other words, a poor cover design that gives very different expectations.
It would be easy to claim that men should read this and understand what women go through. It's partly correct. But we should remember that the purpose of this story is to highlight the wrongs in the present patriarchal system, not to suggest a world where women dominate, unlike what some of the reviews are saying. There’s no gender bashing here, just a spotlight on the flaws of a societal system that we all are so attuned to that it doesn’t even strike as odd anymore.
I liked this little 20-pages-long story, though the "story" part of it was minimal. Satirical at its core, impactful in its content. Do try.
4 stars.
'The Visit' is part of the ‘Black Stars’ series, a collection of speculative fiction from Black authors. This collection is available for free to Amazon Prime subscribers.
———————————————
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Facebook | Twitter
May 12, 2022
"How will you find a wife with this kind of behavior?...A man still without a wife at the age of twenty-eight is like a deflated piece of rubber. Useless."
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The Visit (Black Stars #1) presents a near-future society in Nigeria where the matriarchy clearly in charge. That is made manifest from the outset with the announcement that male masturbation will remain illegal. With a lack of both power and agency, men focus on their looks and their hopes of attracting women and making a good marriage. Their behavior is viewed as emotional and irrational.
Men's role, as well as the way they behave and are perceived, is completely determined by women. Adichie makes several relevant points in this gender role reversal; however, there is little subtlety here and equally little story. Some reviewers suggest men should read The Visit and I don't think that's a bad idea if such a reading helps us more closely question how we create and consume stories about women that naturalize this same lack of agency.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The Visit (Black Stars #1) presents a near-future society in Nigeria where the matriarchy clearly in charge. That is made manifest from the outset with the announcement that male masturbation will remain illegal. With a lack of both power and agency, men focus on their looks and their hopes of attracting women and making a good marriage. Their behavior is viewed as emotional and irrational.
Men's role, as well as the way they behave and are perceived, is completely determined by women. Adichie makes several relevant points in this gender role reversal; however, there is little subtlety here and equally little story. Some reviewers suggest men should read The Visit and I don't think that's a bad idea if such a reading helps us more closely question how we create and consume stories about women that naturalize this same lack of agency.
September 8, 2025
The Visit is a food for thought short story with the foundational premise of swapped gender roles. The characters and dialogue are meant to echo exaggerated clichés of typical masochistic behaviour in the real world, to prove the point that this kind of behaviour is not okay.
The story follows two men, friends from college, who meet up again after many years taking different paths and can't help but but compare their situations. Adichie's writing and world-building is to the point, and the premise does all of the heavy lifting.
🌟🌟🌟1/2🌟
[One star for the premise and the whole story; 3/4 star for the characters; Half a star for the story; 3/4 star for the writing; Half a star for the world-building - 3 1/2 stars in total, rounded up to 4 stars.]
The story follows two men, friends from college, who meet up again after many years taking different paths and can't help but but compare their situations. Adichie's writing and world-building is to the point, and the premise does all of the heavy lifting.
🌟🌟🌟1/2🌟
[One star for the premise and the whole story; 3/4 star for the characters; Half a star for the story; 3/4 star for the writing; Half a star for the world-building - 3 1/2 stars in total, rounded up to 4 stars.]
July 17, 2022
The Visit by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is part of the Black Star series of short stories.
This is a fascinating glimpse into a world where gender roles are reversed. Two male friends reunite in Lagos after a decade apart. One of the men is married to a powerful business woman who is always at work, makes comments about her husband's flabby arms and is often away "seeing clients". The husband is at home looking after the kids.
The writing is good here, it impacted me, this could have been glib and tokenistic but it was neither - it packed a punch.
One example of how clever this is. The books starts with a news update of America's Supreme Court deciding to keep "Male masturbation illegal, punishable by up to 15 years in prison." The US President was quoted as saying "We must never lose sight of what this is about - a waste of a potential child". This made me take stock - imagine a Court making a decision where I wouldn't have control of my own body? Imagine that? Such a topical issue.
