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One woman's life struggle (female circumcision)
Date of Review: Nov 20, 2000
The Bottom Line: A powerful, moving, and at times very disturbing story.
This review reveals some of the plot details
What a powerful and moving story; it is just sad to know that those who need most to read a story like this one will not. Female circumcision is still to this day widely practiced and growing at an alarming rate in the United States.
The Characters..........
This story revolves around Tashi (her African name)/Evelyn (her American name). There are several other key characters in this story, Adam her husband, Olivia her sister in-law, M?Lissa the tsunga (a made up word for the one who performs femal circumcision), Benny her son, Lisette, Pierre Lisette?s son, Mezze, and several others. Each of these characters has significant impact on Tashi?s life.
The Format..........
The book is written in 21 parts with 3-6 sections in each part, each section being about 1-5 pages long. Each section is titled by the person whose prospective we are reading, all of which revolve around Tashi. About 2/3?s of the sections are from Tashi/Evelyn?s prospective.
Walker takes an interesting approach by not writing chronologically, but instead she begins in Tashi?s early childhood then moving to mid adulthood, then back to teen years, then back to adulthood, at this point moving around various stages of adulthood and also flipping back and forth between specific time frames. Finally in the last 50 ? 75 pages the story focuses on Tashi being in prison and what led up to this. On the very last page of the story we learn what ?THE SECRET OF JOY? is. Because of this format you must really pay attention to the story or you can easily miss some very important nuances and have trouble with some key sub-plots. In fact I found myself a bit lost during the first 100 or so pages. Then things start to be linked together and about 200 pages in Walker really starts to tie things together to make the story complete.
The Settings..........
The story takes place in both Africa (Algeria) and in America. There are also key plot elements that take place in France and Switzerland. Finally the last part of the book takes place in an Algerian prison.
The Story.....
This story contains a number of very graphic details which can be very disturbing.
The story opens with Tashi being about six years old and Adam?s family and the ministry coming into their village. Tashi is crying because her sister Dura has just died and she only knows that Dura has bled to death but not why. As we progress through the story we find out that Dura died because of female circumcision. Tashi does not have to endure circumcision as a child, however, as a young adult, Tashi is summonsed to a village comprised solely of men and the tsunga (female)for the main purpose of subjecting her to the ritual of female circumcision. As result Tashi feels as though she has lost her identity. Prior to this she had been free, wild, and ridiculed by her piers and elders for not having been circumcised. While imprisoned in this village Adam comes to find her and free her and she and Adam marry.
The rest of the story revolves around Tashi?s madness due to the loss of her identity. There is a significant sub plot also contributing to her madness. This sub plot is about how she feels a direct result of her circumcision to her inability to perform as a good (American) wife. Certain very important parts of the story also take place with her two main therapists, the second being a friend of Mezze, (her first therapist), she goes to after Mezze has died. There are also references to Tashi being in and out of a mental hospital about twice a year.
The last part of the story revolves around her imprisonment and the court hearing because of the murder of the tsunga. We learn about the tsunga?s life and the events that led to Tashi?s murder of her. While in prison Tashi feels a heavy weight lifted off her shoulders and feels freer than she ever has before.
As I mentioned earlier there are several very important key sub-plots to the story, which I will not discuss. It is important to pay attention to the sub-plots though or key elements will be lost. The characters mentioned earlier often thread through the sub-plots. The story?s main focus is about one woman?s identity and madness and how her life is affected by female circumcision. This is a sad, powerful, and very moving story, which I highly recommend.
I have also read The Color Purple and have found Alice Walker to be a very prolific and powerful writer. She writes with an intense realism that really draws you in to her stories. I can't wait to read more of Walker's works.
