The Polygamist – A book you should read

The weekend of the 4th of March i was blessed to be in the company of friends in Walkerville and we had a piled up itinerary for the weekend . We had been planning and looking forward to the trip for a month. One of the activities we had was the exchanging or gifting of books. I was gifted the book  “the Polygamist” by author Sue Nyathi.

My friend said the book was a great read and it came highly recommended. She swore that i once i started reading it , I would not be able to put it down so i took that as a challenge to myself. There must be something about this book for my friend to have said that. I prefer to choose books for myself and I do not allow trends to determine what i read. I fear there is a good possibility some of my hard earned rands will got to waste if i follow that route.  I am also not a fan of novels and i dreaded reading the Polygamist for that reason. It is just a personal preference.

I am not sure which rock i chose to selfishly hide under but i cannot believe this book was first published in 2012 and yet in 2017 i could relate to every character in the book. I started reading the polygamist on Tuesday evening this week and by midnight i was done with the whole book. So thank you Zoe and yes you were right, this is not a book you can read and put down. I see why.

The Polygamist in my own eyes is about love, the highs and the lows that come with it but also it is a reflection of the Zimbabwe i grew up in and how women were taught to deal with marital challenges while men on the other hand were  the “untouchables”. The book is about the lives of four women and a man named Jonasi who brings them all together and unfortunately shatters their lives and those of their children. The book touches on  HIV/AIDS and our society’s reaction to it.

Jonasi is wealthy , assertive, confident and quite the insatiable player as well. We are introduced to Joyce his beautiful wife in the former Zimbabwe that was once all mighty, enriched with wealth and a stable economy. Joyce is almost too good to be true but on some parts i love her madness and how it pushes her to stand up for herself.Then there is Matipa who is a go getter and perhaps not the most beautiful of Jonasi’ girls but definitely intelligent and street smart.She is not a woman you want to piss off on any day. She reminds me of Harare girls. There is an aggressive and unapologetic drive they have for success and wealth and often at times they are not ashamed of the methods they use to get what they want. As a girl from Bulawayo we were often called the pretty , laid back girls and sometimes we were often labelled as not having any drive or ambition in life. Matipa will stop at nothing to get what she wants and one those “valuable” things she wants is Jonasi himself.

Essie is the “location girl”. Unfortunately i am not really go going to try hard enough to describe Essie. If you grew up in Zimbabwe you would know and understand what a “location girl” is like. She gets pregnant at a young age and despite her short comings, Jonasi still loves her and does his best to take care of her financially. Essie is comfortable in the back banner of Jonasi’s life.The author best describes her as Jonasi’s “best kept secret” and that is she.

Lindani has all the best qualities of a “blessee”. She does not need to make an effort at all to achieve the life she wants for herself. Her body does that for her. She is the youngest and Jonasi’s latest conquest. It is difficult to critique her character positively without judging her so i will let you get to know her better on your own.

The author has done a brilliant job of bringing the pros and cons of Polygamy. I refer to them as pros and cons because we all know that under the sun nothing is 100% solid. There will be advantages and disadvantages. Like the women portrayed in the book we just all individually choose what is worth fighting for. I love the fact that story is told by the women themselves as opposed to Jonasi’s eyes or someone else’s. It allows for accountability and to a greater degree there will be someone who can relate to it as it shows a woman’s heart when she is in love.

The author also chose to give the children in Jonasi’s life a voice. I read some reviews online after reading the book because i did not want anything that would take way from its intentions and very few book reviews spoke or mentioned the children and yet they were 8 of them mentioned.That truly matters because at the core of it all and how we live our lives as adults we cannot run away from the fact that the decisions we make affect our children.

The author paints the picture of the Zimbabwean society the way i knew it when growing up. I could not help but have nostalgia after reading it. Marriage was about appearances. The more money or the more educated a man was, the more he had a say. Jonasi is a perfect example of that. No one questioned him or dared to challenge him.

I almost felt disappointed that the author had represented all women in her book as weak, indecisive but thank God for Matipa. She walked away from all the nonsense around her and she chose her sanity. Of all the characters in the book Joyce was my biggest disappointment and Essie as well.

I am disappointed that the author arrived at the HIV predicament in Jonasi’s life too soon. I was still enjoying the drama surrounding the women and their attitude towards each other is alarmingly sad and a true reflection of the love-hate relationship women still have towards each other even in 2017, especially where a man is concerned , a rich one of course.

In Shona we have a proverb that says” chinobururuka chinomhara”. It means nothing ever stays the same. The book is a must read. There are so many characteristics in each woman i relate to. This a book club contender. If you are not a fiction book kinda girl , do something different and try The Polygamist. You will be pleasantly surprised. As always don’g forget to give credit where it’s due. Sue Nyathi is active on Social Media so get in touch and kindly share. Every woman must read this book.

Thank you Sue for letting your writing gift run away with you to a place where only you could capture these women the way you did. Uyancomeka umsebenzi wakho Sisi. I am gifting my book to another woman but i definitely need to buy a copy as well.