The reason I purchased this story - I stumbled across a fascinating lecture given by Adichie in Germany about significant consequences of colonialism, and facing truth.
Here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Cxh...
Another example of how a short story can introduce one to a new author, I'll certainly read more by this clever and insightful author.
4 Stars
This is a fascinating glimpse into a world where gender roles are reversed. Two male friends reunite in Lagos after a decade apart. One of the men is married to a powerful business woman who is always at work, makes comments about her husband's flabby arms and is often away "seeing clients". The husband is at home looking after the kids.
The writing is good here, it impacted me, this could have been glib and tokenistic but it was neither - it packed a punch.
One example of how clever this is. The books starts with a news update of America's Supreme Court deciding to keep "Male masturbation illegal, punishable by up to 15 years in prison." The US President was quoted as saying "We must never lose sight of what this is about - a waste of a potential child". This made me take stock - imagine a Court making a decision where I wouldn't have control of my own body? Imagine that? Such a topical issue.
The reason I purchased this story - I stumbled across a fascinating lecture given by Adichie in Germany about significant consequences of colonialism, and facing truth.
Here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Cxh...
Another example of how a short story can introduce one to a new author, I'll certainly read more by this clever and insightful author.
4 Stars
September 19, 2021
So what if masturbation for men was outlawed? Yeah, this was really timely considering the ongoing forced birth legislation passing in the United States right now.
September 1, 2021
I actually enjoyed this one ten times more than the first two stories in the Black Stars collection. I laughed so hard while reading this. A gender-bender sort of sci-fantasy in which women are the breadwinners and rule the world. I loved this!
Obinna and Eze were such dynamic characters with different lifestyles. I wish there was more to this story. 20 pages is just not enough for me!
I highly recommend this story from the collection.
Obinna and Eze were such dynamic characters with different lifestyles. I wish there was more to this story. 20 pages is just not enough for me!
I highly recommend this story from the collection.
July 6, 2022
A well written inversion, but also not a lot more than that.
September 16, 2021
Too Jarring & Strange
This story isn't so much a story as a collection of short vignettes covering the loose storyline of Obinna - an at-home husband - and his slightly estranged friend, Eze. Having spent some time abroad as a single man, Eze is returning to visit Obinna in Nigeria, and the visit reminds Obinna just how unhappy he is being married to an unfaithful woman. Unfortunately for them, this is a world wherein men are oppressed under a global matriarchy rather than the reverse which is true in real life.
That, unfortunately, is where I take the most issue with this story. Perhaps it's because I live in the deep south of the United States where I legitimately have to hear men complain as if women have too much control because we want equal rights, or perhaps it's because I am far too sick of real life gender issues to stomach the sudden villainizing of women: whatever the case may be, I found this story grating on my nerves as I read it. Rather than a satire or an attempt to bring awareness to what women face, this felt more like a bitter mockery. It felt like having genuine concerns twisted around and laughed at.
I'm sure that isn't the author's intention, but I can't change the way this story made me feel. Everything was too hyperbolic and I felt kind of sick reading the way these men were treated.
It didn't even make sense to me, sometimes, because in many cases the parallels drawn don't make sense at all. For example: irl when male cops assault women they pull over, there's often a level of self pleasure attached to the power play. Why, then, would female cops in this role reversal go around sodomizing single men with sticks? That paints the women as even more evil and villainous than the bad men irl, because they don't even have the self satisfaction drive attached - it's solely to degrade, dehumanize, and torture. (Yes, this is a minor 'plot' point. It's breezed over very quickly and is only a fear of it happening - like when college girls talk about fears of being drugged irl, just a fact of existence.) Likewise, why would there be laws against male self-pleasure for 'wasting potential life' yet also be legal temporary vasectomies? And why would there be a prison term for it, considering a man in prison isn't out making babies? That's an extremely weak and ridiculous attempt to parallel the incredibly detrimental real life matter of reproductive rights for women. It just rings as false as someone yelling on Twitter, making up hyperbolic and hypothetical opponents to yell at and make their argument seem stronger.
Honestly, though, I had kind of hoped that Obinna and Eze would run away together. There were a lot of subtly romantic undertones to their friendship, which I suppose in retrospect is meant to parallel how women irl get away with more emotional closeness than men. But to me, it seemed like this would be a happy tale of two men forging their own path away from the evils of a society which comically mirrors the real world. It wasn't. In fact, there is no real ending at all as far as resolution is concerned. Just a few glimpses into a terrible world and the characters suffering within it.
Not my cup of tea, and I still feel kind of gross after reading it. I want to believe that women wouldn't treat men this terribly if we had the power. But then, humans are pretty evil when given power, so I don't know. And I don't care for stories that make me feel so overwhelmingly nihilistic.
This story isn't so much a story as a collection of short vignettes covering the loose storyline of Obinna - an at-home husband - and his slightly estranged friend, Eze. Having spent some time abroad as a single man, Eze is returning to visit Obinna in Nigeria, and the visit reminds Obinna just how unhappy he is being married to an unfaithful woman. Unfortunately for them, this is a world wherein men are oppressed under a global matriarchy rather than the reverse which is true in real life.
That, unfortunately, is where I take the most issue with this story. Perhaps it's because I live in the deep south of the United States where I legitimately have to hear men complain as if women have too much control because we want equal rights, or perhaps it's because I am far too sick of real life gender issues to stomach the sudden villainizing of women: whatever the case may be, I found this story grating on my nerves as I read it. Rather than a satire or an attempt to bring awareness to what women face, this felt more like a bitter mockery. It felt like having genuine concerns twisted around and laughed at.
I'm sure that isn't the author's intention, but I can't change the way this story made me feel. Everything was too hyperbolic and I felt kind of sick reading the way these men were treated.
It didn't even make sense to me, sometimes, because in many cases the parallels drawn don't make sense at all. For example: irl when male cops assault women they pull over, there's often a level of self pleasure attached to the power play. Why, then, would female cops in this role reversal go around sodomizing single men with sticks? That paints the women as even more evil and villainous than the bad men irl, because they don't even have the self satisfaction drive attached - it's solely to degrade, dehumanize, and torture. (Yes, this is a minor 'plot' point. It's breezed over very quickly and is only a fear of it happening - like when college girls talk about fears of being drugged irl, just a fact of existence.) Likewise, why would there be laws against male self-pleasure for 'wasting potential life' yet also be legal temporary vasectomies? And why would there be a prison term for it, considering a man in prison isn't out making babies? That's an extremely weak and ridiculous attempt to parallel the incredibly detrimental real life matter of reproductive rights for women. It just rings as false as someone yelling on Twitter, making up hyperbolic and hypothetical opponents to yell at and make their argument seem stronger.
Honestly, though, I had kind of hoped that Obinna and Eze would run away together. There were a lot of subtly romantic undertones to their friendship, which I suppose in retrospect is meant to parallel how women irl get away with more emotional closeness than men. But to me, it seemed like this would be a happy tale of two men forging their own path away from the evils of a society which comically mirrors the real world. It wasn't. In fact, there is no real ending at all as far as resolution is concerned. Just a few glimpses into a terrible world and the characters suffering within it.
Not my cup of tea, and I still feel kind of gross after reading it. I want to believe that women wouldn't treat men this terribly if we had the power. But then, humans are pretty evil when given power, so I don't know. And I don't care for stories that make me feel so overwhelmingly nihilistic.
September 18, 2021
An engaging speculative short story in a matriarchal society. I am quickly devouring every Amazon Original Story, these short stories are written by wonderful authors, some of which are my favorite. Highly recommend.
Read
April 27, 2025This was okay, but lacking subtlety and a deeper message. The Visit is a short story offering a snapshot into the life of a Nigerian man in a world where gender roles are reversed. Men are oppressed and objectified, must deal with wives who get away with cheating, have less agency, and are valued according to their ability to impregnate women and create babies (hence why male masturbation is illegal). It's very on the nose and the plot is barely existent, really just there to build out this alternate reality. I think the idea of exploring the absurdity of gender roles is interesting, but it's been done much better before. I don't feel like there was actually any real exploration of ideas going on here.
July 25, 2022
A short story imagining the world if men were the second gender instead of the first, what social oppression might look like and what political interference in male sexuality and mores would mean. (Such as male masturbation being outlawed for “protection of potential life” and revenge porn taking on a whole new meaning, as well as the slogan “my body, my choice”.) Breathtaking. Another win for Adichie.
Free on Amazon Kindle.
Free on Amazon Kindle.
November 1, 2021
3.5 Stars
These stories end too abruptly! What happened when the wife got home? What happened with Eze?
Obinna has a complexity that could not be realized in such a short story. I find him quite interesting. Alas, I have so many questions still, but I’ll just have to imagine an outcome for Obinna and Eze. Forget Amara.
These stories end too abruptly! What happened when the wife got home? What happened with Eze?
Obinna has a complexity that could not be realized in such a short story. I find him quite interesting. Alas, I have so many questions still, but I’ll just have to imagine an outcome for Obinna and Eze. Forget Amara.
September 25, 2021
Short but disturbing. This Twilight Zone version of gender roles really hit home.
June 1, 2025
And today it had been announced: male masturbation would remain illegal, punishable by up to fifteen years in prison. The American president’s face was in close-up as she said, “I applaud the court for this just and moral decision. We must never lose sight of what this is about—a waste of a potential child.”
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie continues to push boundaries with her speculative futuristic short story about a future where the societal roles of men and women are switched. Her social commentary is sharp and on point, highlighting the absurdities of how women are treated by politics, social expectations and gender roles.
Reading this story the way it was written feels off, infuriating, unrealistic. Now read it again with male and female characters reversed: and suddenly it all still sounds off and infuriating, but realistic.
Too bad that those who should read this story never will. It won't change the minds of those whose minds could do well with a little food for thought. But it's a well-written and interesting thought experiment.
September 16, 2021
“If I had known you were somebody’s husband, I would at least show you some respect, even if you are dressed like a prostitute.”
January 6, 2022
Nope. Didn't like it. Couldn't like it. I know what the author is trying to say. Just that the plot, the so-called laws description and the representation could have been much better.
June 12, 2025
4,0 ✨✨✨
(Audiobook)
(Audiobook)
December 2, 2025
This was a short interesting read about a matriarchal society where every thing women typically experience from men but in reverse.
November 5, 2022
3.5*
"How will you find a wife with this kind of behavior?...A man still without a wife at the age of twenty-eight is like a deflated piece of rubber. Useless."
I liked the concept.
For anyone who is hesitating to read this book because they assume it's a man-hating story, let me clarify, it's not. Infact, this should be read by all because the belief systems and dialogues of this dystopian world which seem ridiculous are actually happening with women in real life.
This brings us to a very important point, as long as there's only one sect, gender or community in power, there'll always be imbalance in the political, economical and social systems across societies.
Regarding the things I was not that happy with -
a) the ending! I wanted more.
b) I know once power gets to one's head, the laws set would be irrational irrespective of gender. What bugged me is -
It's just 20pgs. If you're someone who wants subtlety in their stories then this will not be your favorite read. This book is by no means subtle. It's unapologetically direct and that's something I happen to like about it.
Overall, an enjoyable read. Recommended!!
"How will you find a wife with this kind of behavior?...A man still without a wife at the age of twenty-eight is like a deflated piece of rubber. Useless."
I liked the concept.
For anyone who is hesitating to read this book because they assume it's a man-hating story, let me clarify, it's not. Infact, this should be read by all because the belief systems and dialogues of this dystopian world which seem ridiculous are actually happening with women in real life.
This brings us to a very important point, as long as there's only one sect, gender or community in power, there'll always be imbalance in the political, economical and social systems across societies.
Regarding the things I was not that happy with -
a) the ending! I wanted more.
b) I know once power gets to one's head, the laws set would be irrational irrespective of gender. What bugged me is -
It's just 20pgs. If you're someone who wants subtlety in their stories then this will not be your favorite read. This book is by no means subtle. It's unapologetically direct and that's something I happen to like about it.
Overall, an enjoyable read. Recommended!!
August 28, 2022
Bullet Review:
This book is not subtle. AT ALL. I mean, it opens with a news reporter relaying how male masturbation is outlawed because think of all the potential children that are wasted!
But that said, I think stories like this can really make us aware of how ridiculous our society is. It's crazy to think about outlawing male masturbation, not having sufficient medical treatments for enlarged prostates (or other "male" problems), men being chided for "letting themselves get fat" and men being told not to have a job and take care of the children from their more powerful wives. All that sounds really stupid, no? And yet, flip the genders, and somehow it's totally okay to say about women.
(And yes, this is also assuming that people come in only two flavors, man and woman, even though there are many in-betweens.)
This was short, sweet, to-the-point, but bitterly cutting, leaving no room for frills in the biting social commentary.
This book is not subtle. AT ALL. I mean, it opens with a news reporter relaying how male masturbation is outlawed because think of all the potential children that are wasted!
But that said, I think stories like this can really make us aware of how ridiculous our society is. It's crazy to think about outlawing male masturbation, not having sufficient medical treatments for enlarged prostates (or other "male" problems), men being chided for "letting themselves get fat" and men being told not to have a job and take care of the children from their more powerful wives. All that sounds really stupid, no? And yet, flip the genders, and somehow it's totally okay to say about women.
(And yes, this is also assuming that people come in only two flavors, man and woman, even though there are many in-betweens.)
This was short, sweet, to-the-point, but bitterly cutting, leaving no room for frills in the biting social commentary.
March 8, 2022
A short story set in Nigeria about two old friends, one of whom stayed and the other who went to the USA. It is set in a rather improbable alternate world where women are dominant and men are expected to be house husbands as the Nigerian character is, and to put up with women's infidelity.
Really the piece is a rather heavy-handed satire, as all the disadvantages of women in reality are suffered by the male characters, and all the bad behaviour of at least some men in real life is exhibited by the female characters. Various points are reversed such as the real-life medical treatments which are based upon men (women in this) and therefore are not appropriate for the other sex. The husband has given up his aspirations to write poetry as his wife told him he wasn't much good, and has to turn a blind eye to her philandering. But implausibly, we're told that despite this adoption of "male" values, the women at international summits are only interested in talking about girly things such as breast enhancements, which seems to be a muddling of both tropes. It was interesting but didn't really work as a convincing story for me so I am rating it 3 stars.
The story does also come to a fairly abrupt and inconclusive end. It is very obviously a polemic in disguise about the inequality of women's position in society, but it is still rather disatisfying that the women are universally unlikeable characters who behave as badly as a lot of men. So
Really the piece is a rather heavy-handed satire, as all the disadvantages of women in reality are suffered by the male characters, and all the bad behaviour of at least some men in real life is exhibited by the female characters. Various points are reversed such as the real-life medical treatments which are based upon men (women in this) and therefore are not appropriate for the other sex. The husband has given up his aspirations to write poetry as his wife told him he wasn't much good, and has to turn a blind eye to her philandering. But implausibly, we're told that despite this adoption of "male" values, the women at international summits are only interested in talking about girly things such as breast enhancements, which seems to be a muddling of both tropes. It was interesting but didn't really work as a convincing story for me so I am rating it 3 stars.
The story does also come to a fairly abrupt and inconclusive end. It is very obviously a polemic in disguise about the inequality of women's position in society, but it is still rather disatisfying that the women are universally unlikeable characters who behave as badly as a lot of men. So
January 26, 2023
This was...a bit weird? I honestly didn't even read the blurb before jumping in, and I probably won't with the rest of the stories in this collection either. I normally would (only to forget it 5 seconds later), but since these are short stories I don't want to know a single thing about them beforehand.
Anyway, I listened to the audio and the narrator was perfectly chosen, I loved how he gave everyone a distinct voice.
The world was kind of interesting, basically modern day but with the gender roles reversed. And I didn't end up liking that concept, because I don't want to believe that women would be just as bad as men if we were in positions of power like they are. Sure, some women would, but not all.
Maybe this story could be useful for men to understand what we go through, but that's a hard maybe.
2.5
Anyway, I listened to the audio and the narrator was perfectly chosen, I loved how he gave everyone a distinct voice.
The world was kind of interesting, basically modern day but with the gender roles reversed. And I didn't end up liking that concept, because I don't want to believe that women would be just as bad as men if we were in positions of power like they are. Sure, some women would, but not all.
Maybe this story could be useful for men to understand what we go through, but that's a hard maybe.
2.5
July 11, 2023
I always enjoy a dystopian where only one element changes from society as we currently know it, so we can see how big the effect of this one change would be. At just under an hour this was an interesting listen beautifully narrated by Nyambi Nyambi.
July 27, 2023
Oof. A heavy-handed Nigerian gender-role reversal dystopia, far less impactful and fun than the new Barbie movie.
May 30, 2022
1.5⭐️
In an alternate version of reality that is historically and overwhelmingly matriarchal instead of patriarchal, we focus on a threat to the reproductive rights of (cis) men.
“male masturbation would remain illegal, punishable by up to fifteen years in prison. The American president’s face was in close-up as she said, “I applaud the court for this just and moral decision. We must never lose sight of what this is about—a waste of a potential child.”
I imagine masturbation was truly the only equivalent the author could find to abortion but it just isn’t strong enough. Masturbation bans that have clearly been established in this story as easily ignored and easy to hide from don’t hold the same weight as an inaccessible and, at times, dangerous medical procedure. The story also has a tendency to fall into weirdly misogynistic stereotypes surrounding women that I thought were incredibly bizarre.
“You have to learn to talk about emotions, Eze!” his father would blurt out suddenly. “Not machines and politics and gadgets all the time. Otherwise you won’t find a good wife. You think women care about all that?”
Are women truly boiled down to just being emotional and not being expected to truly connect with politics, technology, or science in this alternate reality either? How does this make any sense when women are holding the bulk of the political and social power?
We also don’t get any background on why the world is dominated by women. We often see in our reality the argument from men about hunters and gatherers and about the history of a woman’s place in society. We see how, historically, men have used being naturally larger as a means of individual domination that leads to something bigger and universal. We see religious texts written and altered across centuries to push these ideals to fit an agenda. We are never given these equivalents in this alternate reality. We are never given a reason why.
Even vague mentions of background info would’ve been appreciated. I just needed something that implies effort or any thought put into the worldbuilding.
We also see men growing in their deep resentment towards women as a result of their oppression but how is men hating women in this new reality meant to be radical or thought-provoking if men hate women already while being in power? If we’ve already established that men can despise and be disgusted by women in our current reality, what is it meant to do when a reason is suddenly provided?
The matriarchy simply exists because it does and that’s just not good enough for me. It feels like a basic role reversal meant to give ignorant men a bright and shiny example of what’s wrong in our real lives when trying to break it down normally doesn’t work.
This short story was, unfortunately, wildly underdeveloped and surface level at best. It simply doesn’t make any sense for women be perfectly identical in their oppression of men to men in their oppression of women. I understand and appreciate the attempt of what the author intended to do but that’s just so lazy.
CW: sexism, infidelity, brief body-shaming, brief reference to sexual assault and rape
In an alternate version of reality that is historically and overwhelmingly matriarchal instead of patriarchal, we focus on a threat to the reproductive rights of (cis) men.
“male masturbation would remain illegal, punishable by up to fifteen years in prison. The American president’s face was in close-up as she said, “I applaud the court for this just and moral decision. We must never lose sight of what this is about—a waste of a potential child.”
I imagine masturbation was truly the only equivalent the author could find to abortion but it just isn’t strong enough. Masturbation bans that have clearly been established in this story as easily ignored and easy to hide from don’t hold the same weight as an inaccessible and, at times, dangerous medical procedure. The story also has a tendency to fall into weirdly misogynistic stereotypes surrounding women that I thought were incredibly bizarre.
“You have to learn to talk about emotions, Eze!” his father would blurt out suddenly. “Not machines and politics and gadgets all the time. Otherwise you won’t find a good wife. You think women care about all that?”
Are women truly boiled down to just being emotional and not being expected to truly connect with politics, technology, or science in this alternate reality either? How does this make any sense when women are holding the bulk of the political and social power?
We also don’t get any background on why the world is dominated by women. We often see in our reality the argument from men about hunters and gatherers and about the history of a woman’s place in society. We see how, historically, men have used being naturally larger as a means of individual domination that leads to something bigger and universal. We see religious texts written and altered across centuries to push these ideals to fit an agenda. We are never given these equivalents in this alternate reality. We are never given a reason why.
Even vague mentions of background info would’ve been appreciated. I just needed something that implies effort or any thought put into the worldbuilding.
We also see men growing in their deep resentment towards women as a result of their oppression but how is men hating women in this new reality meant to be radical or thought-provoking if men hate women already while being in power? If we’ve already established that men can despise and be disgusted by women in our current reality, what is it meant to do when a reason is suddenly provided?
The matriarchy simply exists because it does and that’s just not good enough for me. It feels like a basic role reversal meant to give ignorant men a bright and shiny example of what’s wrong in our real lives when trying to break it down normally doesn’t work.
This short story was, unfortunately, wildly underdeveloped and surface level at best. It simply doesn’t make any sense for women be perfectly identical in their oppression of men to men in their oppression of women. I understand and appreciate the attempt of what the author intended to do but that’s just so lazy.
CW: sexism, infidelity, brief body-shaming, brief reference to sexual assault and rape
July 18, 2022
3.5 stars
January 17, 2022
Chimamanda nunca decepciona. Una estupenda vuelta de tuerca a nuestra realidad como mujeres.
January 4, 2022
3.75 Stars Rounded up
This was well done and I quite enjoyed the exploration of sexism between cis, hetero, straight couples
This was well done and I quite enjoyed the exploration of sexism between cis, hetero, straight couples
May 16, 2024
'The Visit' (2021) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a great short story - two friends meeting, reuniting after some time apart.
Described as speculative rather than science fiction, this is so well written as with all of Adichie's books and has a few surprises, to say the least as the story unfolds.
There is perhaps a literary debt owed here to Malorie Blackman in terms of possible inspiration, however Adichie goes beyond any such source inspiration to create something greater.
Recommended and not to be missed.
Described as speculative rather than science fiction, this is so well written as with all of Adichie's books and has a few surprises, to say the least as the story unfolds.
There is perhaps a literary debt owed here to Malorie Blackman in terms of possible inspiration, however Adichie goes beyond any such source inspiration to create something greater.
Recommended and not to be missed.
February 27, 2022
A delicious speculative story where women ruled the world. An insightful examination at what happens when the tables are turned. Reflective too.
Very short. Listened on Audible while cooking!
#patriarchymustfall
Very short. Listened on Audible while cooking!
#patriarchymustfall
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